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amca1960

Member
Mar 8, 2014
22
0
Melbourne
For the last two weeks, I've tried pretty much everything I can think of to get my TPT booted again. Symptoms of its current illness include:

  • Lots of error messages when booting into CWM recovery ("E:Can't mount /sdcard" for example)
  • If I attempt to boot normally, I get stuck on the Lenovo logo screen.
  • Randomly I'll boot into CWM recovery and get its logo on the screen, and a line of text, but no menus.
  • Other times I'll attempt to boot into CWM recovery, and just get a blank screen

So last night I used nvflash to put a new CWM recovery into partition 6: after which I was able to boot into CWM with no errors. (Yay) However, when I tried to reinstall CynogenMod (whose zip file was sitting on my external sd card), it hung during the installation. I rebooted anyway; this time it got as far as the CyanogenMod spinning logo and hung there. I went to bed, and seven hours later it was still spinning away.

Then I rebooted into CWM (without errors) and managed to install CM ROM this time also with no errors. However, again I can't boot. I get as far as the Lenovo logo, and if I boot into CWM recovery I have all the mount errors again.

Along the way I've erased the cache; done a factory reset, etc.

So: nvflash, new CWM recovery (but still errors), reinstalled CM ROM, but can't boot into it.

Any suggestions? Has this machine packed it in - is its hardware faulty in some way? Or is there something I could try which I haven't already?

Thanks folks - I think I've reached the limits of my fixing ability, and would be very gratefiul of some advice.

Thanks again,
Al
 

eKeith

Senior Member
Jun 24, 2008
278
49
In CWM check to see if your /System folder is mounted with read-write privileges or only with read-only. If the former, then your bootloader may have locked itself. Also, what is your device model? If you have a have a US device then it cannot be unlocked as it has been encrypted by Lenovo...

Sent from my ThinkPad Tablet using Tapatalk
 

amca1960

Member
Mar 8, 2014
22
0
Melbourne
Thanks - it's not a US model (I bought it in Australia, where I live). I thought the bootloader was unlocked because I could use nvflash. When I boot into CWM recovery, I can't mount /system: if I try I get the error "Error mounting /system", along with other errors about not being able to mount or open /cache/recovery/{command, log, last_log}. And since I can't mount anything, I can't install zip files.

I can't remember the device model, although I suppose I could use nvflash to trawl through the partitions somehow. (Since I can't boot the device I can't do the usual thing of checking out the system settings.)

Anyway, at the moment it won't boot beyond the Lenovo logo, even after putting on a new CWM recovery (with nvflash - but as we see above this new recovery is still not working) and reinstalling a ROM (with CWM recovery, which I managed to do on the one occasion I could boot into CWM without mounting errors). It's a right pain, that's what it is.
 
Last edited:

eKeith

Senior Member
Jun 24, 2008
278
49
Thanks - it's not a US model (I bought it in Australia, where I live). I thought the bootloader was unlocked because I could use nvflash. When I boot into CWM recovery, I can't mount /system: if I try I get the error "Error mounting /system", along with other errors about not being able to mount or open /cache/recovery/{command, log, last_log}. And since I can't mount anything, I can't install zip files.

I can't remember the device model, although I suppose I could use nvflash to trawl through the partitions somehow. (Since I can't boot the device I can't do the usual thing of checking out the system settings.)

Anyway, at the moment it won't boot beyond the Lenovo logo, even after putting on a new CWM recovery (with nvflash - but as we see above this new recovery is still not working) and reinstalling a ROM (with CWM recovery, which I managed to do on the one occasion I could boot into CWM without mounting errors). It's a right pain, that's what it is.

Well there may be hope yet as I understand (not sure) that only the US models shipped with a locked bootloader. My US model locked itself and after some research I eventually replaced the motherboard with one from eBay. There are threads around here regarding the bootloader that might have a few "options" for you to try. On the other hand I read on the Lenovo forums that Lenovo actually replaced motherboards (during the warranty period) due to failures which caused the nand to lock read-only. If the "options" don't work then the latter may be the case and you might want to consider my approach or just move on to a newer device. Good look...
 

amca1960

Member
Mar 8, 2014
22
0
Melbourne
Well there may be hope yet as I understand (not sure) that only the US models shipped with a locked bootloader. My US model locked itself and after some research I eventually replaced the motherboard with one from eBay. There are threads around here regarding the bootloader that might have a few "options" for you to try. On the other hand I read on the Lenovo forums that Lenovo actually replaced motherboards (during the warranty period) due to failures which caused the nand to lock read-only. If the "options" don't work then the latter may be the case and you might want to consider my approach or just move on to a newer device. Good look...

I never thought of replacing the motherboard! I'm happy to try it, though, given instructions, and the correct (ROW; ie non-US) motherboard. Is it hard to do - and where can I find out how to do it? And how do I find out exactly what model I have?

Thanks for this - I'd really like to get this beastie working again.
 

eKeith

Senior Member
Jun 24, 2008
278
49
I never thought of replacing the motherboard! I'm happy to try it, though, given instructions, and the correct (ROW; ie non-US) motherboard. Is it hard to do - and where can I find out how to do it? And how do I find out exactly what model I have?

Thanks for this - I'd really like to get this beastie working again.

No offense intended but you are somewhat peculiar as you are familiar with NVFlash, can determine which partitions to flash with the correct images but you don't have a record of, or can't find your device's model number? Check on your SD Card port flap (or your invoice). Then check out this page for details.

However if you decide to replace the motherboard then search eBay for "thinkpad tablet motherboard" and choose either of the 1838 or 1839 options. Any will fit and work but you probably won't get your (non-US) choice of replacement motherboard so will probably just have to get what's available.

See here for some basic dis-assembly instructions. Then just take you time and the rest will be obvious. Good luck!
 

amca1960

Member
Mar 8, 2014
22
0
Melbourne
Thanks for that! I tried responding earlier, but my post was blocked by the system. Anyway, I'll check for a new motherboard and have a go installing it. Do you know how I might prevent this from happening again?
 

eKeith

Senior Member
Jun 24, 2008
278
49
Thanks for that! I tried responding earlier, but my post was blocked by the system. Anyway, I'll check for a new motherboard and have a go installing it. Do you know how I might prevent this from happening again?

No problem at all.

"I'm in the same boat": I replaced my motherboard with another US version about 6 weeks ago, rooted, installed CWM recovery and steady so far... "with fingers crossed"...

Let us know how it goes...