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[Q] Stuck in a reboot loop, please help

I got my Viewsonic GTablet on Friday (2/11/2011). I loved it and had no issues. I downloaded and installed the update from Viewsonic. I visited the Marketplace that's installed on the device and downloaded some apps, mainly games. Today (2/14/2011) I took it to my university and tried to get on the campus WiFi. I had difficulties, so I took it to the IT department on campus to get some help. They took my device, tried to get it on the network and said that my device could not get on the network because their network uses certain "secure credentials" or something like that. As soon as I get my device back from them, every time it boots up I get and error message that says that Dashboard Home has stopped unexpectedly and to try again. I called Viewsonic's Customer Service, and they determined that I was stuck in a reboot loop. I have tried rebooting the kernel more time than I can count, but it doesn't do anything to help.
Has anyone else been able to solve this problem? I would take it back to the store I bought it from (Office Depot) to get an exchange, but they don't have one in stock anywhere close to where I live, and I don't have the box the device came in anymore.
What do you suggest I do?
The device is running the stock OS with the update from Viewsonic. The only apps I have installed are from the marketplace that comes with the device. I have not tampered with the OS or settings. I am also mildly technically challenged, but I am working on educating myself.
I appreciate any and all help. Thanks in advance. I also apologize if this has issue has already been posted and answered.

vafalla,
This doesn't sound like the boot loops I had, but I guess if it doesn't get you to a screen you can work with the result is the same.
If it were me I would get on a PC and go the the Development part of this forum. I think you need to get ClockWorkMod installed. CWM is a replacement "recovery" program that gives you other functionality to restore, communicate, partition drives and a bunch of other things. There are a couple of threads in the Dev section that tell how. You can download CWM v.08 (the older one works!) and put the update.zip file on a microSD card and edit the recovery folder "command" (no .txt or other ending, just command) file in Notepad to load "sdcard2" instead of sdcard. then put the card in the gtab and reboot holding down the Vol+ key down. You'll get a message in the upper left corner of the screen that recovery is loading. After it installs, if it doesn't startup, reboot with the Vol+ key down again and you should be able to get into CWM.
From there, you can find the CWM partition command and change the two partitions to 2048 and 0.
From there, there are a bunch of threads which tell how to load either a stock recovery file to get back to stock -- or how to load VEGAn 5.1 (or now, 5.11).
Hope this helps get you started. I just didn't want you to think your tab is bricked and that all hope is lost!
Rev
P. S. --- Some of the other threads may have better instructions than mine!!!

Thanks so much for the help! I'll get right on it and see what happens.

Plug in your gtab to the power and see if it boots. Could be they ran your battery down.

Bootloop help
If you really want to learn about the gtablet, youtube ehunyadi. he has done over 10 excellent videos and his most recent is how to install CWM and TNT lite 4.2..sounds like only diereence for you is you'd install CWM to microsd.

Black Screen After bad TNT 5.0 Lite Install

I stupidly installed TNT Lite 5.0 before reading the instructions. My gtab locked at white screen. I panicked. Did a full restore using Nvflash. That put g-tab to 2638. But when I shut off power I can get nothing but a black screen when powering on. The only way to get the tablet to function again is to flash another full restore, and then same problem occurs when I shut down. I cant update because the tablet screen goes black when attempting reboot. I've been reading posts here in the developers forum all day and I haven't come closer to solving my problem, so I need help from someone smarter please.

jesusgi said:
I stupidly installed TNT Lite 5.0 before reading the instructions. My gtab locked at white screen. I panicked. Did a full restore using Nvflash. That put g-tab to 2638. But when I shut off power I can get nothing but a black screen when powering on. The only way to get the tablet to function again is to flash another full restore, and then same problem occurs when I shut down. I cant update because the tablet screen goes black when attempting reboot. I've been reading posts here in the developers forum all day and I haven't come closer to solving my problem, so I need help from someone smarter please.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
nvflash to the version included in the tntlite post there is an apk file link there

Do you mean 3588 stock?

jesusgi said:
Do you mean 3588 stock?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes check the first post in the lite thread. It is linked as APK 3588

I downloaded it, but I am not sure how to use it with nvflash as compared to the restore which was relatively simple using the included bat file. Am I missing something or am I just a hopeless Noob?

jesusgi said:
I stupidly installed TNT Lite 5.0 before reading the instructions. My gtab locked at white screen. I panicked. Did a full restore using Nvflash. That put g-tab to 2638. But when I shut off power I can get nothing but a black screen when powering on. The only way to get the tablet to function again is to flash another full restore, and then same problem occurs when I shut down. I cant update because the tablet screen goes black when attempting reboot. I've been reading posts here in the developers forum all day and I haven't come closer to solving my problem, so I need help from someone smarter please.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm?.. Seems there are a lot of users trying to prove the GTAB is in fact Brickable..*lol*
It is NOT!
Go here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=861950

Yes I feel dumb about it. I did read that thread before posting. I did the restore. I can get the gtab to boot up and it is usable.......until I power down, then the only way to use it again is to reflash the restore again. I mean its usable. Not really bricked, really, but I am frustrated because it seems like I am missing the solution.

I used the nvflash from http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=861950 to prep my gtab for 5.0. Once it flashed and booted to the OS, I had it join wireless, then it prompted to start the update to 3588 immediately. Have you tried this?

Yes it downloads the update but to complete the update, it must reboot. When it goes to reboot then the screen goes black and then nothing The only way I can get it to work again is to nvflash it to the complete restore I have been going round in circles with it for hours and hours

jesusgi said:
Yes it downloads the update but to complete the update, it must reboot. When it goes to reboot then the screen goes black and then nothing The only way I can get it to work again is to nvflash it to the complete restore I have been going round in circles with it for hours and hours
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Been there.......months later the tablet is still there. I can not power it off or reboot it. I bought another tablet and use "the unbootable" one at home where it sits in a dock until needed.
I have tried every nvflash recommendation out there...
There are about 4 or 5 tablets like this. Most have either been returned/swapped out or set aside and no longer used (from my reading of others with the same problem).
I can get it to boot by formatting partition 2 so if it ever goes off or I need to "update" it I turn it off.....connect it and nvflash it...holding volume + if I need to get to recovery. If not...once nvflash sends the bootloader over and formats partition 2, the device boots.
Something on mine is preventing the bootloader from booting.....the nvflash sending it over executes it and the tablet runs......

redundant - double posted

jesusgi said:
Yes it downloads the update but to complete the update, it must reboot. When it goes to reboot then the screen goes black and then nothing The only way I can get it to work again is to nvflash it to the complete restore I have been going round in circles with it for hours and hours
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I got the same problem. I can only power my gtab by doing nvflash, and if i reboot, it only goes into apx mode.

Ouch. That has stopped me in my tracks. It's really bad news.
"Something on mine is preventing the bootloader from booting.....the nvflash sending it over executes it and the tablet runs......"
That's my problem exactly. My wife is going to be very upset. I thought I could keep her gtab updated without bricking it. Oh jeez that's exactly what I've done..........

Suggestion? don't do the update after you nvflash.. let the device boot up normally and put a different ROM zip file on the SD via USB.
Calkulins new ROM is based in TnT is super smooth.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=985705
From there try to reboot into recovery mode with an app like quick boot AniReboot and flash the different rom.
It may be the ROM you're trying to flash is corrupt.

I did the same too. . An didn't read the fine print. After getting the info
on how to fix my bricked gtab. Also, I had to do some Googling on apx
USB drivers for windows 7.
Long story short.. had a few pints. .. got it back to stock and installed tntl 5
The next day.. I'm using it now and I'm happy. Time for another pint.

I thought I bricked my GTab, after several hours of tweaking I was
able to flash it and run TnT Lite 5.0 now. Here is the procedure I did:
a. nvflash to stock rom. download the usb driver for windows 7 here and install (link from post by syntrix) : http://developer.download.nvidia.com/tegra/files/os/tegra_ventana_froyo_20110207.msi
b. grab the stock rom from the post by roebeet, choose "nvflash_windows_20100500.zip" and ""nvflash_gtablet_2010110500.zip": http://db.tt/Wm25t7U
c. following roebeet's instruction, put Gtab to APX mode (volume down + power on), run nvflash_gtablet.bat, should flash the rom fine.
d. boot the Gtab after flashing, should be able to run the original stock rom.
e. download the 3588 stock rom from this thread:http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=842000
f. run recovery (volume up + power on) to upgrade to 3588 rom, remember to make a "recovery" folder with "command" (check the prefix and see if is name "sdcard") and rename the downloaded 3588 rom to "update.zip". Put both to the root of the sdcard.
g. now you should have 3588 rom after the recovery
h. download tnt lite 5.0 rom and run a recovery. you will get stuck at a black screen. Just reboot and enter recovery mode again (volume up + power on). do a "wipe data" and reboot. Then you will be able to run TnT lite 5.0. In the recovery mode, the "power" button is "enter", not the "home" button in CWM 0.8. Anyway, just follow the instruction on screen for button layout.

Thanks. I have actually done those and would do them all but G-Tab will only boot once after flash (step d) after that if I power down, I gotta black screened brick until reflashing original ROM again. It is impossible for me to do step "F" from Gaspra post

and with that I give up. I ordered another G-Tab, and I'm using the old one as a plant stand. Who said this can't be bricked? I managed to do it.

Send it to me. I'll pay shipping.

jesusgi said:
Thanks. I have actually done those and would do them all but G-Tab will only boot once after flash (step d) after that if I power down, I gotta black screened brick until reflashing original ROM again. It is impossible for me to do step "F" from Gaspra post
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
did you try to erase the rom? try this before flashing to the stock rom:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=974422

Clockwork Installed, wouldn't boot

Hi guys,
I'm an Android developer and have flashed Cyanogen on a number of Droids, G1s and MyTouches, and I think I've ran into a little trouble. I was hoping someone could give me a little advice.
Just got my gTablet and am having some problems after trying to install CyanogenMod 7.0.1 Beta from here: http://forum.cyanogenmod.com/topic/14637-cyanogenmod-7-for-g-tablet-v700-beta1-1192011/
At this point, the tablet displays the Viewsonic logo but does not get any further. I followed the instructions from the guide post in the Development forum and have given the device plenty of time to reboot. I then tried the partition steps, but still get stuck at the Viewsonic logo. Partitioning the SD card has removed my installation files, unfortunately.
I can boot in and out of Clockwork Recovery like a champ. I have tried to go backwards using nvFlash, but it doesn't look like Clockwork Recovery is putting the tablet into ADX.
How should I proceed to get Cyanogen on this badboy.
Thanks for any help!
E

Wow, what a dumbass.
Clockwork has a Mount USB Storage right there in the "Mounts and Storage" menu.
So I've copied everything back onto the SD card and am attempting to reflash now.

gte619n said:
I can boot in and out of Clockwork Recovery like a champ. I have tried to go backwards using nvFlash, but it doesn't look like Clockwork Recovery is putting the tablet into ADX.
E
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If your second install doesn't work, you may want to try another ROM (VEGAn 5.1 is very nice) though it's based on 2.2 instead of 2.3. As long as you have clockworkmod recovery you could try a different ROM before nvflash'ing
On another note, clockwork recovery has nothing to do with APX. APX is its own recovery type system.
Volume + and power boots to recovery (either stock or clockwork if that is installed)
Volume - and power boots to APX mode and you communicate/transfer everything over USB from your computer with nvflash

Ahh, thanks for pointing that out! I misread that in the previous posts!
It's still stuck on the ol' Viewsonic logo. I AM NOT SEEING THE DIFFERENCE, VIEWSONIC.

So I just tried flashing VEGAn 7, and I still can't get past the ViewSonic splash screen.
Am I doing something wrong here?

I got my gTablet yesterday and it wouldn't boot at all. I went through the recovery kernel boot menu a few times before getting it figured out and finally getting VEGAn 5.1.1 installed.
if you boot with the Power + Volume-Up, does it say "Booting recovery kernel" in teh upper left corner?
When I saw that, I then pressed Volume Down to get into the Clockwork menu. From there, I could repartition the internal SD memory. I copied over several ROM images, named /update.zip into the internal SD space.
First I tried roebeet's default TnT reinstall package. But, that just perpetuated my looping problem. I think after that, i reformatted my internal memory and repartitioned to 2048 / with 0 for swap.
I then went to Vegan 5.1 and it was OK but gave poor performance on wireless and I could not use the market.
I then flashed the 5.1.1 enhancement pack on top of that, naming it update.zip and it made things much, much better.
For me, not only pressing Power+Vol-Up was necessary, but then Volume Down to enter the hierarchical menu. And, I had to use linux to add my files to the gTablet, passing the USB through to an Ubuntu 10.10 VM from VMware Workstation.

Thanks Boulder,
I'm not having any problems getting in and out of recovery, but just getting the thing to boot after I do flash. It's just the strangest thing! I've tried both 7.x ROMs with no success. Going to try the others as you suggest.

I GIVE!
nvFlashed back, installed CWM.8, fired VEGAnTab 7 exp 1 and Google Aps and it looks like it's doing it's thing.
Thanks for the Power + Volume Minus tip!

GenTouch78 2nd Generation

Figured I'd start a new thread to separate the 2nd Generation info from the 1st Generation info for the GenTouch78. There is a lot of bouncing back and forth between the two versions related to rooting, hacking, etc. and it gets confusing - so much so, that it becomes easy to "brick" the 2nd Generation with a 1st Generation update.
That said, here's how to tell the difference for those that are just learning about it - the 2nd Generation GenTouch78 has a white power button that lights up and a 3.5mm earphone jack....those are the two biggest things I know of. Also, the key sequence is different to get it into different modes (fastboot, recovery, etc). Haven't quite figured out all of them yet, but I do know that to get it into fastboot mode you press and hold the Menu button on the back while hitting the reset with a paperclip (or pin or whatever). Done correctly, the screen flashes the GenTouch78 splash briefly and then goes blank.
So - enough of that jazz. On to the important stuff, like recovering a "bricked" 2nd Generation. Many have done it, including myself - and after trying every method I could find, I could not get the system back to a full working status.
In order to recover it, you'll need the fastboot utility, and the images I've got. Here's the nice thing - the images are a true clock work backup from a brand new, fresh from the box, 2nd Generation GenTouch78:
w w w dot megaupload dot com slash ?d=XRZ6MT9J
Unzip the file, and copy the entire clockworkmod directory onto your SDCard and stick it in your device. Get your 2nd Generation GenTouch78 into fastboot mode (Menu and reset like I said above), the fastboot it with the recovery1.img that is in the zip file:
> fastboot boot recovery1.img
Done correctly, the screen will flash up the usual screens, and start clockwork recovery mode. Once the recovery menu is available, it's just a matter of mounting the SD Card, navigating to backup and restore, and restoring from the backup. Once it's done, reboot your 2nd Generation GenTouch78 and you should be back to original factory working order. To navigate in the recovery mode, the menu and search buttons on the back are up/down, the home button is "enter", and the back button is the back button.
Happy unbricking!

GenTouch78 2nd Generation Hacking
Still working on the ins and outs of the 2nd Generation GenTouch78, but some important notes about this particular device:
The boot.img padding is not the same as most other Android devices. It's actually 8MB (8192) instead of the standard 2MB (2048) or 4MB (4096). Why they did that, I don't know - and with a freshly built kernel and ramdisk it can most likely be changed.
DON'T USE DD to try to back up the /system partition. It will create a file, granted, but you will never get it to restore because the file system ends up corrupted. So far the best method I've found for backing up everything in /system is either use the clockwork recovery image to back it up, or to tar up /system and pull it off with adb.
After I recovered my "bricked" 2nd Generation GenTouch78, I did manage to root it - still testing the stability before I start passing it around. I also got the Amazon Android App Store on in it, as well as Amazon Kindle and Flash - so far so good. Firefox claims that it's an unsupported device, so for the time being I'm using the Dolphin Browser, which isn't too bad at all actually.
I'll post more things as I find them, test them, etc.

HELP ME.. I tried it but didn't work!! WHAT SHOULD I DO?? ANY IDEA FOR FLASHING?

Thanks jschamberlin, when I tried to flash update it I was like what the heck did I do wrong now then realized it was not me it was this version of the tablet hope all is well and can't wait to get updates for it the stock image is so fustrating

Holding the BACK + POWER will bring you to a menu where you can choose Recovery, Fastboot, and other stuff
I tried to get clockwork on it with this thread but I ended up not being able to move in the clockwork menu
How did you get it on there?
Sorry for being such a newb
Did you install clockwork in order to make the backup of your ROM? I want to make a backup of my ROM before flashing, but I can't get CWM installed so it's a Catch-22
[EDIT]
I tried your recovery image, but it didn't work for me. After flash, the unit would not enter recovery at all. I have my backup dump, so I put it back on... here I will upload it for you.
I have a white-power-button, black, second-gen GT78 with a mic.
My About Screen: http://forum.xda-developers.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=709187&d=1315081481

This worked for me:
http://augendev.wikispaces.com/Custom+Recovery
When in clockwork recovery, to move, I had to HOLD MENU and press the SEARCH BUTTON in order to move up in the menu
The problem is this: I can only move up in the menu, I can't push any key combo to make it go to the next menu. I assume the keys are mapped to the button right, or something.

How's the stability been with the rooting, market fix, etc? Any chance to get a system image? THanks!

bricked gentouch 78 v2
i tried flashing my rom with the v3-lincs file now it's bricked. all i get is the first flash screen and it hangs. when i try to get into fastbood mode, reset menu key i get the black screen of death. any ideas on how i can un-brick this?
Thanks in advance

Luke 8:52 - She's only Sleeping!
I'm not much further than you and not home yet, but
I too found my self at the "black screen" but FOR ME....
Reseting whilst holding BACK + POWER gets the menu: Normal Boot, FastBoot, FWDN, and Recovery. then Navigation (for me) was
Menu = Up
HOME = Down
and POWER = Enter?? it turns the item Red in the menu anyway!
what to do next remains a mystery, she's not dead!

recovery1.img worked!
1 step further: i pu trecovery1.img on c and ran fastboot boo recovery1.img and got into clockwork v 2.5.1.3 but now i can't mount my sd card

success
My 2nd Gen Augen Gentouch 78 is back thanks to the recovery image on this post. thanks jschamberlin

Gentouch78 2nd Gen crash!!!
Hmm, a couple of day's ago my Gentouch78 2nd generation crashed big time. On boot-up won't go past the 'penquin' but then I stumbled on jschamberlin's post. Hooray!!! I'm saved But no, with my luck when trying to download the zip file (?d=XRZ6MT9J) from Megaupload I'm in the middle of the FBI's site shutdown Hence no image Any other way I can access the Image file.?

Hey, Hope this thread isn't dead. I am trying to get the CWM to work and the market to work on my gen 2. All the info I can find is for gen 1 and I see a lot of bricks. Any other info would be greatly helpful.

I also hope this thread isn't totally dead. A fellow co-worker gave me his gentouch78 today as he somehow bricked it. I believe it is a 2nd gen unit, white power button and 3.5mm jack. I can get into the splash screen and select and enter both recovery or fastboot. However, selecting recovery brings up CWM v2.5.0.4, I can only toggle up by holding Menu and pressing search...weird and I cant figure out how to select.
Fastboot still works. just no system.img to flash.
Can anybody please help?

My girlfriend gave me her 2nd gen if I could fix it. (wouldn't boot past bootanimation) Thanks to this forum I fixed it (after she got a nice new 10inch tablet.) Runs nicely.

[Q] boot looping after nvflash

My gtablet has been very happy and stable with the VEGAn-TAB GingerEdition STABLE RC1 rom for the last couple of months, but I've just run into a problem I can't get out of.
I was connected to my PC via USB about to copy some data off the tablet when everything froze. I needed to cycle power to get back to a workable system. Connected again via USB, and it froze again.
Next I booted into clockwork recovery and figured I'd have a look around to make sure everything was healthy with the filesystem. It wasn't. I was unable to mount the system partition.
At this point, I figured things were looking grim, so I opted to nvflash back to stock and maybe try again with the ROM. nvflash went ok, but after rebooting it bootloops at the white gtablet screen after 10-15 seconds or so.
Now when I try to go into recovery mode, it comes up to a black screen that reads "A N D R O I D", then i get an exclamation point, then it bootloops.
help! not sure how to proceed here.
thanks in advance for any pointers anyone can give me!

Code red (or maybe double red):
http://viewsonic-gtablet-for-dummies.webs.com/

I've gotten clockwork recovery reinstalled using this technique: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1058649
From there, I repartitioned the sdcard to 2048/0. It took a lot longer than I remembered it usually taking, but once that completed, I rebooted and got into the stock ROM without further issue.
Thanks for the space -- I've gotten rusty after having not run into any flashing difficulties for a while!

Double red it was! Thanks for that link bmag666. Definitely going in my perma-bookmarks.