Jellybean on the Excel

[marcknuckle]

thanks mate.

the last few things i have done with the excel have been via cwm recovery. i dont suppose you are aware of a cwm zip version?

until i get round to getting that sorted, do you know where i can get the correct gapps for this 4.1.1 version?

thanks again.

[Trashcooky]

thanks mate.

the last few things i have done with the excel have been via cwm recovery. i dont suppose you are aware of a cwm zip version?

until i get round to getting that sorted, do you know where i can get the correct gapps for this 4.1.1 version?

thanks again.

As I say, I also have been unsuccessful with JB ... you could try here although I have no knowledge of how good or right these are: http://androidjinn.com/download-latest- ... -apps.html

[marcknuckle]

As you say there does not yet appear to be a solid JB for the Excel anywhere. I can recommend the Yarvick 4.0.4 rom for your Mum's Excel which I have found rock solid so far and it should sort your buttons out in the process. Just flash with Livesuite and never look back. http://bit.ly/11EtzYG

cheers trashcooky, as that gapps didnt help i will try this but the download of this file 404 errors.

should i follow suggsy's livesuite guide if i can find it or is there a quick breakdown you could provide?

lastly i dont suppose i need gapps with this image?

thanks again

[Trashcooky]

As you say there does not yet appear to be a solid JB for the Excel anywhere. I can recommend the Yarvick 4.0.4 rom for your Mum's Excel which I have found rock solid so far and it should sort your buttons out in the process. Just flash with Livesuite and never look back. http://bit.ly/11EtzYG

cheers trashcooky, as that gapps didnt help i will try this but the download of this file 404 errors.

should i follow suggsy's livesuite guide if i can find it or is there a quick breakdown you could provide?

lastly i dont suppose i need gapps with this image?

thanks again

I have reformed the link (don't know why it went down? ) try again here: http://bit.ly/THIl0c NOTE: this is a 4.0.4 ICS ROM released by Yarvik for their tab 264. It places a Yarvik boot animation on the Excel but works perfectly and is rock solid. You will lose CWM when you flash this ROM. Download, unzip and flash with livesuite. If you want to keep CWM but still have a working ICS 4.0.4 then first flash Suggsy89's 4.0.3 which you will find in the hackers resource section using livesuite and then using CWM (its built into Suggsy's image) use Suggsy's update.zip to 4.0.4 this keeps CWM.

As both involve first using Livesuite as a starting point you may want to give the Yarvik a try and if you don't like then flash Suggsy's 4.0.3 then update that. Hope that all makes sense.

[marcknuckle]

oh poo.

i flashed the 4.0.4 and it went fine, seemed great for the short time i was in it.

i then decided to flash the cwm image in suggsy's post and that went fine also.

i then booted into cwm to test and i thought i may as well create a backup while in there. it failed saying something like 'failed to mount data' i think. i thought i'd try to backup to internal but realised almost instantly why it then failed due to storage space.

i gave up and pressed to reboot system but it wouldnt' i stays on a black but slightly lit screen that i can just about see a square if i look from the right angle. it wont even boot to recovery.

any suggestions what has gone wrong and how to sort?

thanks for the patience guys.

[Trashcooky]

oh poo.

i flashed the 4.0.4 and it went fine, seemed great for the short time i was in it.

i then decided to flash the cwm image in suggsy's post and that went fine also.

i then booted into cwm to test and i thought i may as well create a backup while in there. it failed saying something like 'failed to mount data' i think. i thought i'd try to backup to internal but realised almost instantly why it then failed due to storage space.

i gave up and pressed to reboot system but it wouldnt' i stays on a black but slightly lit screen that i can just about see a square if i look from the right angle. it wont even boot to recovery.

any suggestions what has gone wrong and how to sort?

thanks for the patience guys.

I assume you flashed Suggsy's ROM from your description? Usually if you continue to hold the power button down for a prolonged long press you can force the unit to power right off. This should then give the option to try CWM again or if you want to reflash with Livesuite.

If you want to keep CWM on the tablet then only use Suggsy's 4.0.3 rom and then his 4.0.4 update.zip via CWM which will only work with his 4.0.3 update. I don't believe you will be succesful in trying to get CWM to work on the Yarvik ROM as it has unusual Nand partitions.

If you want to go straight to a working 4.0.4 in one flash but lose CWM then use the Yarvik ROM

[marcknuckle]

I assume you flashed Suggsy's ROM from your description? Usually if you continue to hold the power button down for a prolonged long press you can force the unit to power right off. This should then give the option to try CWM again or if you want to reflash with Livesuite.

If you want to keep CWM on the tablet then only use Suggsy's 4.0.3 rom and then his 4.0.4 update.zip via CWM which will only work with his 4.0.3 update. I don't believe you will be succesful in trying to get CWM to work on the Yarvik ROM as it has unusual Nand partitions.

If you want to go straight to a working 4.0.4 in one flash but lose CWM then use the Yarvik ROM

no i flashed the yarvik then cwm which is possibly why i had the problem. i have re flashed the yarvik and not the cwm and all is fine.

i presume the yarvik rom is not rooted? dont think i will root it if not already rooted or partially.

thanks TC.

[Trashcooky]

I assume you flashed Suggsy's ROM from your description? Usually if you continue to hold the power button down for a prolonged long press you can force the unit to power right off. This should then give the option to try CWM again or if you want to reflash with Livesuite.

If you want to keep CWM on the tablet then only use Suggsy's 4.0.3 rom and then his 4.0.4 update.zip via CWM which will only work with his 4.0.3 update. I don't believe you will be succesful in trying to get CWM to work on the Yarvik ROM as it has unusual Nand partitions.

If you want to go straight to a working 4.0.4 in one flash but lose CWM then use the Yarvik ROM

no i flashed the yarvik then cwm which is possibly why i had the problem. i have re flashed the yarvik and not the cwm and all is fine.

i presume the yarvik rom is not rooted? dont think i will root it if not already rooted or partially.

thanks TC.

Your assumptions regarding the Yarvik being not rooted may be incorrect as I still get the # on mine when I execute the SU command from terminal. As your Mum probably won't worry too much I can assure you that the Yarvik ROM is very stable - plus you get the added bonus of soft volume keys as well. This ROM creates a huge system partition (if I remember correctly its about 503 Mb which is why I suspect it gives so little trouble).
I am awaiting Yarvik to bring out a 4.2 update for their tab 264 which I am sure they will as there are many requests for it on their forum.
I have a high confidence this will install as is on our first and second generation Excels but I'm not so sure about the Excel II though.

The beauty of the Excel's Allwinner A10 CPU is that in theory you can't brick it as you can always talk it back to life via the USB connection using livesuite and another ROM. As this is so easy to do the loss of CWM is rather secondary, however this is not the case with other CPU's where CWM really does come into its own.

I bought a cheap Chinese tablet with (allegedly) an A13 chip and its not even possible to enter a recovery mode using the volume and power keys, however, fortunately Android Commander talks to it well enough. I think the first and second generation Excel and its clones are super for modding and hacking for fun but as the OS's become better and more stable there is less appetite to mess things around any more. When Yarvik bring out their 4.2 update suitable for the Excel I shall use it, meanwhile I still consider Yarviks 4.0.4 among the best ICS's out there.

[marcknuckle]

cheers mate.

yeh, the rom seems brilliant and so smooth compared to what i was used to with it.

if my tablet says it is partially rooted, ie the # symbol, how would i finish the job? would it be a case of just installing a super user app such as super su?

thanks again for all the help.

[Trashcooky]

cheers mate.

yeh, the rom seems brilliant and so smooth compared to what i was used to with it.

if my tablet says it is partially rooted, ie the # symbol, how would i finish the job? would it be a case of just installing a super user app such as super su?

thanks again for all the help.

Regarding installation of Super User, as far as I am aware yes (unless anyone tells me I'm wrong on that score). As far as I'm concerned if I can access /system and edit files without restraint because of Super User giving me rights then I'm rooted - and I can - so I assume I have full root access. Either way I have enough access to do what I want and the rest seems fine at the moment so I am now on a period of let well alone.

UPDATE: when you install Super User you need to update the binaries. You do this from the information screen in Super User where it will tell you it has legacy binaries. When you try to update from this screen, if the tablet is not fully rooted the update will repeatedly fail. Sometimes it takes more than one update to work but if if keeps failing then the tablet is not fully rooted.