[ROOT] Howto root easily your Gen8 device [fw 2.0.71 - 2.4.83] + R/W FILESYSTEM

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argie

Senior Member
Sep 7, 2007
102
5
Bedford, TX
Argie, the computer should recognize your ARCHOS as an external drive and you should be able to copy your firmware to that drive. I would recommend spending more time reading up on the Developer Forums so that you're comfortable with doing the firmware upgrade.
Thank you, sdho... and I appreciate you sparing me the sarcasm.

Forgive what may be another stupid question: where on the device should I copy the files? /sdcard? /sdcard/sdcard?

FIXED...! My computer recognized the F drive as A70S, but it was empty. This confused me, because I usually see the contents of sdcard. So I moved the two files to the "empty" storage and voila... it happened. Thanks a lot
 
Last edited:

chrulri

Senior Member
Dec 7, 2010
895
275
FIXED...! My computer recognized the F drive as A70S, but it was empty. This confused me, because I usually see the contents of sdcard. So I moved the two files to the "empty" storage and voila... it happened. Thanks a lot

Good to know that you're happy now :D Have fun.
 

chemical1der

Senior Member
Sep 26, 2008
166
18
Iron
No problem will do. I just wanted to find out if anyone else was seeing this issue other than me. I really like your rooting method and want to use it except this issue. The backup's were made on ext4 system (Saurik) and restore is happening on fat32 system (yours). Can that be the cause of issue I am facing? if that is true then I don't mind installing the 40+ apps again and losing app data if that is the case.

On another note, this thread is excellent and instructions are great. I would recommend moving this to Gen 8 Android development section to get more visibility.
+1. Maybe we should PM the Mod about doing so? This is a fantastic rooting solution.

It seems like there are a fair amount of folks on this forum weary of flashing the SDE firmware (which is why Archangel's exploit was so popular). On the one hand I don't blame them. No one wants to void their warranty. On the other hand I don't think people realize how hard it is to really brick an android device. I've done some pretty crazy things to my Nook and Incredible and still recovered. Sorry for the digression.
 

chrulri

Senior Member
Dec 7, 2010
895
275
It has nothing to do with development, it's a howto and thus in general section.

btw: ~1500 downloads so far for the 2.1.xx releases ;)
 
R

RiWaLE

Guest
adfree issue 70 IT

let me get this straight: if i delete the android kernel root is permanent AND changes on the sys-partition will stay? My gf uses it from now on (and just at this moment, not possible to get it out of her hands), no way i tell her to boot into devmode every time she starts it

I installed adfree and it crashes mumbling about not being able to find a partition to remount as rw.

Maybe someone got a fast clue, will take a deeper look in understanding the partitions used in android. I'll glue together a short overview how archos flash is partitioned and what is used for what. IF i can get my hands back on it...
 

wdl1908

Senior Member
Dec 18, 2010
380
156
let me get this straight: if i delete the android kernel root is permanent AND changes on the sys-partition will stay?

Yep every file you change overwrite will stay overwritten.

Erasure of files is not tried yet. I don't know how unionfs will react to that.

I installed adfree and it crashes mumbling about not being able to find a partition to remount as rw.

Yep that's right it can't remount the filesystem but if you know what add-free does then you could do it manually and let it stick. AdFree probably wants to change the /etc/hosts file.

Maybe someone got a fast clue, will take a deeper look in understanding the partitions used in android. I'll glue together a short overview how archos flash is partitioned and what is used for what. IF i can get my hands back on it...
 

chrulri

Senior Member
Dec 7, 2010
895
275
Erasure of files is not tried yet. I don't know how unionfs will react to that.
it does work. if you, for example, remove /system/app/TelephonyProvider.apk unionfs creates the file /mnt/system/unionfs/system/app/.wh.TelephonyProvider.apk and thus it knows that this file is flagged as removed. of course this is persistent as well as new files or changed files.

edit: if you remove the .wh.* file, the original file is accessible again
Code:
$ su
# sh
# ls -al /system/app
# ls -al /mnt/system/app/system
# rm /system/app/TelephonyProvider.apk
# ls -al /system/app
# ls -al /mnt/system/unionfs/system/app
# rm /mnt/system/unionfs/system/app/.wh.TelephonyProvider.apk
# ls -al /system/app
# ls -al /mnt/system/unionfs/system/app
 
Last edited:

bthoven

Senior Member
Jun 28, 2008
351
37
Bangkok
Yep every file you change overwrite will stay overwritten.

Erasure of files is not tried yet. I don't know how unionfs will react to that.



Yep that's right it can't remount the filesystem but if you know what add-free does then you could do it manually and let it stick. AdFree probably wants to change the /etc/hosts file.

I replaced hosts file to suppress ads, and so far so good.

Sent from my A70S using Tapatalk
 

wdl1908

Senior Member
Dec 18, 2010
380
156
it does work. if you, for example, remove /system/app/TelephonyProvider.apk unionfs creates the file /mnt/system/unionfs/system/app/.wh.TelephonyProvider.apk and thus it knows that this file is flagged as removed. of course this is persistent as well as new files or changed files.

Nice did not know that. Now the next step increasing the app space. That's going to be a bit more difficult.
 

liutszho

Senior Member
Dec 9, 2010
157
14
Here it is:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3042389/hosts

Just rename the stock /etc/hosts file to other, and copy the above file in place. You don't even need to reboot to get it work.

For some reason it won't let me replace it, in root explorer it says "There is not enough file space" or something like that when I try to paste and overwrite it.

when I try to open it as text file and edit it. After saving and exiting root explorer, and I open hosts as a text file again, nothing has changed and I'm back to step one

root explorer says I have superuser access.
 

chemical1der

Senior Member
Sep 26, 2008
166
18
Iron
Question: can we rename or delete Phone.apk and TelephonyProvider.apk with this root method. I ask because with a rooted Nook (my other tablet) one can rename both files and thereby save battery life when the device is on standby. I've tried this with my rooted A43IT and it just won't stick. Every time I delete or rename either file using the .bak extension the phone boot loops (totally normal) and when I reboot the files are there again. Does this only work with full R/W? Do I need to do this through adb shell? Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

TIA
 

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  • 56
    Hello community

    First of all, thanks to dogmaphobia for his initial work (click for fw 2.0.71)

    Don't forget: I'm not responsible for anything ;)
    Installing SDE or rooting your Archos device in any way may or definitly will void your warranty. You can find more information about it on the Archos website: link

    Now here we go, you need four things:
    1. An Archos Gen8 device (e.g. A101IT)
    2. Archos Firmware
      - 2.1.02: [Archos server]
      - 2.1.03: [Archos server, Mirror #1]
      - 2.1.04: [Archos server, Mirror #1]
      - 2.1.08: [Archos server]
      - 2.3.20: [Archos server]
      - 2.3.26: [Archos server]
      - 2.3.81: [Archos server]
      - 2.4.19: [Archos server]
      - 2.4.65: [Archos server]
      - 2.4.80: [Archos server]
      - 2.4.81: [Archos server]
      - 2.4.82: [Archos server]
      - 2.4.83: [Archos server]
    3. Archos SDE
      - [Archos server], [Mirror #1]
    4. Rooted initramfs + kernel
      - [fw 2.0.71 +rw]
      - [fw 2.1.02]
      - [fw 2.1.02 +rw]
      - [fw 2.1.03]
      - [fw 2.1.03 +rw]
      - [fw 2.1.04]
      - [fw 2.1.04 +rw]
      - [fw 2.1.08]
      - [fw 2.1.08 +rw]
      - [fw 2.3.20]
      - [fw 2.3.20 +rw]
      - [fw 2.3.26]
      - [fw 2.3.26 +rw]
      - [fw 2.3.81]
      - [fw 2.3.81 +rw]
      - [fw 2.4.19]
      - [fw 2.4.19 +rw]
      - [fw 2.4.65]
      - [fw 2.4.65 +rw]
      - [fw 2.4.80]
      - [fw 2.4.80 +rw]
      - [fw 2.4.81]
      - [fw 2.4.81 +rw]
      - [fw 2.4.82]
      - [fw 2.4.82 +rw]
      - [fw 2.4.83]
      - [fw 2.4.83 +rw]

    *: +rw = permanent root, changes to filesystem will be stored in /dev/mmcblk0p2. it has ~30 megabytes free, this should be sufficient for most changes and scripts.
    BE CAREFULLY: if you delete or corrupt important system files and aren't able to boot anymore, you have to flash the "non-rw" root kernel+initramfs, go to /mnt/system/unionfs and remove the changes.

    Then you have to the following:
    1. Install SDE (you only have to do this only once, it will even survive a full reformat)
      • reboot Archos device and hold down "Vol-" button after screen went black
      • choose "Update Firmware"
      • connect your Archos device by USB to your computer
      • upload the SDE firmware file to your device
      • safely disconnect the USB connection
      • press ok on Archos device
      • reboot
    2. Install android firmware
      • reboot Archos device and hold down "Vol-" button after screen went black
      • choose "Update Firmware"
      • connect your Archos device by usb to your computer
      • upload the Android firmware file to your device
      • safely disconnect the USB connection
      • press ok on Archos device
      • reboot
    3. Install the custom kernel + initramfs
      • reboot Archos device and hold down "Vol-" button after screen went black
      • Go to "Recovery Menu" and then "Developer Edition Menu"
      • choose "Flash Kernel and Initramfs"
      • connect your Archos device by USB to your computer
      • upload zImage and initramfs.cpio.gz to your device
      • safely disconnect the USB connection
      • press ok on Archos device
      • reboot and hold down "Vol-" button after screen went black
      • choose "Developer Edition"
      now you have temporary root (you always have to boot "Developer Edition" to get root again)
    4. (optional!) permanent root
      thus it will boot always the custom kernel (to revert, reinstall Android firmware)
      • reboot Archos device and hold down "Vol-" button after screen went black
      • Go to "Recovery Menu" and then "Developer Edition Menu"
      • choose "Remove Android Kernel"
      • reboot

    For Updates:
    Just go like this:
    @Techngro
    I was in the same situation as you are: 2.1.03 and permanent root.
    Then did a firmware upgrade from the rescue menu, flashed the new kernel and initramfs and removed again the stock android kernel --> working :)

    If it says "update failed" the aos file might be corrupt

    Have fun! :D ;)

    Big thanks to jfmcbrayer for helping me out!

    Links for developers:
    5
    FINALLY!

    Thanks to jfmcbrayer (!!!), we can provide you an update for 2.4.81!
    Have a look in the first posting for links and howto update. :cool:

    All credit to Chulri for this; I just followed the instructions written on the nice drool-proof paper.
    5
    root (+/-rw) for fw 2.4.19 is online (see first posting) and I'm gonna be offline for two weeks (vacation ;))
    4
    Ok, nice to know ;)

    UPDATE: 2.1.08 (+rw) firmware root updates in start posting :cool:
    4
    @bandit01 stfu, impatient little troll! :rolleyes:

    @everyone except bandit01: rooting for fw 2.3.81 is available! see start post or project website for download links