Looking for first tablets, A500 Worth it, best acer tablet?

[Whelan21]

on ebay im looking to buy a refurbished a500 for

 

[D-U-R-X]

Hello and welcome to the forums Whelan21 - thanks for joining!!

The A500 is a good piece of kit. Part of the reason I got mine was the native (full size) USB port - I'm not sure how many other tablets actually have one! It is possible to plug it in to the computer though, so you would be able to transfer movies on to the internal memory/the external SD card.

 

[dbldipp]

Which Rom did you use in the Jelly Bean In stall, and does it work good? I finally decided that since they aren't going to support the A500 any more, I'm not going to purchase any more Acer Products. I just purchased a Lenovo Tablet/ Laptop combo that runs Windows 7. Chomping at the bit on the anticipation for useing it. Not sure how long it will take getting here. It was a referb and instead of $1900 it only cost $ 299. Will let you know how it does when it gets here.

 

[D-U-R-X]

Currently running a pretty good release JellyTime, which is based on CM10

 

[MahaloCat]

IM running Thors JB 15 - Works perfectly as far as I can tell...

Google TegraOwners to find it.

 

[dbldipp]

Does the GPS work the way it's supposed to? I use my tablet for mapping with Co Pilot. It has it's drawbacks but is the right choice for me. That's part of the reason I bought a windows tablet. I love my A500 but am seriously disapointed in the customer support. They want us to go away after the warantee runs out unless they can get you to pay them for services they should provide for free.

 

[botzgori]

i have a acer for a year 8/2011 - 9/2012 .. its now in a box as i cant do anything about it. its not rooted and past month it just rebooted itself and now stuck at acer logo i try everything and nothing works until i saw the masscot dies with red exclamation by doing all this reset now maybe il bury this and as i call acer for help acer ask me to send it back as they say it hardware issue and pay 200$ to make it work .. if i we're you buy a better tablet acer is not worthy unless you a member of a geek squad.. 1year then it reboot and destroy its own hardware .. google it and you can see a lot of it complaining about it

 

[dbldipp]

There are alot of forum members with help for your tablet. Scan the posts here and you might be surprised at what you find. Mrhelper is especially good for helping those who are at a loss. He's helped me several times getting my machine back up and running when I bricked it.

 

[botzgori]

thanks dipp but as i read around in every forums for a500 there is not much response in what my problem has ... my a500 (with ics latest) is not rooted with expired warranty the is problem just reboot itself and stuck in acer logo and i did all the reset but with no success {pin reset failed / power&vol+ = unrecoverable bootable error / power+vol- with zip update in sd card = dead masscot with red exclamation} i dont have the cpuid or the sbk as i cannot generate it as i never attach it to my computer when it was still working until it was dead but my comp can pick it up as apk mode & there is 1 program though that may solve it but i dunno how to use ubuntu & libusb or visual c+ as the guide is not thorough and no video i can find to follow (i did try ubuntu though but i cannot install anything) now my tablet is only good for paperweight as acer want 200$ to fix it.

so any1 out there thats willing to help il be happy & appreciate it so much.. thanks a lot

 

[dbldipp]

Look for posts by Mrhelper. He can probebly help you. I bricked my tablet trying to go back from ICS to 3.2.1. I found out the boot sector was screwed up. Mrhelper helped me get my teblet back up and running. If you message him he will respond. He is VERY GOOD at helping you to get your tablet back up and running.

 

[dbldipp]

I was doing some surfing in the XDA forums. You could very well find the solution to your problem there. Thie week end I'm going to flash the Jellybean rom and see how it goes. If all goes well I'll let you know. But they will have your solution there if there is one.

 

[dbldipp]

Here's the link to the A500 section
http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=1136

 

[botzgori]

i did try everything but it seems the only thing will work is linux base & libusb. i tried everything from adb command prompt from winusb to a500 manager to blackthunders guide nothing works .. it took me almost the whole day trying to figure it out (just sleep 4hrs) but nothing ... i try ubuntu & opensuse live cd i cant seem to install gcc or libusb & honestly i dunno how to use linux .. so hopefully there will be a great video so i can follow ..i know my tab is recoverable as it can be turn on & can be put to apx mode..

 

[dbldipp]

Get a mini sd card and go download the Jellybean from XDA, install the unlocked bootlogger and the Jelly bean from the card and see if that doesn't work. Follow the instructions to the T and it just might work for ya. Good Luck. I won't be flashing the new OS this week end, wife has her hunny do list for me this week end. But next week end I'm gonna sneak over to the son in laws and play computer fixit man. Will let you know how it goes then. You do know there's a mini usb slot in the back of the tablet for doing reinstalls I hope?

 

[botzgori]

sadly dipp its not working i did everything all update.zip & image, i try on my sd card and nothing still same result dead mascot .. but i know all i need is my cpuid which i dont have ... if i can get my cpuid i can use the apxflash by blackthunder. i try retrieving it using usbview cannot retrieve it / afterota cannot pick up apxmode a500manager will not generate it... . thanks a lot for given me hope i really appreciate it i think this whole weekend il try and try but if all fails me then after veterans il surrender. seems im going to throw a white towel with this tablet

 

[dbldipp]

My son in law was the Angel that brought my tablet back from the grave yard. He asked me what my CPU ID was and I had no idea. I'll ask him how he got it when mine was dead. He is border line genius when it comes to comnputers. We're going to try to put Windows8 on this tab when we get my new one set up. I bought a Windows tablet from Newegg.com. It comes with 7 installed but he's trying real hard to get me to go with 8. They have the Levono X61 mtablet/ Laptop on sale for $299. Referb. But if it was bnew it would be $1995. So I will be playing trial and error with my A500.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1973720
Try the thread, might be helpful. Will get back if I can find any oither answer. I'm off thill Monday morning at 6. Will continue to trey to find your answer.

 

[dbldipp]

Oooops, lol. I just saw your name on that thread. Will look more. Sorry.

 

[D-U-R-X]

My son in law was the Angel that brought my tablet back from the grave yard. He asked me what my CPU ID was and I had no idea. I'll ask him how he got it when mine was dead. He is border line genius when it comes to comnputers. We're going to try to put Windows8 on this tab when we get my new one set up. I bought a Windows tablet from Newegg.com. It comes with 7 installed but he's trying real hard to get me to go with 8. They have the Levono X61 mtablet/ Laptop on sale for $299. Referb. But if it was bnew it would be $1995. So I will be playing trial and error with my A500.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1973720
Try the thread, might be helpful. Will get back if I can find any oither answer. I'm off thill Monday morning at 6. Will continue to trey to find your answer.

You may be able to help one of our Mods out (if he's still not sorted his issue)... would you mind taking a quick look here?

 

[dbldipp]

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1699277

 

[dbldipp]

I added a couple of links for him to check out. Still no luck with getting ahold of son in law. Will keep trying. I'll ask him how he got the CPUID when my tab was frozen on the dead android. I know I had a corupt boot loader that was the real culprit. I was trying to go back to 3.2.1 and had the wrong boot loader and that's what killed mine. He did a complete wipe and reloaded the boot loader with the stock OS. I eventually went back to ICS after too many problems with the 3.2.1. Not that it was a bad install. I just didn't realize how good ICS worked till I went back to HC. So that is why if you want to reinstall on a dead machine you have to replace the bootloader as well as the OS.

 

[dbldipp]

Afterota v1.09
This program primarily targets A50X/G100W tablets with Ota Hc or Ota Ics.
It lets the user install a recovery and a bootloader, compatible with Hc or Ics.
Afterota offers no garanty for succes. You use Afterota at your own risk.
You can always end up with a bricked device.
Features :
- auto retrieval of all your tablet ID's
- saving important tablet ID's for future reference
- one click installation of bootloaders, recoveries and optionally stock kernels
- return to stock Hc or Ics through update.zip method
- unsoftbrick your tablet if it gets stuck in apx mode
- root your tablet
- etc . .
Credits ( people who directly or indirectly contributed ) :
- Vache, Jasto, Civato, Scrilax and a lot of guides on Xda
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Changelog
v1.09
18/06/2012
- Afterota now detects if there are multiple android devices connected to the computer.
If so, all flashing is disabled. There can be only one . .
v1.08
17/06/2012
- This update should resolve the isuese that users experienced when they were running
custom ics roms in combination with hc bootloader ( tested with hc bootloader + flexreaper )
- Removed the warning and exclusion when kernel returns bootloader version 0.03.11-ICS.
These were excluded in Afterota v1.07 ( see changelog v1.07 for more info )
- added v8 ics bootloaders by Scrilax to the package
v1.07
04/06/2012
- Afterota should work for all models : A500, A501, G100W
- new method for retrieving information
- when kernel returns bootloader version 0.03.11-ICS all flashing is disabled
this situation could apear when a user is on bl 0.03.01-HC with a SOD patched
kernel, these kernels are unable to start APX mode
- program lets you install ics bootloader on HC roms now
the v7 ics bootloader can start Hc roms as long they are not stock ( CWM HC roms )
so a user currently on Hc could install the Ics bootloader + a recovery
and during reboot into recovery imeditatly flash a custom cwm Ics rom ( eg. flexreaper)
or go back to Hc by flashing a cwm Hc rom. ( this has been tested and proven to work )
- program layout simplified
- winxp and vista are back in the running
v1.06
31/05/2012
- bugfix in bootloader detection (again)
- added lite version to the package
- added v7 ics bootloaders by Scrilax to the package
V1.05
31/05/2012
- bugfix in bootloader detection
v1.04
31/05/2012
- when ics build is not recognized, all kernel flashing is disabled
v1.03
30/05/2012
- changed layout a bit to hold more information
- changed the way the id's are detected
- ics version detection for flashing correct kernel
- program restricted for usage on win7 only
- displays uac warning, uac sometimes causes nvflash to crash
v1.02
29/05/2012
- removed the auto reboot after pushing the root packet to the tablet
- updated thor recovery for ics to v1.73
- the program now displays a warning if the file containing serial, cpuid and sbk is not found
- improved the code to disable the "install-recovery.sh" script
v1.01
28/05/2012
- made some changes to the way the program acts in different situations
- when hc rom is detected all ics bootloader & kernel flashing is disabled
- when ics rom is detected all hd bootloader flashing is disabled, except on the "back to stock" tab
- several other changes to the interface as sugested by civato.
v1.00
27/05/2012
- initial release

 

[dbldipp]

You have to run this program through your computer. You get the entire set up tomrestore your tablet and you can install the factory recovery as well.

 

[dbldipp]

This is the program we used to restore my tablet when I bricked it and it was stuck on the dead Android screen.

 

[Mrhelper]

The tips above for flashing and recovery are very handy and may help a number of folks get their devices running normally again.

I've observed that the frequency of reports about stock Iconia systems getting stuck in reboot/recovery has been increasing. There seems to be some correlation with the age of the devices. From what I can tell, when this happens to a stock system during typical use, the problem is almost always hardware. This problem has often required motherboard replacement to resolve. I assume the cause is probably NAND failure in most cases, because it is a consumable resource. Depending on usage patterns, it seems that some devices may be more prone to such failure than others.

In cases where this problem has occurred during normal operation to an unmodified device running a stock ROM, I have not heard of anyone recovering from the condition by flashing anything. The exception to this has been when the original problem was actually caused by flashing either an incompatible ROM/boot loader combination, or by a flashing failure that occurred during a custom flash or OTA flash operation, where for example, some units lost battery power while updating, others where booted prematurely, some were flashed with the wrong images, etc.

Keep in mind that if you are running a stock system, there's nothing that is likely to cause a boot loader or other ROM partition data failure other than hardware failure, because on stock systems those partitions are very well protected. If you are not flashing these partitions to deliberately make changes, then the only thing that is likely to affect them is hardware failure.

Bottom line... If you or some previous owner did not break your ROM by flashing or using root privilege to modify protected ROM data -- e.g., /system -- then flashing is not likely to fix it. On the other hand, if you or someone did corrupt any of your partitions in a flash operation or privileged modification, then the tips above for flashing and recovery may help resolve your problem.

 

[botzgori]

so i must say i tried everything and nothing works with my virgin untouched running ics a500 as what mr. helper said it probably hardware.(i was just watching video and then it just reboot and stock to acer logo) so i might throw the white towel for now until some1 might came up with MAGIC and revive my dead virgin a500.. so thank you so much dipp for all the help..il still visit this forum everyday if time allows, and also mr. helper thanks also for that simple answer as i know i may not be the only1 having to deal with this .. THANKS A LOT GUYS