RCA RCT6203W46 Pro10 Tablet: Catch-all Thread - Android General

Fellow Pro10 6203 users:
Welcome! As we do not yet have a forum dedicated to this device, I am creating this thread to serve as a means to share everything that I've come to discover about the usage of this inexpensive yet capable Android tablet. This thread will include varying topics such as rooting, custom recovery, accessories, customization apps, custom ROM's, and anything else I might come across that may enhance our experience with the product. I have found no real one-stop source for information concerning this device, so I am beginning this one that I hope everyone that owns one will find useful. Please feel free to ask questions and add constructive commentary
Tech Specs:
Model Number: RCT6203W46KB
Operating System: Android 4.4.2
CPU Chip: Quad Core
CPU Chipset Model Number: MTK MT8127 1.5GHz
GPU: Mali-450 MP
Resolution: 1024x600
Density: 160dpi
Screen Features: 10.1 Thin-film Transistor
RAM: 1GB
RAM Type: DDR3
Storage Capacity: 16GB
Camera: Yes (Front & Back)
Camera Specifications: Front Facing 0.3M pixel webcam (640x480), Rear 2M pixel webcam (1600x1200)
Battery Life: 6 hours
Battery Life Details: Playback downloaded video with WiFi turn off
Connectivity/Audio: Headphone jack, Micro USB, DC jack, Micro HDMI
Dimensions: 262(W)x165(H)x11.5(D)
Weight: 921g
Software: Walmart, Sam's Club, Vudu, eMusic, Kingsoft Office
Included Accessories: Power adapter, Keyboard Folio
If you happen to find something here worth your while, please hit the thanks button!

Rooting
Always remember, you root your device AT YOUR OWN RISK. Rooting will void your warranty and you may brick your device in attempting this. Its a choice and you're the only one who can make it.
Rooting instructions (tested up to RCA firmware 1.9.50):
(Beginning with a tablet never before rooted, or has been completely unrooted prior)
1. On your tablet, go to Settings > About tablet > Build number and tap the build number 7 times. This will unhide the Developer options menu.
2. Tap the Developer options menu. Enable it by sliding the slider to the right in top bar. Select "USB debugging" by placing a check mark in the box next to it.
3. Go to Settings > Security. Select "Unknown sources" by placing a check mark in the box next to it. Deselect "Verify apps" by removing the check mark in the box (you can enable it again afterwards if you wish).
4. Connect your tablet to PC via USB.
5. Download the Windows iRoot rooting application here.
6. Install the app.
7. Start iRoot and follow instructions to root. Remember to enable USB permissions on tablet when prompted.
8. Once successfully completed, download and install SuperSU from here to replace the Chinese root manager called Superuser 1.0.4.
9. Start SuperSU and you will be asked for permission, choose to allow.
10. SuperSU will prompt to install SU binary, go ahead with OK and install normally (not TWRP). IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO INSTALL THE BINARY.
11. Once SuperSU is installed and the binary updated, you can uninstall Superuser 1.0.4 and the second app it installs, something like "Clean Master" (unless you want it).
Happiness is now achieved with having a rooted device
* For further details regarding root, please see "Rooting considerations" in the Misc. section below.

Custom Recovery
Always remember, you install a custom recovery on your device AT YOUR OWN RISK. Installing a custom recovery will void your warranty and you may brick your device in attempting this. Its a choice and you're the only one who can make it.
99% of the credit for this section goes to johnemc2, PatF and mexicandroid for creating and contributing to this thread. Although it was created for a different but similar RCA tablet model, they provided everything I am going to reiterate here. Also the original thread for TWRP on MediaTek devices (which is the chipset for these RCA tablets) is here, and all credit goes to yuweng for this. Make sure to hit the thanks button in the respective threads for these guys!
TWRP installation instructions (tested up to RCA firmware 1.9.50):
1. Device must be rooted. See rooting section above or use another method of your choice.
2. Download the TWRP recovery image for the 6203 from here. Rename it by deleting "[RCA 6203 TWRP - Remove this tag]" so that the file name reads only "recovery.img" (with no quotes of course).
3. Place this file on your external sdcard.
4. Download and install [ROOT] Rashr Flash Tool from here. If the app suggests updates, go ahead and install them.
5. Rashr will ask you to make a backup. If you try, it will fail. Not to worry too much though, a stock recovery image is available below.
6. Start Rashr. From the menu, tap Recovery from Storage. From the "Pick a file" menu select /storage/emulated. Select /storage/, then select sdcard1/. From there select the recovery.img file you saved in step 3.
7. It will give you a warning prompt asking if you are sure. If so, select "Yes please" to install TWRP.
8. Upon successful flashing of TWRP you will have the choice to boot into the custom recovery, go check it out!
9. One procedural maintenance item to perform after: I have noticed that the rashr app holds on to a large amount of data for some reason and haven't found the need. Once you reboot, you can go into Settings > Apps > All and find Rashr and clear data to reclaim the space.
Good guide for using TWRP can be found here.
How to manually get into recovery (TWRP or stock):
From a powered off state, simultaneously depress the power and volume up buttons until the white RCA boot screen appears. Once this screen appears, release the power button but REMAIN DEPRESSING THE VOLUME UP BUTTON until you are in recovery.
Stock recovery installation:
It is the exact same procedure as was with TWRP, with the exception of step 2. Instead download the stock recovery image from here, rename it by deleting "[RCA 6203 Stock Repacked - Remove this tag]" so that the file name reads only "recovery.img" (with no quotes of course). Continue on using step 3 above. Check out why you might need the stock recovery image in the "Firmware updating considerations" area of the Misc. section below.
Ultimate happiness and assurance is now achieved with having a custom recovery installed on your device to back it up!

Accessories
Here are some of the accessories I am currently using for the 6203:
Cases:
The keyboard case is good, but I found it cumbersome in most cases and unnecessary. So I purchased this case from Ebay. Here are some photos of mine. I have had it for 5+ months with no issue upon daily use.
Screen Protectors:
I purchased this anti-glare and anti-fingerprint screen protector from Amazon. Although they now have it for the 6203, at the time they only had them for the 6103 and I had to modify it. But 5 months later it is still great. Being anti-glare means there is a slight matte to them, but overall I found it hardly effected the clarity of the screen. It really kept having to wipe off the screen due to fingerprints to a minimum!
I am just sharing what I have found to work for our devices and hope it helps you too in some way!

Customization Apps
Customization apps that require root (seeing rooting section above):
Xposed Framework. Man is this awesome. Here is the description from the site: Xposed is a framework for modules that can change the behavior of the system and apps without touching any APKs. That's great because it means that modules can work for different versions and even ROMs without any changes (as long as the original code was not changed too much). It's also easy to undo. As all changes are done in the memory, you just need to deactivate the module and reboot to get your original system back. There are many other advantages, but here is just one more: Multiple modules can do changes to the same part of the system or app. With modified APKs, you to decide for one. No way to combine them, unless the author builds multiple APKs with different combinations. You can find version 2.6.1 for our tablet here (select "show older versions" at the bottom of the page).
GravityBox [KK]. TONS of customization for our device. Find it here.
Customization apps that do not require root:
Blacked out or inverted apps. I love darkened apps. I prefer a black or dark background to most apps. It looks good and is easier on the eyes! You can download the Team Blacked Out updater apk from here. You can download many popular apps that have been "blacked out" by this team.
I am just sharing these apps for fellow fans of customization. Enjoy!

Custom ROM's
[reserved]

Misc.
Rooting considerations:
Although there is a risk of bricking the device in doing so, to date I have rolled through both the 1.3.51 and 1.9.50 RCA updates without the update being hindered by having my device rooted prior (never unrooted), and I have not lost root once the update completes. Although I have not tried this without, I believe this may be because I use SuperSU Pro OTA survival. This app is not necessary, but the free version does not have the "OTA survival mode" that the pro version possesses. I recommend spending the $3.75 for purchase.
Firmware updating considerations:
If you delete any of the bloatware apps that comes preloaded (VUDU, Walmart, Sam's Club, Opera, etc.) and try to update the device, it will soft brick your tablet. This is because the update performs a core app comparison check to test validity prior to completing installation. You will only be able to get into stock recovery once this happens. Therefore my recommendation is not to delete any of these apps but instead use Titanium or MyBackup Pro to freeze them, and prior to attempting any firmware update remember to UNFREEZE THEM FIRST. This will save you any headache with the firmware updates.
I do not think you can install an official firmware update via TWRP, so you may need to reinstall the stock recovery to do this. See the "Custom Recovery" section above.

Misc. #2
[reserved]

One frustrating thing about our device is that some apps will not install from the Play store. It will state "this item is not compatible with your device". Well I have tried many methods to circumvent this, including changing prop files and using apps that fake screen densities. I don't recommend that . Instead I sideload. I use a Google Chrome extension called APK Downloader. You can get it here. To set up it will ask for devide ID info. I plug in the number for my S4. Once downloaded, I just copy the apk over to my tablet and install from there. The only caveat to this is that it does not work for purchased apps.
There are other ways to procure the app and sideload, but this is the method I use most often for the 6203.

I have a support request in to RCA for these concerns (here is the text as I sent):
Hello,
I have 3 questions. The first is that by reading the specs for this tablet the CPU is supposed to be set for 1.5Ghz. But when you use the tablet, it is only set for 1300Mhz (1.3Ghz) (I can provide screenshots). Which is wrong and why?
My second question is do we have any access to a complete firmware ROM that can be used via recovery? This would be nice to have in case the tablet is soft bricked for any reason. Update ROMs do not provide this.
Lastly, is there anywhere to download USB drivers for this tablet?
Thanks in advance for your help.
From RCA:
Glen (RCA Support)
Apr 27, 3:18 PM
1) The max threshold is 1.5Ghz. The reason it is running at 1.3 is probably because your not using its absolute full capacity
2) We dont have the ROM
3) Is this for the USB stick or memory stick?
Glen
Technical Support
#Madeforyourlifestyle
My response:
Glen,
Here are my responses:
1. I have attached 3 screenshots from independent apps that all report the CPU set for 1.3Ghz and not 1.5Ghz. In fact they show the governor as having the range for the CPU set to 598-1300mhz. I believe this happened in the firmware 1.9.50 update and was not the case prior. Can you check to see why this was done? We purchased tablets that were intending on having a 1.5Ghz processor.
2. You will see many returns then from tablets that were soft bricked due to the most recent update corrupting the system file, and then only allowing people to boot into recovery and not into Android.
3. No, USB drivers as in this explanation: http://developer.android.com/tools/extras/oem-usb.html
Thanks. I really appreciate your assistance with these questions. Please let me know if there is any other information I can offer.
From RCA 5/4/15:
Glen (RCA Support)
May 4, 3:43 PM
The tablet will use the 1.5Ghz only when it will take big update like firmware updates.
#Madeforyourlifestyle
My response:
Glen,
There is no way for the Android kernel to know only to use full CPU capability during an upgrade procedure. Its there for all operations or it is not.
Can I have my concern escalated to your engineering team? As I said previous, the system showed 1.5Ghz was available in processing speed before the last upgrade.
Thanks
From RCA 5-7-15:
Hello,
We'd love to hear what you think of our customer service. Please take a moment to answer one simple question by clicking either link below:
How would you rate the support you received?
Good, I'm satisfied
Bad, I'm unsatisfied
Conclusion:
So apparently RCA doesn't intend to do anything about the most recent update failures outside of performing RMA's for people, and also doesn't care to answer why these tabs are advertised as 1.5Ghz and are being throttled to 1.3.

Rct6203w46-android4.4.2-3101-v50-v1.3.71
What can I do with this or this - no ROM Backups, and an annoying 'brick' on my table?
I successfully rooted with KingRoot and tried to manually switch to SuperSU with a script I found.
The script seemed workable. I found all of the targets and: # root.sh ... oh *hi*
The transition failed and after trying to 'clean up' remnants the script seemed to have missed, the screen froze: RESET BUTTON - nothing, nothing, nothing.
I wish I hadn't believed it would work without a 'dd ... system.img'. The tablet had about 12hrs mileage and is now a very new [Black Friday] $49 item about to be smashed on the driveway.
I read somewhere that RCA will not be distributing winusb drivers.
*uc* it - i b-roke i-t! :victory:
It's Alive! After the battery drained, 2 weeks later, it booted!
removed supersu

probeafargavin said:
What can I do with this or this - no ROM Backups, and an annoying 'brick' on my table?
I successfully rooted with KingRoot and tried to manually switch to SuperSU with a script I found.
The script seemed workable. I found all of the targets and: # root.sh ... oh *hi*
The transition failed and after trying to 'clean up' remnants the script seemed to have missed, the screen froze: RESET BUTTON - nothing, nothing, nothing.
I wish I hadn't believed it would work without a 'dd ... system.img'. The tablet had about 12hrs mileage and is now a very new [Black Friday] $49 item about to be smashed on the driveway.
I read somewhere that RCA will not be distributing winusb drivers.
*uc* it - i b-roke i-t! :victory:
It's Alive! After the battery drained, 2 weeks later, it booted!
removed supersu
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
probeafargavin,
Sorry for slow reply. Been a busy month! I recommend sending the unit back to RCA for an RMA. I had to do this once and although it took a month, I received back a working tablet. It doesn't matter that you did this, they will not check. They will end up sending you back a refurbed tablet. Mine works fine.
-droidify

Needing Help
I rooted my device (same exact make/ model you have listed). Well it just so happens that now I am not able to open the Google App store. I have clicked the app logo so many times now and all what I see is what looks like the app is about to open but it just disappears about a half second later.
Looks like I am no longer able to use the back button also. I have tried factory resetting the device yet problem remains. Clearing cache of the Google Play app, no results. Please help!!!!! I would surely appreciate it, I'm sure you can imagine how devastated I am over this.

C_Cee said:
I rooted my device (same exact make/ model you have listed). Well it just so happens that now I am not able to open the Google App store. I have clicked the app logo so many times now and all what I see is what looks like the app is about to open but it just disappears about a half second later.
Looks like I am no longer able to use the back button also. I have tried factory resetting the device yet problem remains. Clearing cache of the Google Play app, no results. Please help!!!!! I would surely appreciate it, I'm sure you can imagine how devastated I am over this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
C_Cee unless you have TWRP installed and had a back up, there is not much you can do. I would RMA the tablet through RCA. I had to do this once and it was a pretty quick turn around.
-Droidify

RCT203W46L Questions
Hi,
I have just purchased the above and rooted it with Kingroot. This is the lollipop 5.0 version.
a) a stagefright detector from lookout reports this device is vulnerable to this hack. Any thoughts?
b) are the twrp and stock recovery images pointed to by droidify post #2 and #3 still usable? even though its lollipop5.0?
Any help appreciated before I mod this thing!!
Thanks

kwmike said:
Hi,
I have just purchased the above and rooted it with Kingroot. This is the lollipop 5.0 version.
a) a stagefright detector from lookout reports this device is vulnerable to this hack. Any thoughts?
b) are the twrp and stock recovery images pointed to by droidify post #2 and #3 still usable? even though its lollipop5.0?
Any help appreciated before I mod this thing!!
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lollipop is going to have a different recovery, so what I posted likely will not work and may cause serious problems if attempted. Not sure about stagefright vulnerabilities.

Any advance?
No more advance in this device?

drakedalfa said:
No more advance in this device?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My tablet is still going. Although not my daily driver device, I use it to watch videos on break at work and to read on. There hasn't been any development for this device that I am aware of and unlikely to be considering it is not that popular.

Flashing recovery from build Build: RCT6303W87DK-ANDROID5.0-V63-V1.12.20-B
kwmike said:
Hi,
I have just purchased the above and rooted it with Kingroot. This is the lollipop 5.0 version.
a) a stagefright detector from lookout reports this device is vulnerable to this hack. Any thoughts?
b) are the twrp and stock recovery images pointed to by droidify post #2 and #3 still usable? even though its lollipop5.0?
Any help appreciated before I mod this thing!!
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Aloha -
I just received one of these today:
Model: RCT6303W87DK (32GB)
Android version: Lollipop 5.0.
Kernel: 3.10.54
Build: RCT6303W87DK-ANDROID5.0-V63-V1.12.20-B
I installed NewKingrootV4.62_C133_B233_en_release_2015_11_24_105203.apk downloaded from www\.kingroot\.net
On the first attempt, Kingroot rebooted at 22%, and failed to root. I repeated the procedure without rebooting, and achieved root on the second attempt.
I am curious to know if you flashed TWRP and, if so, what results you had.
Also: does anyone know if, in fact, the 5.0 loader actually is different from the 4.4.2 loader.
Thanks in advance.

I'm confused, is this thread on the RCA Pro 10 RCT6203W46KB or for it's successor (I assume) the RCA 10 Viking Pro RCT6303W87DK. I ask because I have the RCT6303W87DK and am looking to see if there are any ROMs for it, as I would prefer to be running Android 5.1.2 or 6.0 over 5.0.

Related

[GUIDE][VZW Edition]How to root your Galaxy SIII & More!(ROMs/CWM/Stock)

Here is a guide I have put together for the VZW Samsung SCH-I535 Galaxy S3
------------------
This guide contains 7 sections:
Section 1: How to Root/Unlock bootloader/Flash CWM recovery coming from stock 4.0.4 ICS
Section 2: How to flash a Custom Touchwiz 4.0/4.1 rom
Section 3: How to flash a CM10/AOSP/AOKP JellyBean rom
Section 4: How to flash a Custom Kernel
Section 5: How to Odin back to Stock from any rom/recover from a soft brick/flash a stock radio
Section 6: Directory
Section 7: Glossary
-----------------
This Guide Is For The D2VZW SCH-I535 ONLY!! DO NOT ATTEMPT TO FLASH ANYTHING FROM THE I9300 International GS3 Or You Will Hard Brick The Device!!
-----------------
*I am not liable for what you do to your DEVICE!!
*I take no credit for links posted in this thread... This is just a guide or more so a collaboration of different guides all put into one thread!!
*This Guide will not trip your flash counter!! Flashing any custom software via odin will infact trip the flash counter!! Thats why I use these methods and the only thing I use odin is for flashing STOCK firmware Only!!!
-----------------
*** Before going any further I strongly suggest reading and performing this action before flashing any custom roms!!! ***
[HOWTO]Comprehensive IMEI/EFS Backup- http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1852255
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Section 1: ( For Windows OS)How to Root/Unlock bootloader/Flash CWM recovery coming from Stock 4.0.4 ICS
*This works with all current Stock 4.0.4 ICS builds...VRALF2, VRALG1, VRALG7, VRALHD, and VRALHE.
*However RootdebugFS does not work for 4.1.1 JellyBean. If you want Stock rooted Jellybean then there are 2 options! .
*Option 1 is to proceed to section 5 and use odin to flash a Stock pre-rooted Jellybean rom. Then follow steps 8-12 from this section for unlocking and flashing a custom recovery.
*Option 2 is to complete this section 1, then proceed to section 2 and flash a Jellybean rom via CWM or TWRP recovery.
Step 1: Download these files to your pc:
Samsung Driver- http://tinyw.in/Fdoz
RootDebugFS- http://goo.im/devs/invisiblek/i535/Root%20Debug%20FS.7z
Step 2: Install samsung drivers to the pc and unzip the RootDebugFS tool to desktop.
Step 3: Connect the device with the oem usb cable to pc.
Step 4: On your device, Make sure USB Debugging(settings/developer options/usb debugging) and Install of Unknown Sources(settings/security/unknown source) is checked.(Also, make sure there are no other android devices, emulators, or any tethering programs running!!).
Step 5: From the PC, Open the Root Tool folder you downloaded in step 1 and Double click "RootDebugFS". press 1 then hit enter.
Step 6: Agree to all of the disclaimers by pressing Y after each one pops up.
Step 7: Once the root process starts DO NOT UNPLUG YOUR DEVICE until it completes!
*Congrats you should now be rooted! Continue following instructions for unlocking bootloader and flashing a custom recovery*
*TAKE NOTE THAT IF YOU EVER OTA UPDATE YOUR BOOTLOADER WILL BE LOCKED*
Step 8: Open up the SuperUser application from your app drawer and make sure the binaries are up to date! You can do this by sliding over to the info screen and selecting update binary.
Step 9: Download the EZ-Unlock app to your device from HERE.(Only use version 1.1 or 1.2 for now as the latest versions have issues!)
Step 10: Open the app and select unlock! Now your unlocked...yup its that easy!
Step 11: Download the EZ-recovery app to your device from HERE.
Step 12: Open app, select CWM recovery, tap the pulldown menu, choose CWM 6.0.1, select flash, then reboot recovery.
Step 13: Congrats you are now rooted, unlocked, and have a custom recovery installed!! If you want to flash a custom rom proceed to section 3 or 4.
*Credit goes to Adam Outler, Noxious Ninja, mmmeff, and all others involved!!!
*(Mac/Linux) users read HERE for Rooting!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Section 2: How to flash a Custom TouchWiz 4.0/4.1 rom from CWM recovery
**YOU MUST BE ROOTED AND HAVE BOOTLOADER UNLOCKED!**
Step 1: Download one of the roms below to the root of your internal sd card(/mnt/sdcard):
ICS 4.0.4
Bean's Custom Stock-http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1768209
Rooted Stock VRALHD- http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1911118
TW JellyBean 4.x
Incubus JellyWiz- http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1853337
Eschelon's Synergy- http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1792499
Scrosler's CleanRom- http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1832070
Puremotives Galaxy Mod- http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1953008
Beans JellyBeans- http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1973982
Stock rooted VRBLK3 4.1.1- http://www.androidfilehost.com/?fid=9390214368362234071
Stock rooted VRBMB1 4.1.2- http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2178482
Step 2: Download and install the EZ recovery App from HERE (If your coming from section 1 and already have a custom recovery, reboot recovery and skip to step 4).
Step 3: Open app, select CWM recovery, tap the pulldown menu, choose CWM 6.0.1, select flash, then reboot recovery.
Step 4: Perform a Nadroid Backup from the "back up/restore" menu(optional but recomended)!
Step 5: Wipe Data/Factory reset, then under the "mounts & storage" menu Format System.
Step 6: Navigate to "install zip from sdcard", then from there "choose zip from sdcard", and finally install the rom you downloaded in step 1.
Step 7: Reboot.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Section 3: How to flash a CM10/AOSP/AOKP Jelly Bean rom
**YOU MUST BE ROOTED AND HAVE BOOTLOADER UNLOCKED!**
Step 1: Choose and download one of the roms in part A and the file in part B to the root of internal sd card(/mnt/sdcard):
A.
CM11- http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2558946
CM10.2- http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2405425
Pac-Man http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2028443
Eclipse- http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1934572
B.
Kit Kat Gapps https://plus.google.com/107979589566958860409/posts/FYkuneXi3J7
JB Gapps- http://goo.im/gapps
Inverted JellyBean Gapps- http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1797292
Step 2: Download and open the EZ recovery app from HERE (If your coming from section 1 and already have a custom recovery, reboot recovery and skip to step 4).
Step 3: Open app, select CWM recovery, then tap the pulldown menu, choose CWM 6.0.1, select flash, then reboot recovery.
Step 4: From CWM recovery, Perform a nandroid backup from the "backup/restore" menu(Optional but recomended).
Step 5: Wipe data/factory reset, then under the "mounts & storage menu" Format System.
Step 6: Navigate to "install zip from sdcard", from there "choose zip from sdcard", and finally install the rom you downloaded in step 1 part A.
Step 7: Again, Navigate to "install zip from sdcard", from there "choose zip from sdcard", and finally install the gapps package you downloaded in step 1 part B.
Step 8: Reboot.
*This same method can be of use to revert back to Touchwiz ICS or JellyBean aswell...no extra steps are needed. Simply wipe data in cwm recovery and flash rom or restore nandroid.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Section 4: How to flash a Custom Kernel
**YOU MUST BE ROOTED AND HAVE BOOTLOADER UNLOCKED!**
Step 1: Download one of these kernels to the root of your Internal SD Card(/mnt/sdcard):
-------------
TouchWiz ICS 4.0.4 Kernels
Imoseyon LeanKernel- http://rootzwiki.com/topic/31329-imoseyon-test-leankernel-tw-729-v111-kexec/
Scrosler's CleanKernel- http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1850495&page=2 (DOES NOT work on BEANS)
Morfic's Trinity GST- http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1874720 (Works on CM9 or TouchWiz)
--------------
ICS & JellyBean Kernels(CM9/CM10/AOKP/AOSP)
Imoseyon LeanKernel- http://rootzwiki.com/topic/32286-kernel-aosp-jb-leankernel-minimalistic-kernel-v02-beta-81312/
Ktoonsez KT747- http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1853816
Faux (CM9/CM10/AOKP/AOSP)- http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1905141
---------------
Step 2: Download the EZ Recovery app from- HERE (If your coming from section 1 and already have a custom recovery, reboot recovery and skip to step 4).
Step 3: Open app, select CWM recovery, tap the pulldown menu, choose CWM 6.0.1, select flash, then reboot recovery.
Step 4: From CWM recovery, wipe cache, then navigate to the "advanced" menu and wipe dalvik cache.
Step 5: Navigate to "install zip from sdcard" and then from there "choose internal sdcard".
Step 6: Install the kernel.zip that you downloaded in step 1.
Step 7: Reboot.
*Credit goes to Imoseyon, BMc08GT, Invisiblek and all other devs involved.
*These steps work for any .zip file such as themes, custom boot animations, and what not...just replace the .zip file in step 1 with the one your trying to flash!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Section 5: How to Odin back to Stock from any rom/recover from a soft brick/flash a stock radio
* If your device is currently running a 4.0-4.2 base and you forgot to unlock your bootloader before flashing a custom rom, you probably were greeted with the yellow triangle....Dont Panic! Simply power off the device and follow directions below. Odin will recover your device!! Make sure to only use a 4.0-4.2 Odin file to restore back to stock.
***NOTE*** If you did not take the 4.3 OTA then do not use the 4.3 files in link below. These will permanently lock your bootloader and you will be limited to using safestrap from here on out.
Step 1: Download and install these files to your pc:
Odin- http://forum.xda-developers.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=1165122&d=1340993443
Samsung Driver- http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2038555
Step 2: Download one of the Factory Stock roms below to your PC:
*These are Official full wipe versions that will format the internal sd and lock bootloader!!
All Official Stock Builds- http://samsung-updates.com/device/?id=SCH-I535(Only use these files if you have a locked 4.3 bootloader.)
VRALG1 4.0 ICS-http://www.mediafire.com/download/kkhq5wtj4r3fpwf/COMBINATION_I535VRALG1_I535VZWALG1_743127_REV09_user_low_ship.tar.zip(Do Not use this if your device took the 4.3 OTA)
*In the link below are PRE-ROOTED full wipe versions that will lock the bootloader(Thanks Mr. Robinson!!) See section 1. steps(8-12) for unlocking and flashing a custom recovery.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1984436
Please Remember to back everything up to a pc or external sd before flashing!!
Step 3: Power device off, hold the volume down/home/power keys until you see a yellow triangle, then press the volume up key to access "odin or download mode".
Step 4: Open odin and connect the oem usb cable from pc to device. There should be a "comport number" in upper left hand corner of odin indicating communication between the pc & device.
Step 5: Click on the PDA function of odin. Select the stock rom you downloaded in step 2, then select start. This operation should take less than 8 minutes before odin will say pass/reset and your device will reboot.
------------------
*Flashing a Stock Radio with Odin or a Custom Recovery
Download's:
Stock Radios- http://rootzwiki.com/topic/34053-officialmodems-vrlhd-verizon-sgs3-sch-i535-odin-or-recovery-flashable/
Odin Method:
Step 1: Download one of the files above to your pc.
Step 2: Power device off, then hold the volume down/home/power keys until you see a yellow triangle, then press the volume up key to access "download mode".
Step 3: Open Odin and connect the oem usb cable to pc & device, you should see a "comport #" in upper left hand corner of odin.
Step 4: Make sure auto reboot is checked.
Step 5: Click on the PDA function of odin and select the file you downloaded in step 1, select start, should take roughly 1min, then odin will say pass/reset.
Step 6: Your device should Reboot.
CWM or TWRP Recovery method:
Step 1: Download files A and B(optional) to the internal sd.
A) Choose a Recovery flashable radio- http://rootzwiki.com/topic/34053-officialmodems-vrli5-verizon-sgs3-sch-i535-odin-or-recovery-flashable/
B) RPM.zip(Optional)-
* A great explanation about RPM cand be found HERE
VRABLI5- https://app.dumptruck.goldenfrog.com/#p/_DeLB5rDRb
VRABLJ1- http://myandroidfiles.com/beanstown106/VRALJ1.rpm.zip
VRABLK1- http://myandroidfiles.com/beanstown106/VRBLK1.rpm.zip
VRABLK3- http://www.androidfilehost.com/?fid=9390214368362234078
Step 2: Reboot recovery via the power menu or power off and use the three finger method.
Step 3: Select install zip from sd and flash the radio.zip you downloaded in step 1A.
Step 4: Slect install zip from sd and flash the rpm.zip you downloaded in step 1B.
Step 5: Reboot.
Section 6: Directory
[APP][MOD] MOBILE ODIN- http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1347899
[APP][MOD] SIII AOSP Camera- http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1746611
[APP][MOD] AC!D Audio Technology | v4.0 (22.10.12)- http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1883262
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[GUIDE] Unsure about your ROM choice- http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1950824
[GUIDE] Verizon Galaxy SIII Downloads List- http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1850506
[GUIDE] Set up Verizon Galaxy S3 as World GSM Phone (confirmed working)- http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1809314
[GUIDE] Enable UMS Mode for External SD Card- http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1785243
[GUIDE]Google Wallet - Everything you need to know before you flash or root- http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1764428
[GUIDE] for dual booting CM9- http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1774795
[GUIDE][HOW TO] Edit Earphones Connected-http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1782155
----------
[HACK] for removing wifi reminder-http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1770622
[HOW-TO] Unbrick your soft bricked Galaxy S III- http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1840030
[How To] Backup and restore your IMEI / MEID / EFS Data- http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1791291
[How To] invoke self hardware test-http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1767247
[HOWTO]Comprehensive IMEI/EFS Backup- http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1852255
----------
[MOD][VRBLK3] PDroid Privacy Protection- http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2043699
[MOD]AOSP Lock Screen with Toggle- http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2002620
[MOD]Super Simple 5 minutes Wireless Charging Mod for Samsung SG3- http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1877191
[MOD]Enable wifi in notfication bar- http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1775235
[MOD]App2ExtSD2 [Works for all U.S. Galaxy S3!]- http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1849860
[MOD] Latest Google Wallet (10/23/12)- http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1810040
[MOD]AGPS Patch Galaxy S III 3.1 & 2.2 | NEW SIII SPECIFIC BUILD | Tentative Support - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1880411
[MOD] OTA updates - keep root, custom recovery, unlocked bootloader and Google Wallet- http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1964502
----------
[OFFICIAL] Tips and Tricks thread-http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1732018
[OFFICIAL][MODEMS] Verizon SGS3 (SCH-I535)- http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1788313
----------
[ROOT][TOOL] Root the Verizon GSIII without flashing-http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1792342
[ROOT][TOOL][2012-09-12] SuperSU-Version_Debugfs: Root VZW SGS3 w/out Flashing ROM- http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1883984
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Section 7: Android Glossary
Download Mode - This is a setting in which you will put your phone when using Odin. There are other ways, but most noobs will reach download mode by powering down, removing the battery, and holding volume down while plugging the factory usb cord into the computer and phone. Odin can only communicate properly with your phone if the phone is in download mode.
F. Reset Time - This is a check box in Odin. It's not clear that anyone knows the exact details of what it actually does, nor is it clear what will happen if you leave it unchecked vs checked. It seems to reset some arbitrary counter in your phone. As a general rule, you can either follow the instructions of whatever guide you're using or just leave the checkbox how you found it.
Fast Charge - This is a feature on some ICS ROMs that can be turned on or off. When enabled, it allows your phone to draw as much charge as possible regardless of the charging source. Without fast charge, your phone will place artificial speed limits on charging when plugged, for example, into the USB slot on your computer. Fast charge bypasses these limits, letting your phone believe it is always plugged into a wall charger. It is worth noting that your phone will not be recognized by your computer as a USB device when fast charge is enabled. It will only charge.
FC - Force Close - This is when an app stops working unexpectedly. This can happen to both rooted and unrooted phones. It doesn't cause any damage to the phone. In most cases, the app can just be opened right back up. It seems to depend on a lot of factors, including the quality of the app itself. ROMs and kernels that experience very few FCs are said to be "stable."
Flash - This is a term used to describe the installation of software onto your phone. It refers to fundamental changes in your phone's operating system. It is different from just installing an app from the Marketplace (Google Play). Commonly, people will flash ROMs, kernels, patches, and radios. There are basically two ways to flash new software onto your phone:
1. Odin
2. CWM Recovery (or a comparable recovery program)
Freeze - There are two meanings in general use. One might use this term to refer to his or her phone becoming unresponsive. More commonly, though, it refers to a special ability of a program called Titanium Backup. This program can be downloaded from the Android Marketplace (Google Play), but it requires a rooted phone to work. When Titanium Backup is used to freeze an app or process, that app or process is essentially gone from the phone. It won't show up in the app drawer, and it won't be running in the background. The difference between freezing and uninstalling, though, is that anything frozen can be quickly "thawed," also with Titanium Backup. With the touch of a button, the missing app or process is right back where it used to be. This is a convenient way for newly rooted users to test the waters of debloating.
Gapps - Google Apps - When flashing custom ROMs, the apps on the phone are usually deleted. As an alternative to going to the Marketplace (Google Play) and re-installing all the favorites (Google Maps, Google Talk, Google Voice, etc.), many devs have packaged these into a tidy zip file that can be flashed via CWM. Why don't they just put the Google Apps in the ROM, you ask? Custom ROMs and Google Apps get software updates at different rates, so keeping the two separate allows users to always have the most up-to-date version of each. On MTD ROMs such as CM7 or anything ICS, you generally must flash the gapps package to get the Android Marketplace (Google Play).
GB - Gingerbread - Android 2.3. Google likes to name its Android releases after sweet foods. Most of our stock phones are running on this release of Android. There are numerous ROMS and kernels compatible with Gingerbread. These are a good starting point for newly rooted users, as they will feel quite familiar.
Github - This is a web-based service where developers can post their code. Depending on the situation, their code can be accessed by other users, modified, or just shared with the world. The site encourages the kind of open source development for which Android is famous.
Governor - This refers to the type of logic your phone uses to control how fast its processor ramps up when needed or slows down when not. The choice of governor can influence overall performance and battery life. The governor can be selected using an OC/UV program such as Voltage Control or NS Tools. No one governor is right for everyone. The fun is in experimenting. Here are some examples and brief descriptions:
performance: Keeps the processor always ramped up to to maximum; useful for benchmarking
ondemand: Rapidly ramps up the processor when needed; gradually slows it down when not needed
conservative: Similar to ondemand, but ramps up more slowly
userspace: The user can define the parameters (for advanced users only).
lazy: This was developed specifically for Android by xda dev Ezekeel. He states it is an enhanced version of ondemand, tuned to our phones' capabilities. Don't be fooled by the name. He tested it with numerous processor-intensive applications.
interactive: Uses a logic to try to predict how quickly it needs to ramp up processor speed, attempting to balance battery life and performance
interactiveX: A tweak on interactive (by dev imoseyon), which locks the processor at the minimum speed when the screen is off
smartass & smartassV2: Modified interactive governors by dev erasmux, they use logic to determine how quickly to ramp up or slow down; designed to optimize battery life without sacrificing performance.
powersave: This keeps the processor always set at the minimum frequency. The name may be a bit misleading, as certain processes will just take longer, using up more battery.
Heimdall - This program is similar to Odin. It was created by an Australian software company called Glass Echidna. It can be used to flash files onto your phone. Some users prefer this program over Odin. Heimdall can be used with Mac computers, whereas Odin can not. Many high level users regularly use both Heimdall and Odin.
ICS - Ice Cream Sandwich - Android 4.0. Google likes to name its Android releases after sweet foods. It comes pre-installed on the Samsung Galaxy Nexus from Verizon. Several developers have created ways to install ICS on the Samsung Fascinate.
init.d - This is a type of script used by developers when they modify Android code. You hear the term a lot because modifications using this type of script have far-reaching effects in the overall performance of the phone. High level users (who aren't quite devs) can even insert bits and pieces of init.d scripts to make minor tweaks to their phones.
Inverted - By default, most Google apps consist of a white screen with dark lettering. Inverting changes this to a dark screen with light letters. There are several advantages to this. Beyond the aesthetic advantages, it tends to be easier on the eyes in low light situations and reduce battery consumption. Inversion is done by talented individuals called themers.
I/O Scheduler - This refers to the type of logic your phone uses to order and process read and write requests to your phone's hard drive. There are several types, which are listed below, but there is no magic bullet. The joy is in finding the one that works for you in terms of performance and battery life. It is worth noting, though, that certain schedulers were designed to be used with mechanical rotating hard drives, taking the drive's rotational position into account. This does not apply to our phones, which use solid state drive technology. A scheduler can be selected by using an OC/UV control program such as Voltage Control or NS Tools. Specific descriptions are beyond the scope of this glossary, but simple Internet searches can expand on any of schedulers listed.
Examples: noop, deadline, cfq, bfq, sio, vr, bfs
* In the absence of a dev's recommendation, if you don't feel like reading up on the subject, you can leave the scheduler at the default or choose noop or sio.
JB - Jelly Bean - Android 4.1. Google likes to name its Android releases after sweet foods. This is the latest version of Android to hit the streets, and devs are flocking to it , making all JB development new and exciting.
Jig - This is a tiny Frankensteinian device made of a small chip, a transistor, and the tip of the little micro-USB connector that you plug into your phone to charge it or attach it to your computer. When your phone will not go into download mode through normal means, putting a jig into the phone when the battery is in will make your phone go into download mode. You can make one yourself or buy one online for less than $10.
Kang - Generally used as a verb, this means to take bits and pieces of someone else's coding and to then integrate it into your own. Granted, noobs won't be doing this, but devs do it all the time. For the most part, this is considered a welcome practice among friendly devs, provided it is done correctly and politely. Kanging often serves to better the community as a whole. The key for devs is to give credit to the other devs from whom they have kanged.
Kernel - This is one of the two main components (ROM being the other) of the software running on an Android phone. It is the piece of software that connects the hardware (screen, softkeys, vibration, speakers, etc.) to the other software components. An unrooted phone comes with a stock kernel. It is stable but somewhat slow. Practically speaking, installing (flashing) a custom kernel will make your phone feel much faster and smoother as it moves through screens and opens apps. Generally speaking, installing a new kernel will not change the basic appearance of your phone or erase any of your phone's information. Custom kernels can also unlock several abilities of rooted phones. Examples include:
-wireless tethering (ignoring that pesky $30/month charge from Verizon)
-control over how and when the softkeys at the bottom of the screen light up
-overclocking/undervolting
-voodoo lagfix (This only applies to phones with BML-based ROMs. MTD ROMs don't need lagfix.)
-custom boot animations
Lean Kernel - Created by imoseyon, He intentionally leaves out a lot of the "bells and whistles" to keep the experience simple, smooth, and fast. Imoseyon works with several phones, so it is imperative that you have the correct version of Lean Kernel, the one appropriate for your phone.
Linaro - This is a team of software engineers developing open source software for numerous platforms, particularly as it relates to getting maximum bang for the buck from systems with memory and hardware limitations. For our purposes, many Linaro modifications are making their way into our custom ROMs, promising increased speed and responsiveness.
Logcat - This is a log of all of the processing activity your phone did over a certain period of time. This is useful for bug reporting, as devs can examine logcats and attempt to determine the source of the error(s). Many threads in the development forum request logcats to go alongside any bug reports. A logcat can be generated through adb, and there are also some apps that will do it for you. Random complaints aren't terribly useful for devs, but logcats generally are. This classic cartoon illustrates how many devs feel about disorderly complaints about their work, even though most are far too polite to say anything.
Milestone - Devs are always trying to incorporate the latest and greatest features into their ROMs. The add-ons are incorporated as parts of new releases, or "builds." This is what makes development exciting, but it also leads to bugs. Milestone builds occur when the devs sit back, roll up their sleeves, and work the bugs out of all the awesome features they've crammed into their work. The milestones are considered the relatively safe and stable builds. When installed correctly, they rarely experience major bugs.
MIUI - This term is a transliteration of a Chinese name for a special customization of Android actually developed in China. MIUI ROMs can be installed on the Fascinate. They change the look and feel of the Android system, moving it closer to something resembling iOS, the iPhone's operating system. A lot of custom development has been done with the software code from the MIUI system. Many devs will integrate bits and pieces of MIUI into their own ROMs. For example, the TSM Resurrection ROM allows you to use the MIUI battery indicator, which looks completely different from the standard battery indicator.
MTD - This is a technical term used by devs to describe the software organization in your phone, as it relates to things called partitions. The bottom line is that the stock organizational system, called BML, is somewhat fixed and limited, whereas MTD offers devs a great deal of flexibility. Heavily customized ROMs like those from CyanogenMod or anything MIUI rely on MTD file organization. All of our ICS ROMs use MTD. MTD ROMs, generally speaking, experience very little lag, as compared to BML ROMs. When returning to a normal BML ROM from an MTD ROM, special precautions need to be taken.
Nandroid - This is a backup of your entire phone as it stands at that moment in time (ROM, kernel, text messages, your Angry Birds progress, etc.). It is stored on your sd card, which is somewhat immune to your tinkering. A Nandroid backup is a good failsafe for the times when you might want to try out that new experimental kernel your favorite dev has been working on. The files can also be saved on a home computer/flash drive/etc. for safe keeping. Nandroid backups are created using a recovery program like Clockworkmod Recovery. CWM can also use old Nandroids to restore a phone to its previous condition.
Nightly - Nightlies - Some rooted users like the idea of having the most stable, tested, and reliable ROMs available. Others prefer the excitement of being on the cutting edge. Nightlies are the untested regular releases of whatever a certain dev happens to be working on at the time. They package them up, post them online, and let the discussions ensue. These are not for the faint of heart. They are for people who are comfortable addressing freezes, boot loops, and force closes.
Noob - If you have to ask what this means, this is what you are. It's a derivation of "newbie" or "newb," someone who's new to the activity at hand. In many ways, the noob is defined by his actions rather than by the amount of time he's spent rooting phones or posting on xda. Here are a few standard behaviors that will immediately brand someone as a noob:
-Posting new threads to ask questions that have been answered dozens of times. (Hint: It's best to search before posting)
-Posting ROM complaints (without logcat), beginner questions, and other non-development topics in the development forums (It has been theorized that this will ultimately be the end of xda)
-Diving in and flashing away without reading and then posting about your problems (Everyone needs to read the Guide.)
NSTools - This is an app that requires superuser permissions. It can be used to control a variety of the phone's features that are unlocked when running a custom kernel. It can enable fast charge, BLN, overclocking, and undervolting. It often comes pre-installed with ICS ROMs.
OC - Overclocking - Computer processors operate at a variety of speeds. When a manufacturer sells a product (like a phone) to the general public, they strictly limit the speed at which the built in processor can operate, even though the processor may be capable of more. This is to promote stability and reliability. Rooted users can overclock their phone's processor, raising the maximum speed at which it can operate. This can be done through various apps, including Voltage Control and NS Tools. Some ROMs even have the controls built into their settings. There are limits, though. Running a processor at too high a speed can cause overheating and/or glitches.
Odin - This is a program of seemingly mysterious origins that allows your home computer to communicate with your phone. You download it to your home computer. Good communication with your phone requires the installation of Samsung drivers on your computer as well as the use of the USB cable that came with your phone. Among other things, Odin can be used to root your phone, install CWM Recovery, install custom ROMs and kernels, and return your phone to stock after you've screwed it up.
*NEVER touch the "Phone" button on Odin. It should be labeled "Destroy your Phone"
OP - Original Post - This refers to the first post in any given thread, the one that started the thread in a discussion forum. A common noob mistake is to hop into a thread on page 27, read for 30 seconds, and then chime in with a question. He is often directed to the OP, which contains the answer to his question.
OTA - Over the Air - These are the official firmware upgrades that Verizon has released over the life of this phone. They were either pushed out to our phones in the middle of the night or offered up for us to download at our convenience. The latest one, EH03, came in December of 2011. Generally speaking, rooted users do not receive OTA updates. Also generally speaking, this doesn't really matter. The updates can be found on xda, and it is unlikely that the Fascinate will ever receive another OTA update.
Patch - This generally refers to a zip file that can be flashed using CWM. The file usually contains updates or small modifications to an existing ROM or kernel. A great example is the patch that reprograms the phone dialer's voicemail button to open Google Voice instead of the standard voicemail or Visual Voice Mail.
PDA Button - This is the button you will want to use when using the Odin program. You should always avoid the "Phone" button.
Pit file - This is a type of file used with Odin when returning your phone to stock. There is a "Pit" button on Odin you can push to enter the pit file you wish to use. An example of a pit file that you will probably use is Atlas_v2.2.pit. To return to stock, you would use a pit file along with a stock ROM, putting both into Odin at the same time. Droidstyle's guide provides detailed instructions.
Project Butter - This is a Google initiative, launched with Jelly Bean, aimed at reducing phone lag, both real and perceived. It involves research into human visual perception, the pairing of GPU and CPU, graphics buffering, and so on. It's purpose is to make your Android phone run "like buttah."
Radio - a.k.a. Modem - This generally refers to the software that manages the phone's connection to the outside world, not the physical device itself. Verizon would release new versions of this software from time to time in their OTA updates. The two most popular ones are currently EH03 (the latest) and EC09. Both of these work with Android 2.3 and the various Android 4.0 ROMs. The choice of radio can determine your 3g download speeds. It's difficult to say that one is better than another. Different users find good results with each one. Both radios are available as zip files that can be flashed in CWM.
Recovery - Your phone comes with a recovery program. You have to choose to boot it up as an alternative to booting up your phone's normal touchscreen interface. An ordinary phone user would probably never even see this program. It's not pretty. It's just functional. It is basically a list of commands and technical terms that you can navigate using the phone's softkeys, volume up & down buttons, and the power button (to select). Essential to rooting are the special recovery programs such as CWM Recovery. A special recovery program, which is flashed via Odin, will replace the stock recovery program for a rooted user.
Re-Partition - This is one of the check boxes in Odin. This box should be checked only when returning your phone to stock. Of Odin's various check boxes, this is the only one for which widespread agreement of its use exists.
ROM - This is one of the two main components (kernel being the other) of the software running on an android phone. It generally determines the overall appearance of your phone, including which apps are installed by default. The ROM that comes installed on your phone right out of the box is known as the stock ROM. Created by devs, there are numerous custom ROMs available for the Fascinate. Popular ROMs a newly rooted user might try are Superclean3, PWGB, and GeeWiz. The process of flashing a custom ROM to your phone will, generally speaking, erase everything on your phone. The most popular ROM for the Fascinate right now is probably the AOKP version of ICS.
Root - When you buy your phone from Verizon, Verizon still controls it. You are simply a user who is allowed to perform various Verizon-approved activities on it. Gaining root access to your phone grants you the control that Verizon had previously held. Rooting quite literally makes you the "Superuser," opening numerous possibilities for improvement, customization, and ruin. Root access is essential to having a fast, fully customized phone.
Root Explorer - This is an app downloadable from the Android Marketplace (Google Play). As it requires Superuser permissions, it is only functional for rooted users. Its abilities far exceed those of standard file management apps. For example, Root Explorer can copy .apk files directly into the system/apps folder in Android. It's a great way to get that obscure Samsung widget reinstalled on your phone after your favorite developer's ROM washed it away and called it bloat.
Samsung Drivers - This is a small piece of downloadable software that will need to be installed on your home computer before it will be able to communicate with your phone (via Odin or adb).
Skin - This is a program that a phone manufacturer creates with the goal of making its phones more user friendly. It is basically an interface that sits on top of the pure Android guts underneath, hence the term "skin." The skin that comes with Samsung phones is called TouchWiz. This is why our phones don't look quite the same as our friends' HTC or Motorola phones, even though they are all using Android. Some people love TouchWiz. Some people hate it. Some custom ROMs are designed to be used with TouchWiz. Others are designed to be rid of it.
SOD - Sleep of Death - This is when your phone goes into standby mode but then goes into a catatonic state somewhere between being asleep and completely powered down. Users report various degrees of SOD. Some ROMs and kernels have been associated with it, as have certain apps, certain radios, and certain SD cards. Experimenting with fringe OC/UV and didle settings are often responsible these days. Generally, a battery pull (or better, Volume Up + Power) will revive the phone. Once a phone experiences a SOD, it seems likely that it will happen again, so a fix will need to be instituted. A modification of OC/UV settings or a return to stock and clean installation of your ROM, kernel, and apps are recommended.
Superuser - A rooted phone will have a new icon in the list of apps called Superuser. This is what distinguishes a rooted phone from a non-rooted phone. There are numerous apps available on the web and Android Marketplace (Google Play) that require "Superuser permission" to do what they do. Common examples of these apps include NS Tools, Titanium Backup, Root Explorer, Voodoo Sound, NS Tools, and Voltage Control. When a rooted user first runs one of these special apps, the app will ask for Superuser permission. Since you are now the Superuser, you get to press the button that says allow or one that says deny.
S Voice - Korean Siri, courtesy of Samsung.
Swype Beta - One of the early perks of rooting, the latest version of Swype is not available to unrooted users because the Fascinate comes with a special pre-installed (and perhaps outdated) version of Swype. Upgrading gives a slicker version of Swype with a more advanced word selection logic. You must follow a few steps to do it correctly:
1. Change the input method to the Android keyboard (settings->language & keyboard).
2. Uninstall Swype using Titanium Backup.
3. Go to the Swype website, give them your email address, and then follow their lead.
*ICS ROMs don't contain any traces of Swype, so steps 1 and 2 can be skipped for them
.tar - This is the file extension for the files that get flashed via Odin. The file to install CWM, for example, is a .tar file. Another example is the file that returns your phone back to stock.
TB - TiBu - Titanium Backup - This is an app available on the Android Marketplace (Google Play). It is for rooted users only, and it requires Superuser permissions to operate normally. Its two main functions are:
1. Creating backups of your phone (or parts of it) in case you screw it up
2. Freezing or uninstalling apps and other stuff you don't want (i.e. debloating)
Thanks button - Once you have created an established account at xda and made a post or two, you will begin to see a button with a little thumbs up sign next to the word "Thanks." This can be found on the lower right corner of someone's post. Pushing this button lets the person who posted know that their work is appreciated. It is considered polite to thank anyone who has helped you, whether or not it was in direct response to your own question. It is always polite to thank the devs whose software you are using. Xda tallies these thanks and gives experienced users a quantifiable measure of their contributions to the community. You will see a thanks meter under other users' names. Helpful people and prolific devs can have hundreds or thousands of thanks.
Troll - This describes a person who attempts to transform a civil forum discussion into a battle of harsh words. They generally lure people into a massive argument by posting inflammatory remarks that are just slightly off topic. They then sit back and laugh to themselves as the argument develops into the nerd equivalent of a bar fight. To feed a troll and make him stronger, just respond to him. To weaken him, report his posts to moderators.
TW - TouchWiz - see "Skin"
TWRP - TeamWin Recovery Project - This is an alternative to the traditional recovery program. Rather than using the volume rocker, softkeys, and power button to interact with it, a touchscreen interface is used. While it offers some interesting potential, it is still under development in terms of compatibility with the Fascinate and our popular ROM/kernel setups.
UV - Undervolting - This is a means of attempting to reduce battery consumption when using custom kernels. Rooted users can accomplish this through one of several apps, with Voltage Control and NS Tools being common examples. The point of whether UV reduces battery consumption is highly contentious, but there does seem to be a theoretical basis for its validity, as well as a preponderance of anecdotal evidence.
Voltage Control - This is an app available on the Android Marketplace (Google Play). It requires root access (i.e. Superuser permissions). When used with compatible kernels, it allows you to overclock and undervolt your phone.
Voodoo - Project Voodoo is a collaborative software development effort started by dev supercurio back when Galaxy S phones first hit the market. Its goal was to optimize the Galaxy S, bringing it up to its full potential. Voodoo innovations have been used by countless rooted users. Voodoo features can only be used on compatible custom kernels. The project consists of three main branches:
1. Voodoo Color - optimizes screen images/video *Not really available in most modern Fascinate setups, but people still talk about how they miss it.
2. Voodoo Sound - optimizes sound quality for audiophiles *The Voodoo Sound app is available from the Marketplace (Google Play) to control settings.
Wipe x3 - This term refers to the act of wiping the slate clean on your phone. It removes all apps you have installed and any data associated with those apps. It will not erase Android, your ROM, your kernel, or anything on your sd card (your photos and videos are on your sd card by default). The Wipe x3 is often done before making major changes to your phone's system. The process is accomplished through a recovery program such as CWM. Here are the 3 commands (hence the "x3"):
1. wipe data/factory reset
2. wipe cache partition
3. wipe dalvik cache
*Note, performing a wipe data/factory reset will reportedly wipe the cache partition and the dalvik cache, so steps 2 & 3 may be redundant.
zip - For our purposes, this refers to the file type for files that can be flashed with CWM or other recovery programs.
*Credit goes to Jawman27 for a great glossary! I just edited a bit for the gs3!
did this man just collect the $1000 bounty?
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda app-developers app
lol I wish I was that intelligent. This is merely just a guide of whats already posted in the dev section, just consolidated into one thread. I made a guide like this for the SCH-I500 Fascinate and was very popular because all the files and steps needed are in the op... No need to search for anything!!! Its pretty basic now, but once development takes off it should be benificial to new android users...should also help keep the bricks to a minimum.
This will definitely be useful to us first time Samsung peeps who haven't used Odin before. Thank you for taking the time to put this together!
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using Tapatalk 2
Marcismo55 said:
This will definitely be useful to us first time Samsung peeps who haven't used Odin before. Thank you for taking the time to put this together!
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad you like! Now all we need is for development to get rollin and more will be added. All in due time...guess Im a little anxious, since this is the first device that I purchased before actual release date :highfive:
Nice man! I have years of HTC experience behind me, but coming to Sammy is totally new with odin. Definitely using this guide on Thursday
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using xda premium
Do you think you could add the dialer programming codes? I'm coming from a Thunderbolt and was curious if *#*#4636#*#* worked or were there other codes I haven't come across yet?
Thanks for this my first time to a Samsung device coming from HTC gonna wait on rooting till the bootloader issue is resolved but nonetheless added this thread to my favorites list
Sent from my HTC ThunderBolt using xda premium
I have always been hesitant about rooting devices before the 1year Verizon warranty has expired, but I don't think I'll be able to make it that long with this phone. As such, I have two questions for y'all...
1.) Will following the return-to-stock instructions leave me with a device that is indistinguishable from one that had never been rooted at all? Will there be any way to tell that it had been rooted?
2.) While I understand that if you follow directions it's unlikely that you'll brick your device, it is still something that concerns me a little... I have heard that an unlocked bootloader is something that is required for moth methods of recovering from a soft brick. Is this true? If so, I assume that Verizon's bootloader would pose a problem in this regard?
I just want to understand the risks before I jump in. Thanks in advance.
Seems from experience with my phone, enabling root will not force custom screen at boot, installing custom recovery will. Idk if it ups the flash counter though. If you only root and one day revert back, I'd imagine it will be indistinguishable.
Sent from my rooted SCH-I535 using xda premium
Will this trip the counter? Also, is CWM in the first root?
Solar257 said:
Do you think you could add the dialer programming codes? I'm coming from a Thunderbolt and was curious if *#*#4636#*#* worked or were there other codes I haven't come across yet?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ill look into it thx!
No this root method does not trip the counter....yes going back to stock erases all traces of being rooted. Thx to odin this device is damn near unbrickable.
droidstyle said:
No this root method does not trip the counter....yes going back to stock erases all traces of being rooted. Thx to odin this device is damn near unbrickable.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks for the detailed Guide I am sure this will help a lot of people out.
Section 1 updated with new root.img
Updated!! Consolidated the three sections into one and added section 2 for Recoveries.
Sorry if this is a total nub question:
Will flashing this cause my current data to be wiped?
I just got the phone how I like it, not complaining cause root>most things I can stock but I wanna plan for it just in case my apps/settings/contacts/etc. go bye bye.
voted to counter the trolls who think its funny to 1 star threads.

[ROM][2013.01.09] Lenovo A789,P700i,A660 custom ROM (ICS)

I made a clean ROM based on the factory ROM for the Lenovo A789, A660 and P700i
Cleaned up ROMs:
- A789_S227_cybermaus_V2 (below)
- A789_S228_cybermaus_V2.1 (further below)
Ported ROMs (ported from P700i):
- A789_ROW_S105_cybermaus_ICS_V3 (further below)
- A789_ROW_S106_cybermaus_ICS_V3.1 (Further below)(also for A660 and P700i)
- A789_ROW_S107_cybermaus_ICS_V3.2 (Further below)(also for A660 and P700i)
The current and advised rom to use is A789_ROW_S106_cybermaus_ICS_V3.21
Based on factory ROM A789_S227_120827, and located in my Dev-Host. It is as close to factory as possible, which I hope will be good for stability. It is a flash-utility ROM, because it also holds the latest preloader, uboot and recovery. Assuming those are OK, followup fixes will be update.zip style.
Summery of changes:
- Rooted the phone with Chainfire SuperSu
- Set to boot in US-english, changed name of ROM
- Added MoreLocale for extra languages in 3rd party apps
- Removed Chinese apps, incl Chinese keyboard, removed SmsReg.apk
- Left Lenovo Security (anti-malware) and Lenovo (Go) Launcher intact
- Added Google GAPPS, Play Store, Maps, etc
- Added MobileUncle toolbox, SManager (root explorer). Titanium backup (free version)
- Added fix for location services
- Added CWMT recovery image (modded from 593cn.com)
- Added Skype, Whatsapp, and some others, as auto-install into userdata upon wipe
- Prepared busybox (you need to run script /system/xbin/installbusybox as root if you want it)
- Replaced bootup animation with clean Lenovo butterfly
- Replaced all some audio files with english named ones (thanks mabuc)
- Caller ID bug still present, sorry
- Just as a reminder, these ROMS have English and Chinese only.
Instructions:
By default, the ROM will not overwrite USERDATA or FAT. If you want a clean slate, first extract empty.userdata.rar and/or empty.fat.rar
- Read bgcngm flash tutorial.
- Read it again
- Start Flash Tool (v3.1222, in my Dev-Host)
- Load scatter file
- Take out USB cable and replace battery
- Press the download button in the flash tool
- Connect the USB cable
- Wait for the flashing to complete
A789_S228_cybermaus_V2.1 (no longer current, Use V3 instead)
Based on factory ROM A789_S228_120913, and located in my Dev-Host. Similar to V2, but newer, and a few extra fixes. It should be noted that the S228 is listed to solve unexpected crashes, so an important update in itself.
I do not have a A789, so it is a blind build. Until I get positive feedback, consider untested. Don't be the first to try if you are not experienced.
Summery of changes:
- Same as on V2, and additional
- Removed 2 more chinese apps that I forgot last time
- Prepared busybox (you need to run script /system/xbin/installbusybox as root if you want it)
- Added a tweak so USB-Debug notification is no longer shown
- Added a tweak so Wifi works on all 14 international channels (rather than only the 11 US ones, may be undone if you set a different locale)
Instructions:
This is a update.zip type ROM. So you need the custom recovery, see post #3,
A789_ROW_S105_cybermaus_ICS_v3.03
Based on P700i_ROW_S105_120920, see this separate post.
A789_ROW_S106_cybermaus_ICS_v3.11
Based on P700i_ROW_S106_121001, see this separate post.
Please note that this ROM I also build for the P700i and A660. See same post.
A789_ROW_S107_cybermaus_ICS_v3.2
Based on P700i_ROW_S107_121221, see this separate post.
Please note that this ROM I also build for the P700i and A660. See same post.
Below:
Post #2: Small review and fix of location services
Post #3: Custom recovery image
Post #4: Root your phone / install GAPPS
Also, many issues for the A789 are similar to those of the A750, so if you have questions, do search that Lenovo A750 thread to.
Thanks
Also thanks to bgcngm for his help, and to jazzor for his help
=================
BTW: Due to new forum rules, resulting in a large number of people that cannot post into developer threads and that subsequently PM me, I open op a new Q&A thread.
I am not going to be policing, so you can post where you like, but I invite everyone to use this new thread for any Q&A, and this thread for ROM releases and deep development talk only.
Consequently, if you PM'ed me, look for your reply in this new thread
Thanks
====================
PS: do drop me a reply if you use or tried it! Or press the 'thanks' button.
So, I got my first glimps at the A789. So to speak. My colleague was holding it while we were audio-skype, so I did not actually see it.
His A789 came with a Etotalk ROM by Dean, which I now suspect is a reworked Smileyvvv ROM with Sony Experia interface. Not bad, but as you know, I am a 'factory ROM' guy. My colleague may also be, because he had already replaced the the SE launcher with GO Launcher, which is the default Lenovo one. Also my colleague said it jammed a few times, which it still has not done on my factory A750 ROM.
Most of the phone worked, but a few tips for others out there:
- The phone still has the Called-ID bug. Even though it is newer 4.0,4. I know some of you claim this is solved on ICS Mediatek, but I still claim it is solved in *some* of the cases, not all, it also depends on how your provider sends the caller ID info. Anyway, you can work around it with the prefixer app as reported before.
- It did not come with the MobileUncle tool, but with the Etotalk tool. Which was not updated for the new MT6577 chip, so it had no Engineer Mode. Install the latest MU tool (version 20120813v2.2.0 its in my Dev-Host), so you get one with MT6577 Engineer mode.
- Recovery Mode was hard to get into. Like the newest A750 preloader, you have to press the power putton *just before* you press both volume buttons. But it did came with the CWMR Touch, though its Touch function was broken, so buttons only. They probably simply tried recovery images of other models, and did not properly build one with the A789 kernel, but it does not matter, it works well enough.
- Location services did not work. Update the phone with the ICS_locationfix_v1.3 update using recovery mode. While you are in recovery, also wipe cache. And finally, go into MobileUncle tool, the MTK Engineer mode, and in location settings, change the NetLoc from MEDIATEK to GOOGLE. Now your location services should work.
Lenovo A789 Recovery
I created a recovery image for the Lenovo A789 based on ClockWorkMod Touch 5.5.0.4. However, I do not own a A789, so until I have reports of it working, consider it untested. You can download it from my Dev-Host: File A789_S22x_recovery_cybermaus.rar
NOTE: It has come to my attention this recovery works well, except the nandroid backup function, which is broken. If you value nandroid backup, install the APKHOT one below.
While doing this, I also found a full APKHOT distro which had what seems to be a CLockWorkMod (non-Touch) recovery in it, so I extracted that and also uploaded it. That too you can download from my Dev-Host: File A789_S22x_recovery_apkhot.rar
Both of them you will have to flash using the flash tool, using bgcngm's excellent manual, and the V3.1222 of the flash utilities and drivers, also in my Dev-Host. If you flashed my V2 ROM, you do not need to do this, as the recovery is already part of that.
Once you have the recovery installed, you can enter it by pressing both VolumeUp/Down while booting the phone. Due to an issue with the preloader, it may be needed to press the power button slightly before both volume buttons. If the phone seems stuck, it means the preloader messed up, remove battery and try again.
Inside the recovery (the Touch variant) you can navigate not only by its physical buttons, but also by screen buttons, and by gestures: swipe up/down for up/down, left for back and right for enter.
The first few people using this, please report your findings, good or bad.
PS: As alwasy, thanks to bgcngm for his unpack utilities, which I used to modify the recovery.img
Lenovo A789 Root; GAPPS, Location DIY
Its been mentioned before, but if you have a working recovery (like above, hopefully), you can always yourself root your phone. Simply install (from inside the recovery) chainfire's "CMW installable ZIP"
Link to his post: (ignore his big red requires root warning)
The file you need is labeled "CWM installable ZIP" at the bottom.
Direct link to the file you need to install via recovery update.zip
And while you are at it: You probably also want to install the latest Google Mobile Services (better known as GAPPS) from CyanogenMod V9:
Explaining wiki from CyanogenMod
The file you need is called gapps-ics-20120429-signed.zip and can be found here
You probably also want to wipe your cache partition after doing this.
To complete this DIY of fixing factory ROM: On Chine phone typically the location services do not work. Update the phone with my A750 V1.3 update using recovery mode. (it works on the A789 because it is a minor update, but *DO NOT* any of the other A750 updates on the A789. I repeat, do *NOT* flash A750 on A789). While you are in recovery, also wipe cache. And finally, go into MobileUncle tool, the MTK Engineer mode, and in location settings, change the NetLoc from MEDIATEK to GOOGLE. Now your location services should work.
Good luck
PS: If either update.zip refuses to install, remember to turn off the checksum and assert checks in the recovery.
And thanks to Chainfire for his work, and the team at CyanogenMod for theirs.
cybermaus said:
Before I can help, please provide some info:
Can you tell me what ROM you have?
Which flash tools did you use to root?
Also, do you have a working recovery?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hwonggc said:
I fix the proximity thingy. it's caused by my lousy screen protector. But i've got another bigger problem now. I've accidentally uninstalled the default system home screen. I cant assess anything now. I tried flashing a recovery inside but it still doesn't work as factory. I use SP flash tool v3.1.222.00
---------- Post added at 06:32 AM ---------- Previous post was at 06:18 AM ----------
dont think my recovery is working. Could you please provide me with a working recovery? =(
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, a recovery is on the todo.
But for now, you did not answer my questions yet:
- Can you tell me what ROM you have? Or had. Original Lenovo Factory, Etotalk-Dean, some other?
- Which flash tools did you use to root? Or rather, which files did you flash using that tool to deal with root. Actually, the fact that you had to root it yourself probably means you had factory ROM, but please confirm.
As stated, I am uploading S221 original to my Dev-Host. Flash that with the flash tool. On short notice, that is all I can do. On longer notice, I will help you, but give me some time.
Edit: In fact: You you already have messed up your recovery, and I do not have a A789 to play with myself, you may be my guinea pig for the recovery build. So I will work on that today. (as today is not a working day for me anyway). If you do not mind being a tester. After all, the damage is already done, and you apparently already know how to flash using the utility.
EDIT: @ hwonggc : Please test recovery in post#3. Just update your post below with results, or PM me. I would like to avoid too many new posts on this while we are testing.
cybermaus said:
Yes, a recovery is on the todo.
But for now, you did not answer my questions yet:
- Can you tell me what ROM you have? Or had. Original Lenovo Factory, Etotalk-Dean, some other?
- Which flash tools did you use to root? Or rather, which files did you flash using that tool to deal with root. Actually, the fact that you had to root it yourself probably means you had factory ROM, but please confirm.
As stated, I am uploading S221 original to my 4Shared. Flash that with the flash tool. On short notice, that is all I can do. On longer notice, I will help you, but give me some time.
Edit: In fact: You you already have messed up your recovery, and I do not have a A789 to play with myself, you may be my guinea pig for the recovery build. So I will work on that today. (as today is not a working day for me anyway). If you do not mind being a tester. After all, the damage is already done, and you apparently already know how to flash using the utility.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes yes. I had the factory rom. I got the phone just yesterday evening and this afternoon it's half dead already. I use smart phone flash tool to root using a file i got from http://www.fight.org.ua/publications...novo_A789.html. Everything was fine until I deleted the original home UI and the apex launcher also. So there isn't anything I can do. I'm downloading the S223 from some russian site and try, hopefully I can find some luck there. Downloading slowly~ sighhhh.
---------- Post added at 07:49 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:40 AM ----------
BTW~ i'm willing to test out your rom too! I wouldn't want to sound too demanding, put please please put in the play store will ya?
I posted the custom build, see first post. It may take a while before I can get it uploaded, I am on a bad link.
Also, there have been 20 downloads on the recovery image. Come on guys, someone must be able to provide feedback about it working or not!
A789_S227_cybermaus_V2 ROM is working
Hello
Thanks for Your work.
Your A789_S227_cybermaus_V2 ROM is working.
Simple Flashing and start without problems. Now I must check some functions.
Thx again
basell
Edit:
The 3g connections don't work at first run. After restore they start but in My opinion with less sensitivity (compare to stock rom). It's look like A789 loose some frequency on witch can work.
Edit2:
And they have some strange behavior - After couple min of data connection (on 3G) they disconnect with information - "Restricted access changed" and the same is when I try to choose network manually. After that sometimes they login to 3G sometimes they change to EDGE.
In Stock version (S221) was not this kind of problems.
Edit3:
In place with good 3G signal I have no problem with data transfer.
How Can I check on witch frequency (2100,900,850) I have connected My data transfer?
Thanks for testing
Well, I definitely did not mess with any of the 3G stuff. So if it is true that 3G is less sensitive, then I would claim it is true for the factory S227 vs factory S221, and not directly related to my cleanup of it.
But (sorry to say so) I have learned to take claims of improved or degraded radio sensitivity with a grain of salt, even for the factory ones.
Having said that: Restoring S221 radio into S227 firmware is easy. The radio is separate firmware file, and I can extract the S221, S223 and S227 firmware in a separate file, so you can test. Were you actually using factory S221, or some other?
As to whether it is using 2100, 900 or 850: I can probably figure out how to get that info, *BUT* reality is that your provider most likely has only one frequency anyway. Most, pretty much all, EU providers are on 2100. The phone could not get to 900, simply because your provider does not have that frequency in the air (not for 3G anyway). And 850 is not supported at all on this phone.
Anyway, inside MU utility, engineer mode, bandmode, you can check/set the frequencies that are supported.
But please run a proper test if 3G is really degraded. As stated. it is so often a empty claim, I am somewhat careful to follow it. You want me to extract the 3 versions of firmware files in update.zip files?
Also, what country/vendor are you? please list the MMC and MNC from inside the APN settings.
Hi
If You will prepare this files I can test it tomorrow.
I'm from Poland and I have two frequency on data transfer - 2100 and 900. But I don't know if A789 use only one or change them. The place I'm test the signal is poor and I don't see if I work on 2100 or 900.
If You can, pleas tell me what kind of tests I can do to do that properly
Ok, here they are. update.zip type.
I only have S221 and S227, but the firmware files were indeed different, in more than just their timestamps. Of course, normally I would assume newer is better. So to make it clear: below files only replace the radio&dsp firmware, not the phone firmware.
Try to test honestly for yourself. Same conditions, same place, same time (because network load can make a difference)
It is possible that 3G really is degraded in S227, but as mentioned, I learned to not jump to conclusions just because the network is having a bad day.
WARNING: I retracted the two attachment, because I made a typo in the installer script. While the firmware is for the A789 (MT6577), the installer script is for the A750 (MT6575). Sorry. I will upload the correct ones in a moment.... Anyone that took a copy of these files before Oct 14, delete them!!!
I suspect the install would simply have failed, no harm done, but best to get rid of all copies anyway
BTW: basell, is that why you asked how to install? Really, if you ask for help, you should provide a bit more info. Anyway, I attached newer scripts, if you still want to try.
sorry for My question but :
How to install this firmware?
Like any update.zip on android. Go into recovery (see post #3) and apply the update.zip
i have the problem that the netlocation doesn't work with google maps, i flashed the cyber update 1.3, nothing changed, what should I do now?
And this is on what phone and ROM?
Anyway, to quote myself: "While you are in recovery, also wipe cache. And finally, go into MobileUncle tool, the MTK Engineer mode, and in location settings, change the NetLoc from MEDIATEK to GOOGLE. Now your location services should work."
many thanks, Cybermaus, netlocation works again after your instruction
Hi,
Thank you very much for building the ROM !!
I am using it for 3 days now and I am happy to report no problems with it. Everything works and most important: no more freezes !!!
my A789 came with the Etotalk by Dean ROM which was mostly OK, but was freezing from time to time (some days not at all, other days several times a day - most of the times when hanging up a call or, when trying to do wake it from standby: I was pressing the power button, but the screen would not light up).
Other things I like about this ROM:
- all phone functions work great
- Google Play works perfectly
- is rooted
- it has the Lenovo battery app, which is great! I am not 100% sure if this is the reason, but the battery life went from 1 day to 2 days
- I had no issues flashing it
- CWMT recovery works
Also, so far, I did not experience any 3G issues
I have written a small review of the Lenovo Security app, which you guys may want to put back on your phone if it was cooked out of it.
jman0 said:
Thinking it twice, I've remembered another reason. One of the things I like most about the apkhot rom I'm using is that the external sdcard is mounted on /sdcard and not /mnt/sdcard2, which avoids problems with many apps. I tried one of the newest apkhot roms, based on s227, and none of the tricks to exchange /sdcard and /mnt/sdcard2 worked with it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, that is actually an easy change to perform, just change the /etc/fstab.vold
However, if you go into settings->storage, the first option is default write disk. Change it from USB storage(the internal SD) to SD (the external SD)
So no hacking is needed at all.....
I've been running your rom for around 6 hours now. Everything runs fine. The 3G connection worked without much trouble. The only thing I haven't been able to do is performing a backup with the CWM Touch Recovery. So, I've just flashed the recovery I had on the apkhot rom I was using, using Mobileuncle tools, and now I've been able to create a backup.
So far, so good, and I've noticed a slight performance increase, too.

[Q] Can't flash A20 TV box!

Hello everyone,
I have bought various Android TV boxes in the past, and haven't had problems getting them up and running.
I recently ordered 2 chinese models from eBay however, which are giving me nothing but grief. I apologize in advance for such a loooong post, but I am at my wits end and I am really hoping someone can help me out.
The action was for this model here:
www.ebay.com.au/itm/231275032090
It appeared to be a pretty standard model, like a Justop 4.0, but with a hard switch where the optical should be, and a cut down remote.
Firstly, the Specifications according to the auction:
1GB ddr3
4GB nand flash
Allwinner A20 dual core 1GHz CPU
On closer inspection after receiving the unit, an additional physical difference is that the reset button appears to be between the USB ports, instead of behind the AV out - not a big deal.
After powering it up, I am having huge problems with them.
Firstly though, what the software says about the hardware:
Advanced Settings/About Tablet:
Model Number : BBA22
Android Version : 4.2.2
Firmware Version : V2.0
Kernel Version : 3.4.39 [email protected] #10 Wed May 14 22:36:36 CST 2014
Build Number : BBA22-UI4-V2.0.1
And what Droid Info says about the (relevant)hardware:
Model : BBA22 (sdk-normal)
Manufacturer : unknown
Chipset : sun7i
RIL version : sw-dataonly-ril-0.5
Build Number : BBA22-UI4-V2.0.1
Build Bingerprint : softwinners/ninss/ninss4.2.2/NinssSoftware/20140521:eng/test-keys
OS Version : Jelly Bean MR1 (4.2.2)
SDK : 17
CPU Architecture : ARMv7 Processor rev 4 (v71)
Now, the BIGGEST issue these things have, is that at random points of use, it comes up with a message "Warning - System configuration is inconsistent with the production configuration, please contact your supplier, thank you!". This message will flash over and over again for anything from 30 seconds to half an hour. I half suspect it has tablet code SOMEwhere in it also, as it keeps coming up with 'touch the circle' walkthroughs for applications like avia. This might be unrelated though, I have no idea.
So anyway, I have tried doing the Justop 4.0 flash method with a SD card, however it will not turn on if there is a card in the slot. Also, when you hold the reset button down and power it up, it does not seem to go into the diagnostic mode so I can't flash it that way either. I am guessing the ONLY way I can update short of soldering in a serial port, is to use the backup/restore function.
I read through this whole thread here, but cound not fine anything to help me:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2398632
If anyone has any ideas, please let me know, I seriously can't get anything to work. I thought maybe the 'hotspot' being enabled was causing the incinsistency problem, but I used a process killer to stop that at startup, still no luck. Doing a system reset through advanced config didn't help either, I got the error almost as soon as turning the unit back on.
I've attached pictures of the error I am getting, the top of the board, and the back if the board.
Cheers,
Smak
PS - I am yet to hear back from the seller, but if I ever do, I will post the result here...
Smakky said:
Advanced Settings/About Tablet:
Model Number : BBA22
Android Version : 4.2.2
Firmware Version : V2.0
Kernel Version : 3.4.39 [email protected] #10 Wed May 14 22:36:36 CST 2014
Build Number : BBA22-UI4-V2.0.1
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I seem to be in a very similar situation. My device also reports as being "BBA22" but it's a different form factor and the identification on the board is "TXCZ_A20_v1.0". I tried contacting the people that made the board (Shenzhen Tianxing Chuangzhan Electronic Co.) but they refused to help. I also tried contacting the company that made the firmware images (Shenzhen NINSS Technology Ltd.) and they also refused. The supplier I bought the device from says they have the image file but they can't seem to figure out how to get it to me (they tried emailing the +200mb file then they gave up and stopped responding). The build number on my device is "BBA22-UI4-V2.0.4" so apparently there's an update available that may work on your device.
I'm pretty sure you need to flash the image using the Phoenixsuit program to make a special sdcard that you place in the device and boot from to reflash the device.
Please post your image file if you ever get it!
tisdall said:
I seem to be in a very similar situation. My device also reports as being "BBA22" but it's a different form factor and the identification on the board is "TXCZ_A20_v1.0". I tried contacting the people that made the board (Shenzhen Tianxing Chuangzhan Electronic Co.) but they refused to help. I also tried contacting the company that made the firmware images (Shenzhen NINSS Technology Ltd.) and they also refused. The supplier I bought the device from says they have the image file but they can't seem to figure out how to get it to me (they tried emailing the +200mb file then they gave up and stopped responding). The build number on my device is "BBA22-UI4-V2.0.4" so apparently there's an update available that may work on your device.
I'm pretty sure you need to flash the image using the Phoenixsuit program to make a special sdcard that you place in the device and boot from to reflash the device.
Please post your image file if you ever get it!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is good to know, I might email them again now. Will let you know the outcome!
OK, so I got a reply from the seller.
I've attached the patch file and the instructions to this message, but theres a few things to note.
- Its only like 20 meg big, so it isnt a full firmware update
- The instructions talk about pressing the reset button at the start.., I don;t think this is neccesary if its rooted already
- The instructions are VERY engrish-y, basically just dump the update.zip onto a sd card, and apply the patch through the settings menu
- The default language is changed to some form of Chinese after applying, theres plenty pictorials on how to change the android language though.
- The version has been updated from BBA22-UI4-V2.0.1, to BBA22-UI4-V2.0.3 - This is still lower than the one you mentioned @ BBA22-UI4-V2.0.4
So far though, I have re-installed all my apps, and haven't seen the error.. yet. I was a little concerned it is still giving me touchpad tutorials, but mouse mode on the remote is making short work of those.
I'll just have to wait and see, I guess.
Smakky said:
OK, so I got a reply from the seller.
I've attached the patch file and the instructions to this message, but theres a few things to note.
- Its only like 20 meg big, so it isnt a full firmware update
- The instructions talk about pressing the reset button at the start.., I don;t think this is neccesary if its rooted already
- The instructions are VERY engrish-y, basically just dump the update.zip onto a sd card, and apply the patch through the settings menu
- The default language is changed to some form of Chinese after applying, theres plenty pictorials on how to change the android language though.
- The version has been updated from BBA22-UI4-V2.0.1, to BBA22-UI4-V2.0.3 - This is still lower than the one you mentioned @ BBA22-UI4-V2.0.4
So far though, I have re-installed all my apps, and haven't seen the error.. yet. I was a little concerned it is still giving me touchpad tutorials, but mouse mode on the remote is making short work of those.
I'll just have to wait and see, I guess.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That seems very promising for you! Unfortunately it probably won't help me at all... It sounds like it's a sort of update patch instead of a whole image. Starting the device with the reset button causes it to load the recovery partition instead of the regular partition (I'm guessing you saw a green android with a text menu with options for recovery). I full flashing would/could involve an SDcard, but I think you would have to create it with Phoenixsuit and not just copy the file contents over (it would then just boot directly from the SDcard and you wouldn't need to press the reset button).
In my case, both the regular boot partition and the recover partition are wrecked so I couldn't even try this patch if I wanted to.
Thanks for posting, though... Hopefully it helps someone else out.
tisdall said:
That seems very promising for you! Unfortunately it probably won't help me at all... It sounds like it's a sort of update patch instead of a whole image. Starting the device with the reset button causes it to load the recovery partition instead of the regular partition (I'm guessing you saw a green android with a text menu with options for recovery). I full flashing would/could involve an SDcard, but I think you would have to create it with Phoenixsuit and not just copy the file contents over (it would then just boot directly from the SDcard and you wouldn't need to press the reset button).
In my case, both the regular boot partition and the recover partition are wrecked so I couldn't even try this patch if I wanted to.
Thanks for posting, though... Hopefully it helps someone else out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm, is clockworkmod still a thing? I could try taking a backup of my ROM and see if that's something you can use.., only problem is I will need a bit of time. If I get a chance, I'll do it over the weekend. I will need a place to dump the image though, it will be too big to attach here, can sort that out later though.
Smakky said:
Hmm, is clockworkmod still a thing? I could try taking a backup of my ROM and see if that's something you can use.., only problem is I will need a bit of time. If I get a chance, I'll do it over the weekend. I will need a place to dump the image though, it will be too big to attach here, can sort that out later though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd appreciate that... Your board seems to have a completely different layout, but all the same components. I'm not familiar with clockworkmod, though, so I'm not sure how that backup would work. I guess I'd need to get clockworkmod flashed on to the recovery partition first and then I could flash the backup to the NAND from there?
tisdall said:
I'd appreciate that... Your board seems to have a completely different layout, but all the same components. I'm not familiar with clockworkmod, though, so I'm not sure how that backup would work. I guess I'd need to get clockworkmod flashed on to the recovery partition first and then I could flash the backup to the NAND from there?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not actually too sure. The last timed I used clockworkmod was for flashing a galaxy s2 phone, so I'm not even too sure if its still around or compatible with tv boxes. There will definately be SOME sort of tool though, that can take a full backup suitable for restoring. I'm about at the limit of my knowledge, so I am sort of playing by ear and going into a google-learn-try sort of cycle as I try different things. Maybe someone with more experience will stumble in here and let us know what we need to do
This is interesting... I found another device with an identical PCB board: YBKJ_A20 (I can't post links yet, but a Google search will find it) Several chips are different so the firmware would differ. It's so hard to work with these devices when no one claims credit for making a lot of these things!
What is J4?
http://dl-1.va.us.xda-developers.com/2/9/3/6/8/3/3/DSC_0207s.jpg
I was wondering what the upper left 2 pin connector is for? (the little white 2 pin plug next to the USB)
Is it SPDIF? Power input? output? Something else? I see in this picture a cable connected so i'm hoping you can tell.
Ask BBA22-V.1.50 TV BOX Model Android 4.2 Firmware
Smakky said:
OK, so I got a reply from the seller.
I've attached the patch file and the instructions to this message, but theres a few things to note.
- Its only like 20 meg big, so it isnt a full firmware update
- The instructions talk about pressing the reset button at the start.., I don;t think this is neccesary if its rooted already
- The instructions are VERY engrish-y, basically just dump the update.zip onto a sd card, and apply the patch through the settings menu
- The default language is changed to some form of Chinese after applying, theres plenty pictorials on how to change the android language though.
- The version has been updated from BBA22-UI4-V2.0.1, to BBA22-UI4-V2.0.3 - This is still lower than the one you mentioned @ BBA22-UI4-V2.0.4
So far though, I have re-installed all my apps, and haven't seen the error.. yet. I was a little concerned it is still giving me touchpad tutorials, but mouse mode on the remote is making short work of those.
I'll just have to wait and see, I guess.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello
Thank You For This Firmware But It Work For BBA22-UI4-V2.0.1, to BBA22-UI4-V2.0.3.
My Device Model is ((BBA22-V.1.50)) with Android 4.2 and I had to update it with your firmware file to fix problem black page after boot.
after update my device with your firmware, black page broblem is solved but device not work properly and it show Error message for (android.process.acore) systematically in loop!
also I can not make very actions because this error message show repeatedly.
also the default device language is china and i can not change language (error message show repeatedly)
have you original firmware for ((BBA22-V.1.50)) with Android 4.2 device???
thank you for help me...
H.SHAFAGHI said:
have you original firmware for ((BBA22-V.1.50)) with Android 4.2 device???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So... For everyone looking for a full firmware for this box, and stumbled upon this thread from google like I did: DESPAIR NO MORE.
I found a compatible firmware for this device (exacly as described and same board as the one OP has) It will work even if your box came preinstalled with another software version, but its the same hardware
Found it in another thread, posted by @daaviles30 Its not EXACLY the same as the one I had originally loaded but appears to work without any issue whatsoever (even the remote works), if a little bit better.
So here it is:
daaviles30 said:
A20_V20_SDK_EN_XBMC_0703-2.img*491.4 MB
*https:/ /mega.co.nz/#!XAIRiD5Q!aIb0tvvjvzUdaf11vIR7PAadeXPV8XizYJ9X2mAzpQI
RH46-update-a20.zip*582 KB
*https:/ /mega.co.nz/#!HZwTgQIT!LQGxb6R-lCIKe58RgIGROfufY-aq5PODSAq3-NPKOeo
PhoenixCard_V309
*http:/ /mega.co.nz/#F!HAIhBJyS!L_UQPNnYdPyHTD3ggnJ6OA
After flashing update and then go to the play store and download SuperSU update that and your ready to go.
---------- Post added at 03:57 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:29 PM ----------
Titanium Backup Pro v6.1.5.3.apk*6.2 MB
*https:/ /mega.co.nz/#!vAAWRJga!vOFKlAq_25ssrG5kvwa3-oC-d0saL06YGBIWIyN2jss
You can delete all the unwanted system apps with this app.
Hope this helps Happy New Years.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The flashing process is exacly as described earlier in this thread. Use phoenix card to burn the img to an SD card, turn the device on with the card inserted in the slot and enjoy your restored android box.
It Working Only With Booting From Memory Card Slot...
amedeh123 said:
So... For everyone looking for a full firmware for this box, and stumbled upon this thread from google like I did: DESPAIR NO MORE.
I found a compatible firmware for this device (exacly as described and same board as the one OP has) It will work even if your box came preinstalled with another software version, but its the same hardware
Found it in another thread, posted by @daaviles30 Its not EXACLY the same as the one I had originally loaded but appears to work without any issue whatsoever (even the remote works), if a little bit better.
So here it is:
The flashing process is exacly as described earlier in this thread. Use phoenix card to burn the img to an SD card, turn the device on with the card inserted in the slot and enjoy your restored android box.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello My Friend And Thank You For Replay...
This Android is Working And is Very Good But i Can Not Install This To My Device. I Copy The IMG File To A External Memory Card (Using PhonixCard Application) and put the Memory Card To My Device And PowerOn My Device. My Device Automatically Boot From Memory Card And New Android is Appear. It Is Very Fast And Have No Errors.
Now...
HOW I CAN INSTALL THE IMG FILE TO MY DEVICE (INTERNAL MEMORY) AND BOOT MY DEVICE WITHOUT USING MEMORY CARD (FOR ALL TIMES)???
H.SHAFAGHI said:
Hello My Friend And Thank You For Replay...
This Android is Working And is Very Good But i Can Not Install This To My Device. I Copy The IMG File To A External Memory Card (Using PhonixCard Application) and put the Memory Card To My Device And PowerOn My Device. My Device Automatically Boot From Memory Card And New Android is Appear. It Is Very Fast And Have No Errors.
Now...
HOW I CAN INSTALL THE IMG FILE TO MY DEVICE (INTERNAL MEMORY) AND BOOT MY DEVICE WITHOUT USING MEMORY CARD (FOR ALL TIMES)???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow.
The Phoenixsuite makes an sdcard that flashes the internal memory. After it's finished flashing, you take the card out and it runs off of the internal NAND. That's it. It never runs the Android from the sdcard.
My device can boot from sd-card!!! I need to flash this to install your android!
tisdall said:
Wow.
The Phoenixsuite makes an sdcard that flashes the internal memory. After it's finished flashing, you take the card out and it runs off of the internal NAND. That's it. It never runs the Android from the sdcard.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello My Friend And Thank You For Replay...
1- My Device Can Boot From SD-CARD With A Bootable Memory Card! (Such As OpenSuse Linux)
2- I Use PhonixCard Application That You Send.
(PhoenixCard_V309
*http:/ /mega.co.nz/#F!HAIhBJyS!L_UQPNnYdPyHTD3ggnJ6OA
3- I Can Not Use PhonixSuit Application And I Don't Know How To Use PhonixSuit. When I Connect My Device To My Computer To Use PhonixSuit, My Computer Don't Find Any Hardware And Can Not Connect!
4- I Copy The IMG File To A SD-CARD (Using PhonixCard Application) and put the Memory Card To My Device And PowerOn My Device. My Device Automatically Boot From Memory Card And New Android is Appear. If Unplug The SD-CARD And Power On My Device, Old Android Is Appear!!! Master Android Software Is In My Device And I Need To Clear This From My Device And Install Your Android!
HOW I CAN INSTALL YOUR ANDROID TO MY DEVICE (INTERNAL MEMORY) AND BOOT MY DEVICE WITHOUT USING MEMORY CARD???
I need help!!!!
no any answer???

Lenovo S8 A7600 [Official Rom] [Instructions]

Hello
Seeing there is very little info about this model, I decided to make available my findings. Initially I was a bit annoyed with the phone in the start. The "stock" rom was a disaster (malware-ridden, non-official). First I tried to de-bloat that but the whole rom was just bad and unstable. Since then I've learned some things, and newer official builds have surfaced.
Also I should say; this phone is basically a K3 Note with 720p screen (another difference is MT6752M cpu instead of MT6752 in the K3 Note) and it's very similar to the A7000 model.
The best rom I have tried so far is this : VIBEUI_V2.5_1532_5.1797.1_ST_A7600_CU ---> DL - This is latest official stock Rom for the 7600 (not 7600M which is Chinese version)
Here is also TWRP recovery with english + chinese language: DL
Rename ROM to "update.zip", use stock recovery and flash (probably best to use stock lenovo recovery first to make sure everything gets flashed, can be flashed with twrp but I suspect it only flashes boot and system), boot it up, finish the setup wizard, turn it off. Use SPflashtool to flash TWRP, turn off again.
Start phone in recovery mode (Press volume Up + Down, and power button. Hold until recovery appears). Now you can flash Gapps (arm64, lollipop 5.0, opengapps.org), SuperSU, xposed arm64 lollipop, etc.
I have been able to get a very pleasing phone doing this. I don't really feel right now that much is missing, and I'm not annoyed by various other problems. Using xposed modules gravity box, GEL settings, Lollipop memory fix, etc.
This Rom has very little bloatware, there are some chinese apps, but they can easily be uninstalled - don't even need root. There are a few more you can uninstall using root if you want, but be careful not to break the system.
I'm not going to explain everything in great detail here. Using SPFlashTool is explained so many other places. Getting supersu and xposed also explained everywhere.
If I could I would integrate all in to one flashable package, but I'm not a rom cooker. Sorry
PS: As you can see in the image, i use iFONT xposed. But I don't enable it as xposed module, that caused problems. I just used it to download a font and applied it. It's system wide, and it works
There's a newer link in post #6 with the latest firmware
There's a newer link in post #10 with TWRP 3.0.2.3
Hi,do you have custom rom for lenovo s8 a7600?
askermk2000 said:
Hello
The best rom I have tried so far is this : VIBEUI_V2.5_1532_5.1797.1_ST_A7600_CU ---> - This is latest official stock Rom for the 7600 (not 7600M which is Chinese version)
Here is also TWRP recovery with english + chinese language:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
sorry, I had to remove your links, because I have small amount of posts and I am not allowed to submit post with urls - even if quoted.
Hi!
Do you know way to install other languages into ROM (or add them and somehow rebuild ROM), I am searching informations for last few days with no succes. The main problem is when international apps using EN for directory, when all information in directory should be in my language (polish). Changing locale helps, but settings are crashing with changed locales..
Also I installed xposed, but system tells me that xposed is not installed... I heard about it from your post and found only version v79 for sdk 21. I need to remove search box from desktop at google now.
Any custom rom for this device ?
Hi everyone, hi @askermk2000
I just received my Lenovo S8 A7600 "Golden Warrior" phone from an Asian vendor, it came with VIBEUI_V2.5_1524_5.1460.1_ST_A7600_CU and SuperSU was seemingly installed when I first turned on phone (asked me to update binary).
Specs are MTK6752M 64-bit OctaCore, 2GB RAM, 8GB storage.
Can I install your version VIBEUI_V2.5_1532_5.1797.1_ST_A7600_CU through the Lenovo stock recovery/flash (phone) as you suggest?
You mention "not 7600M" so I am not sure...
I also see in other places that there's even a newer VibeUI version VIBEUI_V2.5_1537_5.1978.1_ST_A7600_CU, any idea where to get it and if it is compatible? I cannot find any download link...
Thanks...
konsti said:
Hi everyone, hi @askermk2000
I just received my Lenovo S8 A7600 "Golden Warrior" phone from an Asian vendor, it came with VIBEUI_V2.5_1524_5.1460.1_ST_A7600_CU and SuperSU was seemingly installed when I first turned on phone (asked me to update binary).
Specs are MTK6752M 64-bit OctaCore, 2GB RAM, 8GB storage.
Can I install your version VIBEUI_V2.5_1532_5.1797.1_ST_A7600_CU through the Lenovo stock recovery/flash (phone) as you suggest?
You mention "not 7600M" so I am not sure...
I also see in other places that there's even a newer VibeUI version VIBEUI_V2.5_1537_5.1978.1_ST_A7600_CU, any idea where to get it and if it is compatible? I cannot find any download link...
Thanks...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello
It's wise of you to remove that dubious vendor firmware.
Since "A7600M" is a model number, or simply name of the phone, I would be surprised if it doesn't say so anywhere. Look at the packaging, phone and battery compartment etc. If you don't see A7600M anywhere, it's likely not that model.
See here: Lenovo Inquiry Page
At the bottom there you'll find link for the latest official (Full) firmware.
Thank you @askermk2000 for your kind and immediate reply.
This known asian vendor on their page mentions: Lenovo "Golden Warrior" S8 A7600, 4G, LTE, MTK6752M @1.5GHz 64bit OctaCore, 2GB RAM, 8GB storage, 5.5inch HD IPS screen, OTG, Android 5.0 Phone
In settings, the ROM version is: VIBEUI_V2.5_1524_5.1460.1_ST_A7600_CU, no bloatware; was surprised to see SuperSU pre-installed but the vendor does have a service (at a cost) to provide pre-rooted phones (which I did NOT order but maybe got).
The (Lenovo) box doesn't mention much, even under the phone I can see a lot of Chinese, so it's definitely for China -- vendor wrote it's unlocked for world use on their page.
The mentioned model is A7600 on the rear, there's only a A838 reference besides model (i.e. QQ-A838-xxxxxx) but not much more than that.
I suspect these may be older stock they wanted to get rid of.
As you can see, the model is (S8) A7600, not A7600M. The chipset has "M" i.e. is MTK6752M.
So can I not use the official latest (full) firmware that you posted, via stock recovery?
Is this not for MTK6752M processor? Will this firmware brick the phone, you think?
Thank you very much in advance!
konsti said:
Thank you @askermk2000 for your kind and immediate reply.
This known asian vendor on their page mentions: Lenovo "Golden Warrior" S8 A7600, 4G, LTE, MTK6752M @1.5GHz 64bit OctaCore, 2GB RAM, 8GB storage, 5.5inch HD IPS screen, OTG, Android 5.0 Phone
In settings, the ROM version is: VIBEUI_V2.5_1524_5.1460.1_ST_A7600_CU, no bloatware; was surprised to see SuperSU pre-installed but the vendor does have a service (at a cost) to provide pre-rooted phones (which I did NOT order but maybe got).
The (Lenovo) box doesn't mention much, even under the phone I can see a lot of Chinese, so it's definitely for China -- vendor wrote it's unlocked for world use on their page.
The mentioned model is A7600 on the rear, there's only a A838 reference besides model (i.e. QQ-A838-xxxxxx) but not much more than that.
I suspect these may be older stock they wanted to get rid of.
As you can see, the model is (S8) A7600, not A7600M. The chipset has "M" i.e. is MTK6752M.
So can I not use the official latest (full) firmware that you posted, via stock recovery?
Is this not for MTK6752M processor? Will this firmware brick the phone, you think?
Thank you very much in advance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, your phone is the right model, as you said "Unlocked for world use", the A7600M only works in china.
MTK6752M is the chipset used - it has nothing to do with A7600M, that there are two M's there is a coincidence.
So you can go ahead and use the latest firmware.
OK for the sake of information to everyone, I did the following:
0. Formatted SD card from within the phone (just to be sure). Then charged battery fully to 100%.
1. Copy (via PC) the latest firmware zip file (currently is VIBEUI_V2.5_1628_5.2186.1_ST_A7600_CU_WC5DAF1811.zip about 1GB size) to root of my SD card. This file looks like a recovery type, but files inside (some IMG, DAT and scatter files) could be flashable from PC (i.e. like SP Flash Tool etc.).
2. Renamed it update.zip
3. Put SD and battery back to phone.
4. Started phone in recovery mode: Pressed Volume Up + Down and Power buttons simultaneously; held them until recovery screen appeared. First, Lenovo logo, then a screen to choose language (Chinese/English); pressed English.
5. Selected the Install Upgrade Pack menu and pressed "YES" to the warning about encrypted phones.
6. Waited for update with circle-type update progress; for some reason it got seemingly stuck at 75% for some period. Waited patiently to finish.
7. I selected "Back" to go and clean user data.
8. Once done, I pressed back touch-button and selected "Restart".
9. Waited to see what happens. Was curiously greeted with a white chinese splash-screen saying "4G" something. Waited...
10. Phone next booted to the usual Lenovo logo, with some chinese text at the bottom and three dots [...] flashing with thin white progress-line (most likely "rebuilding apps"?). This took a while, too.
11. The phone finally went into the wizard in Chinese, and then offered choice of English or Chinese as wizard language.
Wizard finished OK, then went to Settings -> About device -> ROM is upgraded indeed to VibeUI v2.5-1628 and Android 5.0.2.
NOTE: There's a LOT of chinese stuff, unfortunately, I guess it's part of the ROM; obviously this ROM is non-rooted...
However, the asian vendor installed/shipped ROM (VIBEUI_V2.5_1524_5.1460.1_ST_A7600_CU) was very light and fast -- I guess a deodex version? Or a VibeUI port?
Many thanks @askermk2000 for your help nevertheless.
Any idea, compared to your experience., if...
a) if your URL for latest firmware is maybe only for China? Your first post photos/screenshots don't have such Chinese apps On this ROM version, the shutdown logo is again that white chinese splash-screen with a big red "4G". Perhaps there's some other version for non-Chinese region?
b) if there's a stock, deodex ROM like that one? How did the Asian vendor find such light ROM, I am curious -- in that shipped ROM version, I had many menu languages. Now I only have English and Chinese as choices
c) if I need TWRP so I can flash Play Store, gapps and SuperSU? I don't think stock Recovery allows for these, any idea?
Cheers mate.
konsti said:
OK for the sake of information to everyone, I did the following:
0. Formatted SD card from within the phone (just to be sure). Then charged battery fully to 100%.
1. Copy (via PC) the latest firmware zip file (currently is VIBEUI_V2.5_1628_5.2186.1_ST_A7600_CU_WC5DAF1811.zip about 1GB size) to root of my SD card. This file looks like a recovery type, but files inside (some IMG, DAT and scatter files) could be flashable from PC (i.e. like SP Flash Tool etc.).
2. Renamed it update.zip
3. Put SD and battery back to phone.
4. Started phone in recovery mode: Pressed Volume Up + Down and Power buttons simultaneously; held them until recovery screen appeared. First, Lenovo logo, then a screen to choose language (Chinese/English); pressed English.
5. Selected the Install Upgrade Pack menu and pressed "YES" to the warning about encrypted phones.
6. Waited for update with circle-type update progress; for some reason it got seemingly stuck at 75% for some period. Waited patiently to finish.
7. I selected "Back" to go and clean user data.
8. Once done, I pressed back touch-button and selected "Restart".
9. Waited to see what happens. Was curiously greeted with a white chinese splash-screen saying "4G" something. Waited...
10. Phone next booted to the usual Lenovo logo, with some chinese text at the bottom and three dots [...] flashing with thin white progress-line (most likely "rebuilding apps"?). This took a while, too.
11. The phone finally went into the wizard in Chinese, and then offered choice of English or Chinese as wizard language.
Wizard finishedOK, then went to Settings -> About device -> ROM is upgraded indeed to VibeUI v2.5-1628 and Android 5.0.2.
There's a LOT of chinese stuff, unfortunately, I guess it's part of the ROM; obviously this ROM is non-rooted.
But the installed/shipped ROM (VIBEUI_V2.5_1524_5.1460.1_ST_A7600_CU) was very light and fast -- I guess a deodex version? Or a VibeUI port?
Many thanks @askermk2000 for your help nevertheless. Your photos/screenshots however don't have such Chinese apps...
Any idea, compared to your experience., if...
a) if your linked latest firmware is maybe only for China? The shutdown logo is again that white chinese splash-screen with a big red "4G". Perhaps there's some other version for non-Chinese region?
b) if there's a stock, deodex ROM like that one? How did the Asian vendor find such light ROM, I am curious -- in that shipped ROM version, I had many menu languages. Now I only have English and Chinese as choices
c) if I need TWRP so I can flash Play Store, gapps and SuperSU? I don't think stock Recovery allows for these, any idea?
Cheers mate.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello again
Yes, the official Chinese rom only has Eng/Chinese language. There may be a way to add more, idk because I only need English. The 4G boot logo is normal, was there on the rom linked in the first post also.
All the Chinese apps (or almost all) can be uninstalled without root permission. I never experience the rom to be less than fast and good, but I always immediately uninstalled the chinese apps, they do me no good anyways.
The rom you where supplied with is what is called ROW (international). If it's possible to get an updated ROW rom idk. All I know is that if you want a clean unhampered ROM, then the one I've shown you is the way to go.
PS: Yes you need custom recovery to flash the other stuff. Here is an updated TWRP: TWRP-3.0.2.3
^^This recovery has wrong device description in build.prop (actually it uses Lenovo K3) as a consequence you will receive error if trying to flash ROM's. So try the old one if you get these errors.
HI everyone, hi @askermk2000 and many many thanks for sharing your TWRP version 3.0.2.3 with us.
I followed this thread on how to root the Lenovo S8 A7600 phone and downloaded the tools needed (SP Flash Tool v5.1452.00 and VCOM drivers) on my Windows 7 laptop; then, installed them accordingly. Many thanks to @XxpikaachuuxX for providing links and steps on his thread!
1. Started up SP Flash Tool with administrator rights.
2. Chose the scatter file that was inside your shared TWRP-3.0.2.3 zip file; recovery image is automatically selected.
3. Shut down phone, remove battery.
4. Made sure all boxes in list were unchecked, except "recovery" then pressed "Download" button.
5 . Plugged phone on USB cable to PC, then inserted battery under the phone, as instructed.
6. Windows made a "USB plugged" sound, then SP Flash Tool detected phone OK and flashed recovery fine (there was the green tick-mark shown!)
7. Removed cable, removed battery, waited 10 seconds, re-inserted battery.
Then, copied to my SD card root folder, via PC (card reader) the following:
a) UPDATE-SuperSU-v2.46.zip
b) gapps-lp-20150211-signed.zip from this thread (lp=Lollipop)
(I had downloaded and installed wrong Gapps for 5.1 Android, but we need 5.0 version for this ROM--silly me. I just re-flashed via TWRP the correct package).
Went into recovery by pressing briefly Power then when the short vibration was felt, pressed VOL+ and VOL- and POWER simultaneously; the pleasant splash-screen of TWRP was shown!
1. Installed the needed SuperSU; then went back.
2. Installed gapps.
3. Wiped cache and Davlik (inside TWRP) then rebooted phone i.e. "system".
4. Waited patiently as it took a few minutes to go on the main Home screen.
5. Created Google account in "Settings" then went straight to "PlayStore" to update all applications, including SuperSU.
6. Ran SuperSU and upon request, updated the binary "normally" and rebooted just fine.
NOTE: In the Wi-Fi detected lists, since my first ever boot of this phone, I get a (fake?) SSID entry "NVRAM WARNING: Err = 0x10" which is apparently easily fixed for other phones. Do you guys you also got that?
A bunch of final questions to you, @askermk2000 when you have time to reply.
1) Does the stock weather display on a Home page work for you? I only get Chinese cities, location doesn't work as it says "city not found". Manual input of e.g. Europe cities doesn't show results, either.
2) Despite removing most via "Settings -> App Manager", any suggestions oh how to remove some further chinese apps that are marked "system app"? This article suggests NoBloat Free, Titanium Backup, System App Remover and App Master. I am not familiar with this approach but for example, "LenovoStore" could be removed...
3) Do you have by any chance the original, black b/g, folding (yes, boring) Lenovo animation boot logo to share? I see there's a file logo.bin for SP Flash Tools but others talk about /system/media/bootanimation.zip file... I ask if you have it, as the "Boot Animations" PlayStore app may not have the stock Lenovo boot. Perhaps flashing it via SP Flash Tool is better?
4) Will you kindly share any updates here to TWRP versions, whenever released? Do you anticipate any update in the coming 1-2 months, for example? (not sure there are bugs in TWRP-3.0.2.3, if any)
5) If there is a newer Lenovo official ROM available (than today) we obviously lose the TWRP recovery if we flash it all via SP Flash Tools; but we keep TWRP recovery if we update to the new ROM via TWRP, correct?
Thank you.
konsti said:
HI everyone, hi @askermk2000 and many many thanks for sharing your TWRP version 3.0.2.3 with us.
I followed this thread on how to root the Lenovo S8 A7600 phone and downloaded the tools needed (SP Flash Tool v5.1452.00 and VCOM drivers) on my Windows 7 laptop; then, installed them accordingly. Many thanks to @XxpikaachuuxX for providing links and steps on his thread!
1. Started up SP Flash Tool with administrator rights.
2. Chose the scatter file that was inside your shared TWRP-3.0.2.3 zip file; recovery image is automatically selected.
3. Shut down phone, remove battery.
4. Made sure all boxes in list were unchecked, except "recovery" then pressed "Download" button.
5 . Plugged phone on USB cable to PC, then inserted battery under the phone, as instructed.
6. Windows made a "USB plugged" sound, then SP Flash Tool detected phone OK and flashed recovery fine (there was the green tick-mark shown!)
7. Removed cable, removed battery, waited 10 seconds, re-inserted battery.
Then, copied to my SD card root folder, via PC (card reader) the following:
a) UPDATE-SuperSU-v2.46.zip
b) gapps-lp-20150211-signed.zip from this thread (lp=Lollipop)
(I had downloaded and installed wrong Gapps for 5.1 Android, but we need 5.0 version for this ROM--silly me. I just re-flashed via TWRP the correct package).
Went into recovery by pressing briefly Power then when the short vibration was felt, pressed VOL+ and VOL- and POWER simultaneously; the pleasant splash-screen of TWRP was shown!
1. Installed the needed SuperSU; then went back.
2. Installed gapps.
3. Wiped cache and Davlik (inside TWRP) then rebooted phone i.e. "system".
4. Waited patiently as it took a few minutes to go on the main Home screen.
5. Created Google account in "Settings" then went straight to "PlayStore" to update all applications, including SuperSU.
6. Ran SuperSU and upon request, updated the binary "normally" and rebooted just fine.
NOTE: In the Wi-Fi detected lists, since my first ever boot of this phone, I get a (fake?) SSID entry "NVRAM WARNING: Err = 0x10" which is apparently easily fixed for other phones. Do you guys you also got that?
A bunch of final questions to you, @askermk2000 when you have time to reply.
1) Does the stock weather display on a Home page work for you? I only get Chinese cities, location doesn't work as it says "city not found". Manual input of e.g. Europe cities doesn't show results, either.
2) Despite removing most via "Settings -> App Manager", any suggestions oh how to remove some further chinese apps that are marked "system app"? This article suggests NoBloat Free, Titanium Backup, System App Remover and App Master. I am not familiar with this approach but for example, "LenovoStore" could be removed...
3) Do you have by any chance the original, black b/g, folding (yes, boring) Lenovo animation boot logo to share? I see there's a file logo.bin for SP Flash Tools but others talk about /system/media/bootanimation.zip file... I ask if you have it, as the "Boot Animations" PlayStore app may not have the stock Lenovo boot. Perhaps flashing it via SP Flash Tool is better?
4) Will you kindly share any updates here to TWRP versions, whenever released? Do you anticipate any update in the coming 1-2 months, for example? (not sure there are bugs in TWRP-3.0.2.3, if any)
5) If there is a newer Lenovo official ROM available (than today) we obviously lose the TWRP recovery if we flash it all via SP Flash Tools; but we keep TWRP recovery if we update to the new ROM via TWRP, correct?
Thank you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
About that Wi-Fi problem. No I don't have it, and I was reading that page with the fix. It seems it's caused by using wrong settings in SPFlashtool, so likely the vendor did this when applying his trash firmware.
If you wifi is not working (as some reported in that thread) I would of course try to get a refund.
Weather gadget only has Chinese cities, yes I noticed that so I was using yahoo weather instead on my phone.
I would suggest Titanium Backup, it's what I use.
No, sorry I don't have any boot logos or animations.
This phone is a bit slow on the updates. But if there's an update, you can do it through the OTA update function which only downloads the changes as a patch. Though If your phone is heavily modified it might not work correctly. Could try a factory reset first, or simply start a fresh.
Then you would probably need to download the original recovery and flash that first.
PS: You can break the system by removing too much of the lenovo stuff. Remember VibeUi is heavily integrated and impossible to remove completely. Also, for gapps go to www.opengapps.org
help
Can you help me a bit? I got an infected phone and i need to install a new rom to keep myself safe. (im kinda noob to installing stuff like these)
First bootanimation "china4Gchina", second ok and poweroff ok.
Please help to change to first animation or delete.
Thanks.

[Guide] Lenovo Tab 2 A10-70 Root, Recovery, Xposed and Others

I no longer have this tablet. This is an amazing device, and I enjoyed my time with it. Chances are that the information that are here are not the most updated. You can expect updated information at this thread.
There are a lot of scattered information everywhere about this tablet, so this is just an attempt to put those together in one place. Recently this tablet is gaining a lot of users due to its price and performance, I just hope that it helps the new users getting started. This is not my work, so I don't take any credit. No thanks necessary. Please thank the original contributors.
All the steps mentioned here are individually tested by me and at least worked for my device. However, I cannot guarantee that it will work on yours too, and I am not responsible for any damage to your device due to following or not-following this tutorial.
This thread is made possible due to the contribution of XDA members @Sparkrite, @Old faithful, @lee2006 and others. Special thanks to @clsA for providing the download links. Many thanks to @Tzul as stock firmwares and OTA updates were originally obtained from his work @ android-hilfe.de.
And we can not mention well enough the contributions of @Chainfire for root and @rovo89 for Xposed.
1. ROOT
Root with Kingroothttp://forum.xda-developers.com/android/apps-games/one-click-root-tool-android-2-x-5-0-t3107461
(Easy Method) Use this method if you don't want to change to a custom recovery
So far it has been reported to be working on the Kitkat 4.4 rom only. The steps are as easy as it could get. download the Kingroot app, and let it do it's work. You shall be rooted.
Replace Kingroot with SuperSu
Now, giving super user access to your device to any app is no joke. And many of us feel a bit uneasy with the Kingroot app. There are 2 ways to replace Kingroot with SuperSu
(Paid option )Use the Super-Sume Pro app app from the play store.
(Free option) Follow this guide here if you are not afraid of getting your hands dirty with couple lines of codes in terminal emulator. Note that the terminal will show a lot of errors, but it will still get the job done.
Root with Custom Recovery
Follow the steps for installing Custom Recovery in section 3
Reboot into Recovery mode.
Use the 'Install Zip' option in your Custom Recovery to install 'BETA-SuperSU-v2.49.zip' and you shall be rooted.
2. Install Xposed Framework
Installing xposed requires a rooted device. Root your tablet with one of the above methods.
Kitkat
Download the Xposed Installer apk. Install the apk, you will get a security warning. You need to check app installation from 'Unknown Sources' in Security settings. Once installed go to the xposed app, under 'Framework' click 'Install/Update' You can ignore the red warning. Restart your device after that. Download any modules you like and start customizing your tablet!
Lollipop
Lollipop requires installing Xposed via recovery, so having a custom recovery besides root is also a requirement. Download the latest version of Xposed. Android 5.0.1 =SDK21, and this tablet runs in ARM 64 bit mode. Download xposed-v##-sdk21-arm64.zip, copy it to the tablet, and install it from custom recovery. The first boot afterwards can a long time 5-10 minutes. Also download and install the latest XposedInstaller app (currently XposedInstaller_3.0_alpha4.apk ), to manage the modules.
3. Install Custom Recovery
Install USB driver
This one is a tricky process.
Download SP_Drivers and extract the files.
Start Device Manager on the PC
Turn off the tablet and connect it to the PC via USB cable. Device manager will refresh and show MT67xx vcom for a couple seconds only. Quickly right click on it and select install driver manually, navigating to the directory of the SP_Drivers
Disconnect the tablet
Install TWRP Recovery using SP Flash Tool
Download and extract TWRP for Lenovo Tab 2 A10-70.
Download and extract the latest version of SP Flash Tool
Start SP Flash Tool, in Download tab get the scatter file from the recovery zip package. Use the Android4 file for Android 4.4 Kitkat, and the Android5 file for Android 5 Lollipop. Make sure only the recovery is ticked, and on the drop down menu 'download only' is selected. Click on the location column on the right of 'recovery' and browse to the recovery file depending on your android version.
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
In SP Flash Tool, click Download.
Connect the turned-off tablet to the PC. Recovery will flash in a matter of seconds and you will get a big green OK on the software.
Close SP Flash Tool.
Remove the tablet and make sure you do not start it, but get into recovery instead. Press 'volume up and power' and maintain that for about 10 seconds, past the vibration and the start of splash screen. A dark screen with very small characters will show up with three options: Recovery, Fastboot and Normal. Don't touch anything unless you make sure you understand what the buttons do. Volume up is used to navigate (go to Recovery), volume down activates the selection. DON'T select any other option! The power button has no effect.
TWRP will start.
Note that if you are already rooted, you can flash recovery via Flashify, Rashr, etc. You can also flash via Fastboot.
4. Flash Stock ROM with SP Flash Tool
There could be many reason to go back to all stock. Soft brick, return device to manufacturer for repair, Downgrade or upgrade OS, etc.
Make sure you have the USB driver installed (procedure in the previous section)
Download Stock ROM. Latest Lollipop A10-70F_S000121_151222_ROW or here. Kitkat A10-70F_S000021_150501_ROW_USER. Extract.
Download and extract the latest version of SP Flash Tool
Power off the tablet and run flash_tool.exe in the extracted SP flash tool folder
Click 'Scatter-loading' and chose MT6752_Android_scatter.txt file in the extracted stock rom folder. Make sure on the drop down menu 'download only' is selected.
Click 'download' and then connect the turned off tablet to the computer. The progress bar will show. It takes about 5 mins for the flash. A big green 'OK' button will show the end of the process. Disconnect the tablet and power it on. It may take up to 10 mins for the first boot. If it still not booting force turn off by pressing on the power button and start again.
The tablet should be powered off when connecting it to the computer, for both installing the preloader drivers and for flashing. This one is a very important step, and it won't work with a turned on tablet.
5. Tips
If you are in stock Kitkat, you can reboot to recovery mode by going to the 'system update' app and clicking the rectangular button on the top right corner.
To give sd card write access to any apps... If you are rooted this can be overcome by using apps like SDFix, HandleExternalStorage xposed module, or others.
Strangely there is no option to change Lockscreen wallpaper in the settings menu. This can be done by opening any image with the default Gallery app and going to 'set picture as'....
6. OTA update to latest version of Lollipop
The latest update mostly fixed the wifi issue many people have been struggling with.
Use SP Flash Tool to flash System and Recovery only from Lollipop firmware provided on section 4. Choose recovery and system only to return to stock. From stock recovery choose install update from sdcard and then choose the lenovoota.zip
Link to OTA >> A10-70F_S000120_150907_ROW_TO_A10-70F_S000121_151222_ROW
first bootup takes about 10 min like any system update
7. Useful Reads
MediaTek boot process and partitions 101
Fix a corrupted Preloader
Fix Auto-brightness
8. Additional Download Links
AndroidFileHost from Tzul
Onedrive from Tzul
AndroidFileHost from cslA
I shall continue to update this thread as more information becomes available. Please let me know if I missed anything.
.
.
Thanks for your helpful information
suhridkhan said:
...
I shall continue to update this thread as more information becomes available. Please let me know if I missed anything.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm going to just put this here, it really doesn't need it's own thread
This is a TWRP Restore of some stuff I put together for my Tablet​
You need the latest Lollipop software installed from #4 above (A10-70F_S000121_151222_ROW_clsA) - and you need the latest TWRP from @Tzul as your custom recovery.
How to install:​
01. Boot to TWRP.
02. Create a backup on your external SD card. (Backing up "Boot" is more than enough. We only want TWRP to create the needed directories on your SD card.)
03. Download the backup I uploaded here >> nova.xposed.gsam.airdroid.supersu.zip
04. Unzip the downloaded backup.
05. Copy the unzipped backup folder to "TWRP/BACKUPS/Lenovo_Tab_2_A10-70F/"on your SD card.
06. Restore the backup.
07. Boot to system. First boot may take about 3 or 4 min.
Here's whats in the Restore​
Nova Launcher (you can choose it on first boot or use the normal launcher, your choice)
Busybox
SuperSU
Xposed + Xprivacy and Gravitybox
Gsam Battery Monitor
Airdroid
ES File explorer
Terminal Emulator
Custom Wallpapers
bloat apps removed (most google stuff left in)
Boot and shutdown animations disabled.
Here's some screen shots - it's nothing too fancy but it should save you some time setting everything up if you need to redo your system.
If you like these Apps buy the pro versions in the Play store
If you want to thank Tzul for his work you can do so here >> http://forum.xda-developers.com/donatetome.php?u=5919159
Thanks go to
 @Tzul for TWRP
 @Hashbang173 for the Xposed
 @C3C076 for Gravitybox
 @M66B for Xprivacy
and @Chainfire for SuperSU
clsA said:
Great Job, I would add some of the original links for some of the files but what you have here is very effective.
I may try and publish a Custom Rom for this if I get the Time
For reference the files in my AFH account come from these forums
Stock Firmware and OTA updates >> http://www.android-hilfe.de/thema/l...g-firmware-recovery-root.739625/#post-9447919
Custom Carliv Recovery >> KitKat 4.4.4 and Lollipop 5.01
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks a lot again, I shall update the OP with these original links.
Xposed working on Kitkat
Just found out that xposed is working on the stock kitkat rom.
At this point I am not sure which of the modules are working.
I tried few settings in GravityBox, which worked. Some benefits were obvious, like modding the statusbar, and advanced reboot menu.
Also tried 'Minminguard' and 'HandleExternalStorage'... The last one is quite handy as it fixes the sd card write issue in Kitkat.
suhridkhan said:
Just found out that xposed is working on the stock kitkat rom.
View attachment 3592887
I tried it on the Lollipop rom too but it got stuck on the bootscreen.
At this point I am not sure which of the modules are working.
I tried few settings in GravityBox, which worked. Some benefits were obvious, like modding the statusbar, and advanced reboot menu.
View attachment 3592888
Also tried 'Minminguard' and 'HandleExternalStorage'... THe last one is quite handy as it fixes the sd card write issue in Kitkat.
Looks like I am not updating from Kitkat anytime soon.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks for the tip.
FYI this tablet is on sale at Best Buy right now for $160 or less (Open Box - Excellent $135)
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/lenovo-tab-2-a10-70-10-1-16gb-navy-blue/4097025.p?id=1219618213212 - Same deal on Amazon
clsA said:
thanks for the tip.
FYI this tablet is on sale at Best Buy right now for $160 or less (Open Box - Excellent $135)
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/lenovo-tab-2-a10-70-10-1-16gb-navy-blue/4097025.p?id=1219618213212 - Same deal on Amazon
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sweet deals! But you won't believe, how much I got it for.
It was around black friday form Jet.com. They give an special offer to first time buyers, plus there was another discount on my Amex credit card. I got it for 120$ only. Can you believe it!
It's a hell of a device for the price.
Great post suhridkhan, you should ask one of the mods to place it on the first page of the usual forum.
Just one thing, maybe you should mention in Step 3 that the tablet should be powered off when connecting it to the computer, for both installing the preloader drivers and for flashing.
Again thanks for the post.
Great summary! Helps clean everything up for newbies and help them avoid the lengthy learning process we pioneers had to go through to gather all the necessary information
---------- Post added at 14:54 ---------- Previous post was at 14:36 ----------
suhridkhan said:
you won't believe, how much I got it for.
It was around black friday form Jet.com. They give an special offer to first time buyers, plus there was another discount on my Amex credit card. I got it for 120$ only. Can you believe it!
It's a hell of a device for the price.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Amazing! In Canada the best deal was 250 loonies before taxes (approximately 160 dollars at the going rate? Or is it 140 now? ) In my case though, I got a 200 loony voucher from a colleague for a professional reference so in the end it only cost me 92 loonies (about $60). Better yet, my 64GB card cost me 37 loonies including taxes (about $26), just needed to fat32format it and add a line to the platform.xml file in system/etc/permissions folder to make it possible to use on KitKat
In case you were interested:(added 2015-12-31)
- using a root explorer, go to system/etc/permissions/platform.xml
- in the file find "android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE"
- under the line "<group gid="sdcard_rw"/> add "<group gid="media_rw"/>
Save and reboot. Remember to make a backup of the original platform.xml in case of problems
the only other thing SDFixr7 does is to revert the permission to stock should you chose to do so (honestly I cannot think that anyone in their right mind would ever want to do so)
I'm off to another endeavour now, to try to install the ICS based Motoblur Launcher with the CirclesWidget3D that I originally got from my wife's old Droid RAZR HD, it was a lot of hacking back then to get to run on my Note 2, but it's beautiful and the launcher is very efficient, I just can't stand the confusing Lenovo Launcher. I give myself until the end of the week to succeed
Old faithful said:
Great summary! Helps clean everything up for newbies and help them avoid the lengthy learning process we pioneers had to go through to gather all the necessary information
I'm off to another endeavour now, to try to install the ICS based Motoblur Launcher with the CirclesWidget3D that I originally got from my wife's old Droid RAZR HD, it was a lot of hacking back then to get to run on my Note 2, but it's beautiful and the launcher is very efficient, I just can't stand the confusing Lenovo Launcher. I give myself until the end of the week to succeed
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are right about the lenovo launcher, it's totally unpleasant to the eyes. I am using nova launcher. Have you found a way to change the lockscreen wallpaer to sth other than the built in ones, all those are really ugly.
I just hope that somebody ports an AOSP rom for this tablet. I am no developer, but given that the source code is available, may be someone with the know how can make an attempt to it.
Sparkrite said:
Just one thing, maybe you should mention in Step 3 that the tablet should be powered off when connecting it to the computer, for both installing the preloader drivers and for flashing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Noted and updated in the OP. Thanks for the clarification, this one is a very important step. I had to struggle quite some time for not doing that.
suhridkhan said:
You are right about the lenovo launcher, it's totally unpleasant to the eyes. I am using nova launcher. Have you found a way to change the lockscreen wallpaer to sth other than the built in ones, all those are really ugly.
I just hope that somebody ports an AOSP rom for this tablet. I am no developer, but given that the source code is available, may be someone with the know how can make an attempt to it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I simply removed the lockscreen altogether using Smart Launcher... But I'm going to take a look into the system files to see what I can do and get back to you on this.
As for the launcher backgrounds, I am totally in control of them now
There are two things you need to do, Simple Image Wallpaper, it's a live wallpaper, allows you to select two different images one for horizontal and for vertical. Basically I use both so I get the full frame in horizontal and vertical and voilà, perfect backgrounds
Horizontal:
Vertical:
And before you ask... No, this isn't the CirclesWidget3d, not nearly as nice, no 3d, but this version works with any launcher. This happens to be the Smart Launcher with Smart Launcher 2 theme. Good enough for now... Pictures are from my neck of the woods, taken a couple of months ago.
Sent from my Lenovo TAB 2 A10-70F using Tapatalk 2
---------- Post added 31st December 2015 at 00:49 ---------- Previous post was 30th December 2015 at 23:50 ----------
So I looked up the the lockscreen image, the file is system/etc/keyguard_wallpaper.png and is exactly 1800x1800. So make one in that format, make a backup of the original and rename your custom image with that name, reboot and let us know what came of it. Heck, while you're at it why don't you try a transparent .png, who knows, perhaps you'll get your homescreen wallpaper showing through the lockscreen? Nah, it'll probably be a mess, the lockscreen clock will interfere with the one on your homescreen
Disclaimer: remember this is untested... make sure you know how to restore that file from recovery should your custom one prevent normal startup... I didn't test this... you are going to be the guinea pig... Caveat lector! :evil:
Old faithful said:
I simply removed the lockscreen altogether using Smart Launcher... But I'm going to take a look into the system files to see what I can do and get back to you on this.
As for the launcher backgrounds, I am totally in control of them now
There are two things you need to do, it's a live wallpaper, allows you to select two different images one for horizontal and for vertical. Basically I use both so I get the full frame in horizontal and vertical and voilà, perfect backgrounds
And before you ask... No, this isn't the CirclesWidget3d, not nearly as nice, no 3d, but this version works with any launcher. This happens to be the Smart Launcher with Smart Launcher 2 theme. Good enough for now... Pictures are from my neck of the woods, taken a couple of months ago.
[/COLOR]So I looked up the the lockscreen image, the file is system/etc/keyguard_wallpaper.png and is exactly 1800x1800. So make one in that format, make a backup of the original and rename your custom image with that name, reboot and let us know what came of it. Heck, while you're at it why don't you try a transparent .png, who knows, perhaps you'll get your homescreen wallpaper showing through the lockscreen? Nah, it'll probably be a mess, the lockscreen clock will interfere with the one on your homescreen
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First of all you live at a lovely place. The picture is so great. :good:
Smart launcher is a nice touch. But I think I am sticking with nova launcher because of its aosp look. (personal preference I guess)
There is a much simpler solution to changing lockscreen wallpaper, I have been stupid to not see it before. If you open any image with the stock Gallery app, then go 'set picture as', it gives you option for changing both desktop and lockscreen wallpaper.
suhridkhan said:
First of all you live at a lovely place. The picture is so great. :good:
Smart launcher is a nice touch. But I think I am sticking with nova launcher because of its aosp look. (personal preference I guess)
There is a much simpler solution to changing lockscreen wallpaper, I have been stupid to not see it before. If you open any image with the stock Gallery app, then go 'set picture as', it gives you option for changing both desktop and lockscreen wallpaper.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey thanks for the compliments... I use QuickPick and it does as well... But for home screen wallpapers (I don't use a lockscreen, heck, I usually don't even lock the doors to my house) nothing that I've tried so far beats simple image wallpaper
Sent from my Note 2 using Tapatalk
Good guides, suhridkhan!
Some notes:
In section 3. Install Custom Recovery, you wrote "speedboot". That should be fastboot.
In section 4. Flash Stock ROM with SP Flash Tool, I'd explicitly state to use the "Download Only" flash mode. It's the default mode, but some people might be tempted to play with it, and that's bad, as the other two modes (Format All + Download, Firmware Upgrade) will wipe clean the entire flash memory, as far as I know. Including invisible and important partitions like NVRAM. Just take a look at this bad guide (on the official Lenovo forums no less) that uses Format All, and how people who followed it comment that they're getting NVRAM errors (because they lost their WLAN and Bluetooth MAC addresses and config)...
Tzul said:
Good guides, suhridkhan!
Some notes:
In section 3. Install Custom Recovery, you wrote "speedboot". That should be fastboot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, that was my mistake
Tzul said:
In section 4. Flash Stock ROM with SP Flash Tool, I'd explicitly state to use the "Download Only" flash mode. It's the default mode, but some people might be tempted to play with it, and that's bad, as the other two modes (Format All + Download, Firmware Upgrade) will wipe clean the entire flash memory, as far as I know. Including invisible and important partitions like NVRAM. Just take a look at this bad guide (on the official Lenovo forums no less) that uses Format All, and how people who followed it comment that they're getting NVRAM errors (because they lost their WLAN and Bluetooth MAC addresses and config)...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Totally agreed and I thought I had made it clear in my prior postings when I insisted on Download Only, precisely for the reason you state, after having read the exact same thread you refer to...
Sent from my Lenovo TAB 2 A10-70F using Tapatalk 2
Tzul said:
Good guides, suhridkhan!
Some notes:
In section 3. Install Custom Recovery, you wrote "speedboot". That should be fastboot.
In section 4. Flash Stock ROM with SP Flash Tool, I'd explicitly state to use the "Download Only" flash mode. It's the default mode, but some people might be tempted to play with it, and that's bad, as the other two modes (Format All + Download, Firmware Upgrade) will wipe clean the entire flash memory, as far as I know. Including invisible and important partitions like NVRAM. Just take a look at this bad guide (on the official Lenovo forums no less) that uses Format All, and how people who followed it comment that they're getting NVRAM errors (because they lost their WLAN and Bluetooth MAC addresses and config)...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for pointing those things out. I shall clear those up tonight when I get to a computer. I better add some screenshots to clarify any confusion to the new ppl.
Old faithful said:
Sorry, that was my mistake
Totally agreed and I thought I had made it clear in my prior postings when I insisted on Download Only, precisely for the reason you state, after having read the exact same thread you refer to...
Sent from my Lenovo TAB 2 A10-70F using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
BTW: New Update for Lenovo Tab 2 a10-70F
A10-70F_S000120_150907_ROW_TO_A10-70F_S000121_151222_ROW
316MB
I do this update at this time. I hope all problems will be fixed.
EDIT:
FAIL, because rooted Device I think XD
Sighfighter said:
BTW: New Update for Lenovo Tab 2 a10-70F
A10-70F_S000120_150907_ROW_TO_A10-70F_S000121_151222_ROW
316MB
I do this update at this time. I hope all problems will be fixed.
EDIT:
FAIL, because rooted Device I think XD
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe you have to unroot and replace the carliv recovery with the stock one before you can update.
Sent from my Lenovo TAB 2 A10-70F using Tapatalk 2
Sighfighter said:
BTW: New Update for Lenovo Tab 2 a10-70F
A10-70F_S000120_150907_ROW_TO_A10-70F_S000121_151222_ROW
316MB
I do this update at this time. I hope all problems will be fixed.
EDIT:
FAIL, because rooted Device I think XD
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Old faithful said:
Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe you have to unroot and replace the carliv recovery with the stock one before you can update.
Sent from my Lenovo TAB 2 A10-70F using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's a big update file... hopes are high. Going to give it a shot tonight. I believe you are right about unroot and stock recovery.
I am also going to back up my apps on sd card before doing that.

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