Database Info

Kogan Agora Tablet (TCC8803 based)

This is a continuation of the generic TCC8803 thread at http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1119778
IMPORTANT - THERE IS A SYSTEM APP CALLED FWTOOL. DO NOT USE IT TO FLASH FIRMWARE OR YOU MAY END UP BRICKING YOUR TOUCHSCREEN. ALSO DO NOT FLASH ANY VERSION OF lk.rom OR YOU WILL BRICK YOUR TABLET.
To install clockworkmod
Download EM73-8K-recovery-signed.zip below. Rename it to update.zip and copy it to the root of your SD card.
With your tablet already turned off, press and hold down the Back button and then press the power on button while still holding down the Back button. This will open stock Recovery.
Use the buttons on the top of your tablet to navigate your way through recovery and to select menu items (menu = down, back = returns to previous menu, home = selects option).
Navigate to apply update.zip & follow the instructions. Reboot.
To use clockworkmod just press and hold down the Back button while powering up your tablet. Navigate the menu via the buttons (menu = down, back = returns to previous menu, home = selects option).
To make a Nandroid (clockworkmod) backup boot into clockworkmod recovery & navigate down to Backup then follow the instructions.
To root your tablet ** please see comment at end of post before continuing past this point
+++Make a full Nandroid (clockworkmod) backup before attempting this+++
Download & unzip Superoneclick from http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=803682 - NB you may need to turn off any antivirus program on your PC to allow downloading & use of Superoneclick.
Download & unzip the relevant Drivers folder (32 or 64 bit) from link below then connect your (powered on) tablet to your PC & point Device Manager to your unzipped drivers folder when it is looking for drivers.
Make sure USB debugging is allowed on your tablet (Settings -> Development -> USB debugging)
Right-click on Superoneclick.exe, select Run as administrator then click on the Root button. It will take 2 or 3 minutes for your device to be rooted.
This procedure has worked for my own tablet but I accept no responsibility if you end up bricking your device!
Another way to root your tablet is at http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1119778
To stop battery drain & prevent screen from waking every few minutes - **only for original Kogan ROM**
(with thanks to hallokitty for this fix)
This happens because the tablet keeps looking for the 3G signal it cannot ever receive. To fix this, go to System/app using Root Explorer from the Market, delete (or rename) phone.apk and TelephonyProvider.apk. You will immediately start getting errors but just use the reset button at the back of the tablet and when you reboot the problem has been solved. If you ever want to restore these apk's (e.g. if you want to use a 3G modem) just flash the phone+telephony zip file below using clockwork mod.
Clockworkmod rescue backups
I've done a factory reset & wipe of my tablet & made clockworkmod backups which I've linked to below. Make sure you do a full Nandroid backup before applying any of these. Unzip the file & place it in the appropriate Nandroid folder on your SD card (/clockworkmod/backup/), don't try to flash the zip file using CWM! These are a slightly slimmed down versions of the ROMs - for the Kogan ROM I've removed phone.apk, telephony.apk, Email, Facebook, Twitter, FW tool (dangerous to have), ES Explorer, Live Wallpapers and ES task manager. I've upgraded Spare Parts to Spare Parts + and added Astro File Manager as a user app. I had removed most of these things from my ROM before I was ever asked to make this backup so if you want to reinstall them you can get them from the Market or flash the relevant apk's into the system/app folder using CWM. The ROM is still rooted. You will need to do a factory reset & wipe the Data partition & Dalvik cache with CWM prior to doing this. If you want to use a 3G modem you will need to flash the "phone + telephony.zip" file listed below with clockworkmod.
Kogan firmware clockworkmod rescue backup: http://www.mediafire.com/?izfedrz97iowi34
**If you're really lazy you can combine rooting the tablet, removing unnecessary system apps & applying the screen wake fix by installing clockworkmod then restoring the rescue backup (NB make sure you make your own Nandroid backup first!!!).
CM7 runs extremely well on the Kogan except for HDMI out & Camera which don't work yet. You will also need to install Gmail & Youtube apps from the Market if you want them. Make sure you do a full CWM/Nandroid backup before trying this as I had problems with an unresponsive touchscreen after flashing the most recent CM7 ROM. For more info head here.
Tips & Tricks
MoboPlayer is a good video player, particularly for its ability to let you change the volume & screen brightness by swiping up & down directly on the video you are watching. The volume softkeys on the Kogan are not visible if any app is in fullscreen mode.
Titanium Backup may not show all installed apps or any system apps. To fix this go to Titanium Backup's Preferences and tick "Force use system Busybox" and "Force use system SQlite".

OK mine has arrived lets see what we can do

flipside101 said:
OK mine has arrived lets see what we can do
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lucky you - they're really dragging their heels with mine. Can you upload the kernel & we can see about getting clockworkmod for it?
How do you rate it as a tablet? Is the keyboard OK? - some people have said it's a bit carp.

I got mine today. It's going back as soon as I can get Kogan to respond.
Turns itself on & off at random, poor quality screen, sound, responsiveness.
Touchscreen activates itself without being touched.
What was I thinking? I guess you get what you pay for.
Now if only I could get them to reply to an email.......

Ok i have to agree you get what you pay for so i had low exectations. Its no flyer,tab,transformer but then it was a 1/4 of the cost. Yes the screen has issues (partly i think due to the screen protecter and battery life is poor though ive had this on for about 2 hrs now and its about 2/3rds down.
All in all im happy though going to live with it for a bit and i reserve the right to change my mind.
Wil right more when i have aproper keyboard

yeh i get the same problem with the screen comming on and off randomly.. i wish i could stop that =P (would save the 3 hour battery life i have to 4 hours!)
you get what you pay for =P but i thought the screen was quite good considering.
did you try the recovery yet?
how nice would it be to port oxygen to the kogan haha

wlee2 said:
yeh i get the same problem with the screen comming on and off randomly.. i wish i could stop that =P (would save the 3 hour battery life i have to 4 hours!)
you get what you pay for =P but i thought the screen was quite good considering.
did you try the recovery yet?
how nice would it be to port oxygen to the kogan haha
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The screen keeps coming on as the OS is looking for a 3G signal all the time. If you switch it to airplane mode it should stop happening. Or use http://www.appbrain.com/app/airplane-mode-wi-fi-tool/net.geekherd.airplanemode . Or you could even try adjusting the settings to use 2G only.

I can't adjust to 2g only on mine - it's greyed out.
Yes, I've put it back to factory setting a few times, but it's no better.
The switching on/off isn't the main problem (though it has used 30% of the batter life in 8 hours during the night).
The main issue is the touchscreen simply activating itself. If i go into a menu of any kind, it sometimes selects something for me. It happens too often to just ignore it.

Sounds like a faulty screen :-( - let us know how you get on returning it! If mine turns out to be rubbish when it arrives my Plan B is this one http://mp4nation.net/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=68&products_id=496

well im having the random on issues (thanks for the airplane mode idea ill give it a tray) but the screen activations are not a problem.
@dwl99 that mp4nation link is the same as the kogan (a rebranded em73) so its likely to have the same niggles i think

flipside101 said:
well im having the random on issues (thanks for the airplane mode idea ill give it a tray) but the screen activations are not a problem.
@dwl99 that mp4nation link is the same as the kogan (a rebranded em73) so its likely to have the same niggles i think
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A lot of these tablets are very similar (Herotab C8, Dropad A8) but there seem to be some important differences in the components used. I've been lurking in some Heropad C8 forums and nobody seems to have reported touchscreen problems.

This one look exactl;y the same , button layout etc etc however i know what you saying as even within the same model different components can be swapped in as costs change between runs

BTW
Kernel
2.6.35.7
Build
EM73_SIS_GC2M_V2 20110516
WILL UPLOAD WHEN I GET A CHANCE TO DUMP IT

An app that sticks it in Airplane Mode when you put it into sleep mode is a good work around for now, try "Auto Airplane Mode" (I can't link because I haven't posted enough, it seems...
Hasn't randomly turned on since I installed this. Ahh, forget that, it seems to be doing it again, it just took a lot longer...
In general, this thing is a bit cheap and nasty, but I guess that's what I expected. The button placement is seriously weird, and the touchscreen and accelerometer are just inaccurate and jittery (try playing a game that uses the accelerometer! good luck!)
I feel like it could benefit a lot from a nice ROM though, to fix a few issues (where the hell is the accounts & sync menu?)

hallokitty said:
I feel like it could benefit a lot from a nice ROM though, to fix a few issues (where the hell is the accounts & sync menu?)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Been trying to find how to set these before
i found it once earlier on but i cant find it again!!!
it was not where i expected and i think i had to do a round about method to find it.
i have a feeling it had something to do when i was trying to sync email contact with a email app but i forgot which one lol..

dwl99 said:
The screen keeps coming on as the OS is looking for a 3G signal all the time. If you switch it to airplane mode it should stop happening. Or use http://www.appbrain.com/app/airplane-mode-wi-fi-tool/net.geekherd.airplanemode . Or you could even try adjusting the settings to use 2G only.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
just FYI on the kogans you can activate aeroplane mode in settings then using the power controls widget on your home screen turn on wifi
it will keep the aeroplane mode on but wifi on as well atleast it worked on mine you dont need an app for it.
i actually wonder if the screen wake has something to do with background sync should try turn it off for a night and see.

Okay, so after being plugged in and fully charged, I unplugged it and left to drain overnight to see what would happen.
I had "Auto Airplane Mode" on, but as you'll understand, it helped, but not enough.
Even in Airplane Mode, the tablet would wake itself up, then "Auto Airplane Mode" would see the screen is on, and turn the wifi back on, then back off when the screen faded.
But, I'm thinking this might be because it has Sync enabled. I'm going to try it again with sync disabled.
The battery graph was a joke - it started smoothly going down at a reasonable pace, then -no lie- it spiked down.. then UP, then down, then up, throughout the night. It was at about 75% when I turned it back on after say, 8 hours. Then it dropped to 72%, then I plugged it in, and it immediately reported 98%. The biggest drain by a long way is "Mobile Standby".
However, for the most part, bar the bad accelerometer, terrible button placement, and slightly sharp edges, the hardware itself is not terrible for the money - 512MB RAM and 1GHz processor; I don't mind 800x480 at 7", it looks passable, although it's bad in sunlight. (Of course the viewing angles are bad, but for the cost, that's expected/OK).
But damn the software needs tweaking because it just has problems.
vv
Model number: EM73_SIS_GC2M_V2
Kernel Version: 2.6.35.7
Build number: EM73_SIS_GC2M_V2 20110516

Hi all since installing auto airplane I don't think im seeing wakes issues. I left the kogan overnight at about 50% battery and this morning it was at 35%. Ill test again tonight just to be sure as you seem to have the same build and kernel .
EDIT:
Ok i do still have it
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App

Though I have to agree the roms a joke accourding to quick system info 77% of my power useage has been down to mobile standby HUH.
Edit one thought is the 3g component in there for the 3g USB comparability and if so that was a new feature so could there be a rom that exists without it. I have added a topic in this forum asking if its possible to strip the 3g component out.
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App

Huh, no, it still seems to turn the screen on now and then even with sync off and in airplane mode. This thing needs a custom ROM as soon as possible. I imagine after a while people will start to sell them cheap because of problems that could mostly be fixed with better software, so I think it could be a pretty popular tablet for people willing to customise it..

My phone is completely freaking out software-wise :/

So, about 2 or 3 days ago I downgraded back to Froyo from the latest Gingerbread leak (too many bugs.) I did so with GTG's Ulimate unbrick, and then I flashed the pre-rooted/ pre-CWM stock ROM to it. I updated to the latest UCKH1 to be up to date, and then I restored a backup I made in ROM Manager a few weeks back. After that, I restored all my apps with Titanium backup. Now on to the issues. First time around my phone literally crapped out software-wise. It was literally force closing everything, texting wouldn't work, the Advanced power menu was gone except for Power Off. That only started after a full day of use with no issues whatsoever. It was completely random. Well late last night, I factory reset and put my apps back on again. Well I woke up this morning to find that my phone's suddenly being dumb again. Except this time the only issues that I know of are, the Advanced power menu's gone except for Power Off, and the home button will not function AT ALL. If anyone has any idea what's going on, or how I can resolve this, please lend a hand.

Kevinr678 said:
So, about 2 or 3 days ago I downgraded back to Froyo from the latest Gingerbread leak (too many bugs.) I did so with GTG's Ulimate unbrick, and then I flashed the pre-rooted/ pre-CWM stock ROM to it. I updated to the latest UCKH1 to be up to date, and then I restored a backup I made in ROM Manager a few weeks back. After that, I restored all my apps with Titanium backup. Now on to the issues. First time around my phone literally crapped out software-wise. It was literally force closing everything, texting wouldn't work, the Advanced power menu was gone except for Power Off. That only started after a full day of use with no issues whatsoever. It was completely random. Well late last night, I factory reset and put my apps back on again. Well I woke up this morning to find that my phone's suddenly being dumb again. Except this time the only issues that I know of are, the Advanced power menu's gone except for Power Off, and the home button will not function AT ALL. If anyone has any idea what's going on, or how I can resolve this, please lend a hand.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It sound like every time you encountered a problem it was after restoring your app with TiBu. Are you just restoring apps or apps&data? See how your phone runs without restoring apps. Try restoring apps(without data) and see what happens, or just manually download apps again. Could be a problem with data from the apps.

bigfau said:
It sound like every time you encountered a problem it was after restoring your app with TiBu. Are you just restoring apps or apps&data? See how your phone runs without restoring apps. Try restoring apps(without data) and see what happens, or just manually download apps again. Could be a problem with data from the apps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was wondering the same. I have indeed been restoring apps with data. Didn't want to lose my Cut the Rope progress But, they may end up being my problem. I've always gotten away without issues, so I guess it's about time for one to happen, haha. I'll try it out after work today and post how it goes.

Kevinr678 said:
I was wondering the same. I have indeed been restoring apps with data. Didn't want to lose my Cut the Rope progress But, they may end up being my problem. I've always gotten away without issues, so I guess it's about time for one to happen, haha. I'll try it out after work today and post how it goes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Most likely the problem lies with the backups being from a GB rom and now you are trying to put them an a Froyo rom. Probably saves it differently or something.

They tell you "Not" to use the backups from Titanium as they can cause issues, I reinstalled back to Stock Froyo as well running the latest UCKH1, When you do the Update to UCKH1 my advice is to go to Settings: Privacy: and do a Factory reset to fix the clock problem The clock will appear screwed up and will correct itself even when it's on Automatic Mode. Otherwise all is fine downgrading from GB Rom. Install all normal apps as usual, Screw Titanium my advice is just save the .apk file for the app in a Folder on your External SD Card, that's my quick way of reinstalling all my apps back regardless of losing settings.

you can also use tibu to restore single apps with data, you can try the ones you want to save progress and see if it causes issues. just stay away from system apps

I've never ha a problem with TitBU, as long as I restored "missing apps & data" ONLY!

same here, regardless of android version or even restoring on a different device. the only time i have seen issues is when i accidentally hit restore all apps with data, including system apps. thats when i got the constant fc and crashing

bigfau said:
Most likely the problem lies with the backups being from a GB rom and now you are trying to put them an a Froyo rom. Probably saves it differently or something.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You know, now that I think about it I actually made a backup from UCKJ2. That's more than likely my problem. Funny how I'm looking for all these complicated things and it ends up being something easy. Haven't restored anything, so I'll wait a day or two and see if everything stays like it should, and then I'll restore only what's needed to ensure it stays that way. Sorry it took so long to respond, had work, haha. Thanks guys all the responses were much appreciated.

Kevinr678 said:
You know, now that I think about it I actually made a backup from UCKJ2. That's more than likely my problem. Funny how I'm looking for all these complicated things and it ends up being something easy. Haven't restored anything, so I'll wait a day or two and see if everything stays like it should, and then I'll restore only what's needed to ensure it stays that way. Sorry it took so long to respond, had work, haha. Thanks guys all the responses were much appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You should be alright as long as you don't restore data. I think. Lol
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using Tapatalk

Similar problems with mutliple ROMS - What gets left behind when flashing?

So I've had a few similar problems with recent ROMS i have flashed.
I'd been using CM9 and CM10 for a while, but got tired of lag and bugs. I thought I'd go back to GB for a while and reflash after some bugs had been worked out.
From CM10 odin'd back to GB stock with CWM and root, then installed AEON purely by reputation. That lasted for about a week. The phone had all kinds of issues with the battery. The battery level would often be all over the place (i know this sometimes happens after a reboot.) After a full charge the phone would stay on for about 4-12 hours, and simply turn off. Prior to shutting off the battery would read at 50%+.
Every time the phone shut off like this I could charge it all day and it would not restart. The only way it would start is if i pulled the battery, plugged in the carger and reinserted the battery. Once I did that an empty battery would show up on the screen. However it was not the normal green one with gradients that would show up, but simply a white box showing no charge. If i held down the power button eventually the normal battery charging screen would show up and it would reboot.
I'm assuming the phone was misreading the battery level for some reason. I tried clearing battery stats. No change.
So I thought 'time for a new rom'
I'm not certain if I went back to stock before this.
So from there I went back to CM9 and then to CM10. The battery issues remained, and two new issues arose.
My reception in the notification bar would turn to an empty triangle. It was not a misreport. I could not make calls or access the internet.
Also whenever i went in to airplane mode it would be grayed out in the power menu. It was impossible to turn off airplane mode without restarting.
I'm not on the most recent verison of liquid smooth. The issues remain, but I don't think it's the ROM as others don't seem to be having these issues.
Does anyone know any reason for this?
My understanding of flashing is that it's essentially a list of folders and files that replaces or adds to existing ones on the phone. Does it actually erase anything? Obviously it leaves our simcards and picture files. It also seems to leave app folders.
And just to be clear I wiped user data, cache, fixed permissions, etc. IMEI is still there, so i don't think that's the service issue. I did not restore any apps with titanium backup for similar. Everything was installed from the play store.

Whenever you flashed back to stock, do you happen to flash boot loaders?
Sent from my SGH-I997 using xda app-developers app

magnetboard said:
Whenever you flashed back to stock, do you happen to flash boot loaders?
Sent from my SGH-I997 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I flashed back to GB so I don't think that was necessary. I've not had the other bootloader issues with garbled display, etc.

[Q] twlauncher and android.process.acore unexpectedly stopped.

Hello and thanks for your efforts! I recently got a Samsung Galaxy S Blaze 4G SGH - T769 for T Mobile but as I have Verizon I can not use it, so I decided to use it as a toy basically. I did a factory data reset then successfully rooted it using blaze-root-kernel.tar, blaze.pit, and using Odin 1.85 and everything was working fine. I installed Titanium Backup pro, backed up entire phone which was basically just the stock apps, just for the purpose of removing bloatware and if necessary restoring them later. My daughter got ahold of my phone, went into Titanium and froze, and uninstalled the contacts app. I restored it but because it was frozen it did not appear in my applications window. Of course I tried defrosting it but when I would check it still wasn't showing up. Also I noticed that the phone app was gone too. Im not sure if she deleted them, I guess it's possible. I tried rebooting after restoration, nothing. So I did another factory data reset, which I read in a few places would not harm my phone to do so after it's been rooted. After the factory reset it had all the animations and went to screen that says touch the droid to start. I touched it. It said to sign in to google account I hit sign in button and the screen went black and kept showing messages saying twlauncher has unexpectedly stopped and another saying android.process.acore has unexpectedly stopped. I re-performed the rooting process ( blaze-root-kernel.tar, blaze.pit, Odin 1.85 )stil nothing. Any how now when I turn on my phone the lock screen works but when I swipe everything goes black again and the messages (unexpectedly stopped) appear every few seconds. I can however see and pull down notifcations bar menu and play with wifi, bluetooth, gps,etc. Its actually connected to the house wifi right now. I can also long press the home button and pull up recent applications menu (its empty) and I can also enter task manager from here. Does anyone know how to fix this problem? Any help is greatly appreciated!

[Q] VZW Note Edge Safe Mode

hi friends, hope all is well with ya. i have a question, for anyone else with a VZW Note Edge that they obtained on release date or shortly afterwards. does anyone else have a phone that's booting in Safe Mode, and will NOT exit out of Safe Mode whatsoever? I had some trouble activating it (despite VZW's simple instructions of just popping the new SIM in the phone and turning it on) so i got that taken care of, but even when I first booted it up initially, it was still in Safe Mode. There's a notification in the drop down bar stating, "Safe Mode is enabled" and to tap it to disable Safe Mode, which essentially just restarts the phone. and every time it boots back up, it's still in Safe Mode, which restricts any/all customization whatsoever, and what is the point of having a phone if you can't customize it. thankfully i still have my Note 4 handy if necessary, and i've backed everything up with VZW's cloud, Google + photos, SMS Backup/Restore for texts and Helium for my game data. i've done a battery pull, checked the settings, powered it off and on, performed a factory reset, and i can't find anything that will disable it, other than the predetermined instructions that Samsung has on the VZW variant page (http://www.samsung.com/us/support/owners/product/SM-N915VZKEVZW). turning to you guys first before i decide to harass customer service and/or take a trip to a VZW store to handle it in person. is anyone else having this issue? thoughts? ideas?

I got mine on the 9th. Booting normally after lots of restarts and tweaked configs. I'd go swap it out if you haven't already.

DeathBySnuggles said:
I got mine on the 9th. Booting normally after lots of restarts and tweaked configs. I'd go swap it out if you haven't already.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thank you. i did swap it out, turns out the down button was jammed completely, you could actually see that it wasn't at a perfect vertical angle when comparing it to my replacement device. so far booting perfectly fine, getting everything restored from Helium as well.