I'm looking for some help with a new Android tablet that I've come into possession of. It's a Marvell Moby 10":
www dot mobylize dot org
The problem with this tablet is that they've got some weird custom home screen and it's running 1.6, and no market.
Good news: Tablet is rooted, terminal is installed, USB debugging is also enabled. In fact, these were all enabled by default. A really nice surprise for me!
I'm an experienced Linux admin, but not a developer, and am not very familiar with the Android internals or how to even begin building a new 2.2-based ROM for this sucker.
I've managed to install some apps to it by either downloading APK's directly, or installing apps from the market via my Droid, backing them up with TitaniumBackup, swapping SD cards, and then restoring them to the tablet. This works most of the time, but there are a bunch of apps that just don't work.
It's a really nice thin tablet, but unfortunately crippled in a few undesirable ways.
Right now I'm out of town so I don't have simple things on me like a USB cable that I can use to use adb so I'm limited to the terminal.
Would appreciate as much help as I can get on this! If you guys want me to dump images, files, etc, let me know and I'll get them online.
No ideas? No tips?
Still no ideas? Not even a place to start?
Presenting Problem: Tablet is stuck rebooting itself once it gets to the booting screen animation, USB Debugging was not turned on on the tablet when it was working properly last time, and I need to turn USB Debugging on to fix my tablet. How do I do this?
Disclaimer: Yes, you'll think there are a million other threads about enabling USB debugging and whatnot, but this is totally different!
The Story: My device is a Grid10 tablet. It runs its custom OS built on Android Kernel (Gingerbread). Everything about it is android, except it's not android (and it's not a custom launcher or a skin).
... anyway
The Grid10: Almost nobody here own a Grid10 (I assume), so here's the thing... the Grid has only ONE button. The power button. No volume buttons, no home or back or menu buttons or anything... all those commands are gestures on the Grid (... if it started properly)
The Problem and its Cause: Now, It's stuck continuously rebooting itself once it gets to the the booting animation screen because I mistakenly deleted a file from system/app called SettingsProvider.apk
The Solution: I have the missing file on my laptop, and I need to put it back on the tablet. When I plug in its USB cable, I don't get a drive in My Computer. Obviously, it won't get into storage mode without being told to do so from the settings list (which I have no access to... because it's stuck rebooting itself at the booting animation screen... yes, I'm repeating myself so no one will tell me to "enable USB debugging" when I say that...)
So aparently, to get the file on my Grid, I need to use adb.
And since I didn't have USB Debugging enabled when the Grid was last operating properly, the adb can't see my tablet! (as shown by a 'adb devices' command).
The Sucky Recovery Menu: There is no fastboot on this thing (not that it would help with anything), but there is a recovery menu i can access (by holding down the power button while the tablet is booting), but it's no use. It looks like some kinda' custom recovery menu called "PBJ40 Recovery Utility". It has 4 commands:
reboot system now
wipe data/factory reset
wipe cache partition
apply sdcard: update.zip
I've tried all of these commands (selecting is done by pressing the power button, and when un-pressed for a few seconds, whatever command is highlighted gets executed).
My best bet would have been the update.zip as I created a signed update.zip with the missing file in it so it can put it back in its rightful place... but sd card in question appears to be the built-in sd card, and not the external (removable) sd card... the recovery tool doesn't even look in the external sd card for the update.zip
In Short: To get the file on the tablet, for now, the only way I can see how, is through adb, and seen as how USB Debugging was not enabled when the Grid was operational last time, I come here, to the XDA Forums, asking for advice.
The Question(s):
A) How do I turn on USB Debugging on the tablet so i can use adb and fix it?
or
B) Is there some alternative way for me to get the missing apk in system/app folder that does not require USB debugging?
Got you scratching your brain? Been trying to solve this for so long, I finished scratching mine, and started hitting it against the wall now!
I hate to tell you this man, but I am pretty sure that you messed up your tablet/bricked it.
Problem solved.
Not the USB Debugging thing, but I ended up fixing the tablet.
Can't disclose how I did it though... privacy issues.
So the system is fixed and the GirdOS is running perfectly on the Grid10, but I still can't use the tablet anyway, because of some kinda' server-side failure, because I need to register myself on the server before I gain access to any of the tablet's functions, while the server isn't responding to register my credentials... so yea... the tablet works, but it's still useless to me.
There's not much if any hope that the server will be fixed or get running anytime soon, because from the rumors/reports, FusionGarage (the producer of said tablet) has disappeared off the grid. Ironic, isn't it?
Maybe some day somebody will be able get ICS or Honeycomb running on the Grid10, and will share the knowledge-how with everybody.
I got one of those PBJ40 tablets too with 1366x768 , but no real android (just 2.1) on it.. do you mind sharing the one you got?
maybe you even have the Kernel source for this? could be nice having too
Dexter_nlb said:
I got one of those PBJ40 tablets too with 1366x768 , but no real android (just 2.1) on it.. do you mind sharing the one you got?
maybe you even have the Kernel source for this? could be nice having too
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Explain yourself please.
What is this android 2.1 you speak of? The Grid10 (aka PBJ40) comes with its custom OS called GridOS that's based on Android.
So what's the 2.1 android you have? Is it pre-upgrade GridOS or what? After the upgrade, GridOS's kernel was made into Gingerbread.
Ghoymakh said:
Explain yourself please.
What is this android 2.1 you speak of? The Grid10 (aka PBJ40) comes with its custom OS called GridOS that's based on Android.
So what's the 2.1 android you have? Is it pre-upgrade GridOS or what? After the upgrade, GridOS's kernel was made into Gingerbread.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i guess hardware was tried sold to different parties, as mine is with Android 2.3 ( i made that ) but touchscreen is poor on this device, and Tegra2 got a tough time managing 1366x768 on it, compared to previous devices..
and lastly it was in development so drivers are not finished.
As your GridOS is 2.3 compatible it has a better kernel, and maybe a source for the kernel too, since i got no kernel source and no one that knows this hardware.
but maybe it'll show up with some totally different supplier, i seen talk on chinese forums where ppl compiles linux for it, so its still in the works.
Dexter_nlb said:
i guess hardware was tried sold to different parties, as mine is with Android 2.3 ( i made that ) but touchscreen is poor on this device, and Tegra2 got a tough time managing 1366x768 on it, compared to previous devices..
and lastly it was in development so drivers are not finished.
As your GridOS is 2.3 compatible it has a better kernel, and maybe a source for the kernel too, since i got no kernel source and no one that knows this hardware.
but maybe it'll show up with some totally different supplier, i seen talk on chinese forums where ppl compiles linux for it, so its still in the works.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I see.
Looks like whoever made the PBJ40 (aka Grid10) also sold some of its stock to other companies, and since the 'other companies' don't have a dev. team to compensate for the lack of drivers for the Tegra2 (I heard they're going to release the drivers in some 2 months), they had to sell it with Android 2.1 (froyo) on it, with lots of problems like screen responsiveness, poor power management, and the like.
I'm also guessing that you do not have Market, Talk or GMail on your tablet... or at least, you didn't have it at first (doesn't take much skill to install them... the tablet comes rooted).
I'm also guessing you have a serious gestures issue, am I right?
Do you have the 40 pin USB cable? (or did yours come with a regular female USB port??)
... I might be of assistance, if you're able to make your dev skills work in your favor.
So help me help you...
The only way this will work, is if you're able to reverse engineer the GridOS to:
1) Extract the programming that's responsible for the gestures so we can install it on any other device (like your PBJ40, which doesn't have gesture support as advanced as the Grid10), to make the device easier to use.
2) Override the sign-up screen for the GridOS. In case you do not yet know, once you boot GridOS for the first time, you're taken to a setup page (much like the setup page of Windows) where you register yourself on the FusionGarage server (people who made the GridOS) to gain access to the tablet... for some time now, the FusionGarage server has been down, and since the company recently went under, there's no way the server will be fixed ever again, so even with linux kernel 2.3 (aka android gingerbread... without the market) you can't have any kind of access to the tablet, because you'd be unable to proceed form the sign-up page forward! So if you can find a way to over-ride the sign-up page or 'delete' it from the equation altogether, we both win!
So: I can provide you with GridOS kernel version 2.3 (not android... GridOS! It's basically the same, it just doesn't have the Market, and its UI is different... still very nice... I like it).
So... you can't install GridOS on your Froyo tablet (just yet), even if you had the 2.3 GridOS at your disposal, because you'd be stuck there.
So the question remains:
- Can you reverse engineer a linux OS that is android based (but not truly android) to extract from it the gestures program so you can make your PBJ40 more responsive?
- Can you somehow customize GridOS to delete the whole signup page issue?
Both of these things will help me a lot... but only the gestures-solution will be of help to you, unless you have the USB cable for the tablet.
If you PBJ40 is not a regular Grid10, I'd like to see it from all angles + a picture of its cables and chargers... if possible, please upload them to this thread.
For now, to make your life easier, install the program called zMooth from the Market. Its gesture responsiveness will be much better than the 2.1 Froyo version your tablet is now running.
"swipe left to go back, swipe right for menu, gesture a up-arrow(^) for home"
Look at the screenshots to better understand.
While setting up the program sensitivity level, keep in mind that the lower the level, the more sensitive (it's in fine print).
... let me know what you get!
PS: It might also be of help if you can somehow get the gesture program from ICS kernel and adopt it to PBJ40!
Could be we should continue this OT, in a private PM and maybe exchange mails
I think i can do most of it, I even have Android3.0 running on it, but again kernel needed changing since touch driver is not supporting the way 3.0 works.
but it works even with highres..
I do not have 2.1 on it, i ported a CM7/2.3.6 to it, and it worked 95%, some issues with DSP manager and movie codecs, but i did not put my 100% in it, since i was doing it all for fun and my own interest, since i could not share with anyone anyways as no one had it. That was until i saw the design of Grid10, i knew it was 99% like mine.. Flash11.1 works great for movie playback here though..
I got the 4leds on it too and mine has USB HOST/device switching only by compal (writers of many tablets today), but i found the USBUTG tool to use with it, to make switching easier, than doing it in a shell.
anyways, lets maybe continue by PM.. and we can maybe exchange "partitions"
My vow of secrecy has been lifted!
To Flash your Grid10 (aka PBJ40), follow this tutorial I made:
http://www.thejoojooforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=49654
There's also more info on the general forum (and one or two other tutorials/suggestions I've made that could prove to be of benefit to anybody with a Grid10): http://www.thejoojooforum.com/viewforum.php?f=17
Ghoymakh said:
My vow of secrecy has been lifted!
To Flash your Grid10 (aka PBJ40), follow this tutorial I made:
http://www.thejoojooforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=49654
There's also more info on the general forum (and one or two other tutorials/suggestions I've made that could prove to be of benefit to anybody with a Grid10): http://www.thejoojooforum.com/viewforum.php?f=17
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if you know how to use APX mode on it (Reset button on right side(if looking at front). I got android 2.3.6 (CM7) running on it, i think only difference is that i got 4 hardware button (soft light buttons on right side of tablet)
let me know, and i can maybe upload the kernel + system to a site.
I dnt even know what APX is!
I'm new to the android dev. scene, so i dnt know much yet.
I don't have much use for a Gingerbread ROM that's not going to be filly compatible with the Grid10. We don't have ANY buttons on our tablets.
To compensate for that, you might want to include the program Zmooth in the list of apps that the flashing-process will auto-install, so whoever flashes the CyanogenMod won't be left stranded without any buttons to use on the Grid10.
As mentioned in the flashing tutorial, V. is recompiling the original GridOS to make it skip the registration page, and it's Gingerbread too, one that's completely compatible with the tablet's specs, including gestures. It will be the GridOS as (previously) advertised by FusionGarage, only this time, no registration page, which means we can flash it and actually use it (up till now, whoever re-flashed or did a factory reset couldn't use their tablet because the registration could not be completed since the FG servers were down).
Maybe that could prove to be useful to you... I'll upload the file to the Grid10 forum once it's finished.
(i wonder if there's a way to open a Grid10 section in the xda forums...)
But what you have could be useful to somebody else out there!
How about you upload your files in Dropbox, and create a new thread on the above-linked forum, and share your ROM so other people might benefit from it.
https://www.dropbox.com/
Make sure you write your tablet's full specs, including the information about your soft and hard buttons, as our tablets have NO soft-buttons, and only have 2 hardware buttons: a power button and a reset button.
Edit: as the Grid10 doesn't have volume buttons, i don't think it's even capable of entering APX mode. It does have a recovery mode... but the only options in there are to factory-reset, delete cache partition, and install update.zip.
Ghoymakh: YOU ARE THE CLOSEST THING TO.... THX
Ghoymakh said:
My vow of secrecy has been lifted!
To Flash your Grid10 (aka PBJ40), follow this tutorial I made:
There's also more info on the general forum (and one or two other tutorials/suggestions I've made that could prove to be of benefit to anybody with a Grid10):
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
============================================
I'm one of the fortunate-unfortunates.
I previously reset my G10 and it has been useless ever since. I did however purchase the USB adapter with my device and I'm looking forward to making use of your extensive research and hard work.
Again, thanks and I'll let y'all know how it goes (within the next 7 days or so).
Praise and thanks to you and everyone else out here.
G
Ghoymakh said:
Edit: as the Grid10 doesn't have volume buttons, i don't think it's even capable of entering APX mode. It does have a recovery mode... but the only options in there are to factory-reset, delete cache partition, and install update.zip.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
can you check when you got the tablet in front of you facing up. that on your right side a little hole is found just about center, 5-6cm above simcard slot (at least on mine simcard is on the right side)
if you turn it off, holding in the tap inside the small hole (you can feel the click when its pushed), press power and it goes into APX mode. but you will need the bootloader.bin to get it in full apx mode and ready to accept commands.
A small step for man.... My Grid10 is more than just a brick
- Using Ghoymakh's instructions from JooJoo Forum, I successfully flashed my Grid10 yesterday.
-- The identified 'tar' command didn't work on the compressed file but the Archive Mounter within Back Track worked just fine.
- Now, as time permits, I'm going to move forward and attempt to incorporate the Xmooth and Market.
-- If only I could get my JooJoo Forum account activated....
Again, Props to Ghoymakh, V, and any/all other contributors.
G
Following the dev's in the developer forum which I am not allowed to post at to ask questions, suppose I'll do it here...
First off, most of these proposed rooting methods are convoluted and make no sense. To an experienced developer who writes all this crazy code making ROMS, flashy things and whatnots, sure, these directions make perfect sense.
To those of us who dont even know what the hell "OTA" stands for, trying to follow you guys in these processes is frustrating mental masturbation. Here's why...
1. Civato--> downloaded all these files, the "just_ADB", the V3-APX-..., the ICS_HC_bootloader, went to vache's site and got the SBK (what the ??? is a 'SBK' anyways? no explanation there either!)
2. Tried Blackthund3r's ICSRoot tool, didnt work. says I have root but I certainly do not. I cannot delete the crapware (LetsGolf, Hero of Sparta Zinnio definitely qualifies as 'crapware') Downloaded the A500 Manager done by Blackthund3r as well. Get to the point it says "Press any key after entering bootloader mode"...stuck. My A500 positively will not enter this mysterious "APX" mode.
3. Installed, re-installed, re-re-reinstalled Acer USB drivers. Put the ADB drivers into the driver store on my windows xp machine...still cannot get my tablet to be recognized as a "APX" USB device. Just shows up as a "portable device".
4. Installed all the java platforms--> have the 6.xx, the new 7.xx stuff
5. Installed the eclipse platform, the Android SDK tools, installed all the different .NET runtimes (1.1, 2.x, 3.0, 3.5, 4.0 client and web dev)
Sick of installing stuff. None of this is making any of this "rooting" process jell together. Still cannot get my tablet to enter "APX" mode, every possible permutation between seconds of holding power button and depressing reset button with paper clip aint werkin' here...
6. Put all these ROM images and stuff on my external_sd card on my tablet. Put em on the internal sd card too, just in case...
7. None of this works. Most of these files are alien to WindowsXP, so that means it can do nothing with it. NOTHING. Windows looks at the V3-APX files and goes "huh! what you want me to do with that???"
So my question to all these XDA developers here spending all this fancy time making all these ROMs, bootloaders, cute lil scripts is this:
You guys gonna put something together that makes sense to non-android developers.
You offer too many choices to us clueless android NON-developers with no explanation as what this stuff is. You have in directions "Install this", but give no clue how or where to install this stuff. I now have all this muck on my laptop and still no rooted tablet...
The worst part of all this that if I actually understood what is really going on here, I could write up a method that ANYONE would comprehend and follow. But I can't get through this process to a successful end result.
Help, please?
I have been trying to deal with this issue for several weeks. I have been on the phone with various tech support agents, watched countless YouTube videos, have read an insane number of posts in forums, and have had a few discussions online with folks who said they knew what to do, but then didn't. I have written out in detail all the things that have been done and/or tried. It will not fit in this discussion board. So, I put it into a Word document and saved it as a PDF since a Word document cannot be attached, and am going to attach the PDF.
Can ANYONE please read through it and help me with the next step? I have been assured that I can still access the files on the phone and manage to save them. That is my ultimate goal. I have been using an old phone we kept after one of our kids' upgrades, and am going bonkers using it.
Please, please, please, read through the attached PDF of the Word document and see if you know what to do or maybe know someone who may.
Thank you!!!!
Wow, very sorry to hear about your phone.
Was it the May update that caused the bootloop?
Have you tried connecting your phone to your computer (Windows) using a different usb cord to see if your phone appears under Portable Devices in Device Manager?
If it does appear, please see if your drivers need updating.
Did you have USB debugging enabled on your phone before the bootloop?
Sorry to hear about your phone. But I wouldn't suggest to open pdf file as could be virus etc. Maybe it is clean. So all text you can copy on your post with screenshots.