How to flash a Lenovo tablet: step-by-step steps. Custom firmware for ThinkPad Tablet
We continue the conversation about the Frankenstein ThinkPad Tablet (One) which went under the knife, as it turned out, not the most skillful surgeon, I would even spell this word with an “e”, he was so bad.
We have: the corpse of an unburied tablet, crooked straight arms and already pretty annoying hemorrhoids... sorry, in a soft place due to the daily sitting of my pants at the PC in search of a panacea for the dead “baby”. It all ended with the fact that at 10:26 on Monday I began to have hope for saving my gadget.
Six hours passed after finding hope.
I press F3 again and lo and behold, three links to the treasured image files. And what do you think, I rushed to thank the person for a good deed, nothing like that, then on exception13 a hail of questions rained down possible problems when loading images into the device, changing image names, etc. and so on. In general, it looks lame, but I was ready to sacrifice my honor by sinking to the level of a teapot, so as not to completely ruin the device.
Instructions for changing the firmware region (in my case 121_SC) for firmware 121_ROW withGoogle account at launch
Before connecting a device in APX mode, I strongly recommend that you disable all external USB devices (except for the keyboard and mouse, of course)
We will need:
1. Tablet and BB with at least one working USB
2. MicroUSB cable (working, not reacting to the device like Unknown)
3. nvflash utility with image 04.EBT.img (inside the archive)
4. APX drivers for Windows* (if not Linux) (see chapter Installing APX drivers)
5. High speed internet to post the received data
* Windows version Doesn't matter, in my case it's Ultimate x64
Installing APX drivers:
1. Turn off the tablet
2. Hold down the "Disable screen rotation" button and press "Power"
3. The red light on the back of the tablet should light up, the tablet is in nvflash mode
4. Give the system the APX driver
5. See a happy message with the text about the driver mismatch with the system and select forced installation drivers (top button)
6. Make sure that the firewood is up and disconnect the tablet from the computer and turn off the power (press and hold Power)
Backup (copying) sections:
1. Unzip the contents of the nvflash archive to the root of drive C: in the "nv" folder
2. Run command Windows string("Start" - "Run" - enter "cmd" in the text field, click "OK")
3. In the command line, go to the folder C:/nv
4. Type the command below and press Enter:
5. Connect TPT to the USB volume on which the APX driver is installed
6. The command line will immediately display:
Nvflash started
rcm version 0X20001
System Information:
chip name: t20
chip id: 0x20 major: 1 minor: 4
chip sku: 0x8
chip uid: 0x043c6246433f44d7
macrovision: disabled
hdcp:enabled
sbk burned: false
dk burned: false
boot device: emmc
operating mode: 3
device config strap: 0
device config fuse: 0
sdram config strap: 2
downloading bootloader -- load address: 0x108000 entry point: 0x108000
sending file: /space/android/_tpt/device/04.EBT.img
/ 6291456/6291456 bytes sent
/space/android/_tpt/device/04.EBT.img sent successfully
waiting for bootloader to initialize
bootloader downloaded successfully
And the message “Entering NvFlash recovery mode / Nv3p Server” will appear on the device screen
7. Dial:
nvflash -r --read 6 06.SOS.img
8. It will be successful if:
Nvflash started
receiving file: 06.SOS.img, expected size: 6291456 bytes
/ 6291456/6291456 bytes received
file received successfully
9. Similar to points 7. and 8. dial and wait for the end of the operation:
nvflash -r --read 7 07.LNX.img
nvflash -r --read 8 08.APP.img
11. Move all images to a place safe from yourself.
Recording imagesS.O.S.LNX andAPP
Without disconnecting the device from the computer, we continue our “scientific” research.
1. Download from our resource and extract its contents along the path C:/nv/, i.e. to our nvflash folder.
2. Type in the command line:
nvflash -r --download 6 recovery.img
3. We see the following text on the command line:
Nvflash started
sending file: recovery.img
/ 6291456/6291456 bytes sent
recovery.img sent successfully
4. Turn off the tablet and disconnect it from the computer.
5. Turn on the tablet in nvflash mode
6. On the computer command line, type the already well-known command:
nvflash -w --bl /nv/04.EBT.img --go
7. Connect the tablet to the computer.
8. Load section 7 onto the tablet:
nvflash -r --download 7 LNX.img
9. On the tablet we see “PASS”, turn it off and disconnect it from the PC.
10. We carry out steps 5 – 7.
11. Load section 8 onto the tablet:
nvflash -r --download 8 APP.img
The process is long, the image is more than 700 megabytes. Wait. At the end of the process, “PASS” will appear on the tablet.
12. Turn off the tablet.
13. Turn on the tablet Recovery mode(Power, press Vol+ immediately after vibration)
14. Make full reset to factory settings.
(15. For those who reset the battery. Turn off the tablet and charge it for three to four hours. This will calibrate the battery)
16. Turn on the tablet and customize it for yourself.
I had a small incident. I didn’t know about step 15 and immediately turned on the tablet, but it turned off during account setup and did not respond to any commands. Be prepared for strange behavior at the start.
That's how I got the ROW firmware. Isn't it a miracle?!
Thank you all for your attention and good luck.
2 people liked the post
Flashing is used only as a last resort, when resetting the settings did not help return the device to normal operation. It is worth noting that the user must exercise maximum caution, because... Installing incorrect software may affect the performance of the device. Below there are two ways to reflash a Lenovo tablet: using microSD cards and through a computer.
Important! Before flashing, you must save important data to removable media, because they will subsequently be erased from the device memory. You should not do the flashing yourself if you are not confident in your abilities. It is better to take the device to a service center.
Nuances
There are two types of firmware: official (from the device manufacturer) and custom (made by users). Unofficial firmware has wider functionality. If you decide to choose custom firmware, then carefully read the description and reviews of other users (if any). Main disadvantages unofficial firmware: not suitable for all gadgets; the device cannot be repaired under warranty.
Flashing from a flash drive
If the tablet is equipped with a slot for a memory card, then you can reflash the tablet using removable media. This method is quite simple and does not require much time.
Important! Before flashing the firmware, you need to charge the battery 100%.
- Download the firmware to your computer in .zip format.
- Format the flash drive and transfer the firmware file to it.
- Turn off the tablet and insert the memory card into the slot.
- Press and hold the “Home” button (if it is touch-sensitive, then you need to press the volume up button) and the power key. Lenovo tablet should turn on and the screen will appear white Android logo. After a while, a green Android with animation will appear, indicating that the installation has started.
- Once the installation is complete, white Android will appear on the screen again, followed by the manufacturer's logo. If everything went well, the OS will boot and work normally.
Flashing via computer
The tablet needs to be charged and do not forget to download the firmware for specific model tablet to computer and program Flash Tool.
To flash the firmware you need to download USB driver for Lenovo tablet. Next, you need to strictly follow the instructions:
- Open Device Manager on your computer.
- Connect the turned off tablet to the PC via a USB cable.
- An unidentified device should appear in the Manager with exclamation mark. You need to right-click on it, go to “Install the driver from a specified location” and select the previously downloaded driver. After successful installation of the software, the tablet should be displayed without an exclamation mark.
- Disconnect the tablet from the computer and launch Flash program Tool, specify the path to the file from the archive with the firmware “... txt" using the “Scatter Loading” option.
- Check the box “DA DL All With Check Sum”.
- Click the “Firmware Upgrade” button.
- After some time, the program will switch to standby mode. You need to connect the switched off tablet to your computer via USB. If everything is done correctly, the percentages in the status bar will gradually increase.
- After the flashing is completed, a window with a green circle will appear on the screen. You can disconnect the tablet from the computer and turn it on.
Reflashing a device is not too difficult, but the user needs to take into account all the nuances, because... if something goes wrong, problems may arise in the operation of the device.
Below are instructions and no pictures at all:
1. Who does NOT have it? Last update, i.e. The tablet software version is NOT...0039_0089_ROW, but older.
Reading this topic about getting root on :
Brief instructions for those who are too lazy to translate:
1. Check if you have installed latest driver ADB, and that the device has USB debugging mode enabled.
How to install the driver and enable debug mode.
2. Download the root exploit to your PC from here.
3. Check that the Tablet is turned on, connected to the PC via USB and its screen is unlocked.
4. Unpack the archive on your PC and run “run.bat”. Follow the onscreen instructions and do not touch anything on your tablet until installation is complete.
On a personal note: a segmentation fault occurs during the installation process, but there is nothing to worry about, as is explicitly stated in the body file:
echo [*] Note: a segmentation fault is supposed to happen and should be ignored.
As it turns out, installing root is not enough. You still need to be able to save it during subsequent system updates!
If, after installing root, you update the software to version ..0039_0089_ROW, then you will lose root.
To prevent this from happening, read the topic carefully and do everything that is written there.
Brief instructions:
1. Install root on yours using the exploit as described above.
2. Check that the Superuser application is installed (download and install)
3. Install the Voodoo OTA RootKeeper application (download and install)
4. Run RootKeeper and create a superuser backup.
5. In the same RootKeeper, run “Temp. un-root (keeps backup)" (Temporary unroot) and you will receive the Restore Root option.
6. Go to Settings/About Tablet/Check for Updates, check and install the update...0039_0089_ROW. The update takes about 7 minutes.
7. After the update, check that you have the Superuser application installed. If it's not, install it from the Market.
8. Open RootKeeper and select Restore Root.
9. Congratulations. If you did everything correctly. then you have the latest update (so-called OTA2) and a working root.
2. If you have already updated to...0039_0089_ROW, but did not have time to root, or forgot to do...
...then the above instructions for root installation won't work because I fixed the hole.
But it doesn’t matter, there is still an opportunity to install root!
We carefully read this topic, or better yet this one.
For those who don't read English:
1. From download.lenovo.com/slates/think/tablet1/ download the most OLD update(for TPT with ROW firmware this is: ThinkPadTablet_A310_02_0024_0065_ROW.zip)
2. Write it to the SD card and put it in the tablet
3. In the settings, enable USB debugging:
4. Download the archive from here and unpack it.
Attention!
Here we should make a small digression. The original patch doesn't work quite right. It does allow you to get root, but it does not allow you to install it permanently due to an error.
We carefully read this topic, especially page 4, there is almost correct file pwn-in.sh, or download the archive from here (there is a corrected pwn-in.sh). All corrections come down to replacement mv src dest on cat src > dest, And correct replacementmv /system/app/Superuser.apk /data/local/pwn-bak on cat /system/app/Superuser.apk > /data/local/pwn-bak/Superuser.apk.
I'm all the teams after getting root I just stupidly typed it manually into the adb shell.
5. Install (if not already done) the Lenovo device driver
6. Connect the tablet.
7. Load into Recovery mode For what:
- turn off the tablet, turn it on, and start pressing the “Volume Up” button 1-2 times per second several times.
- as soon as the white text or Android icon appears, stop pressing and wait for Recovery mode to load
- menu navigation using volume buttons. Select item - Power button
- if everything worked out, we reboot into normal mode
- on the PC, go to the directory where the exploit is unpacked, run run.bat and follow the instructions.
The instructions are simple, in the style of “press Enter, reboot the device.” All you need to do is perform it correctly.
At the end of all actions you get root on latest version Software (so-called OTA2), and in the future, don’t forget to use Rootkeeper before installing updates.
Good luck!
PS: And yes! Everything you do is done at your own peril and risk.