How to flash your Adam and get it working again
WARNING
This fix is recommended only if your Adam has stopped booting up after installing the over-theair
system update on 24 January. Please don't use the method indicated to flash your Adam
with any ROM not from Notion Ink, as it would probably damage your Adam irreparably.
Please read this whole document before proceeding.
PRE-REQUISITES
You need to have the following items
1. A Windows or Linux PC
2. The Notion Ink Adam you wish to flash
3. A mini-USB to USB cable for connecting the two
(It's not included in the Adam package, but you
might have one lying around. If not, it's readily
available in any electronics shop)
4. The appropriate Adam Recovery Kit which you
can download from the URLs below. (About
80MB)
DOWNLOADS
1. Windows PC, LCD Adam
http://api.notionink.com/fix/windows/LCD.zip
2. Windows PC, Pixel Qi Adam
http://api.notionink.com/fix/windows/PixelQi.zip
3. Linux PC, LCD Adam
http://api.notionink.com/fix/linux/LCD.zip
4. Linux PC, Pixel Qi Adam
http://api.notionink.com/fix/linux/PixelQi.zip
OVERVIEW
Here's a summary of what you'll be doing:
1. On your PC, extract the Adam Recovery Kit.
2. Restart your Adam in “Force Recovery” mode and connect it to the PC.
3. If you're on Windows, install the USB drivers from the Recovery Kit.
4. Run the ROM flash utility from your PC, and wait for it to complete.
1. EXTRACT
Using your favourite ZIP extraction tool, uncompress all the files in the Adam Recovery Kit to
any folder on the hard drive of your computer.
2. RECOVERY MODE
Before proceeding, ensure that your Adam has at least 50% battery charge or is connected to
power and charging. Also make sure that your computer will not turn off during the flashing
process.
Turn off your Adam and enter force recovery mode by pressing and holding both the Volume
Down (-) and Power buttons for two seconds. The orange (charge) and red (CPU) indicators on
the right side of your device will light up, indicating that your Adam is in force recovery mode.
Release both buttons, and connect the mini-USB port on your Adam to any free USB port on the
PC using your cable.
3. INSTALL DRIVERS (Windows only)
Your Windows PC will show a notification that a device “APX” has been detected. If you get a
“Found new hardware” dialog box asking where to install drivers from - choose “list or specific
location”. If you don't get this dialog, open the Device Manager via System in the Control
Panel, find and double-click the “APX” device, and click the update driver button.
Select the “usbpcdriver” folder inside the extracted Adam Recovery Kit as the driver location.
You may receive a warning that the driver is not certified or signed by Windows – choose to
install it anyway.
4. FLASH
You're now ready to flash your Adam. Make sure that the USB cable is connected securely. To
begin the process under Windows, run the “download.bat” batch file from the folder where you
extracted the Recovery Kit. If you're using Linux, open a console window at the folder
containing the extracted Recovery Kit, and run ./download.sh. Your device screen will show that
it is being updated, and the console window will show the progress.
IMPORTANT: Do not close the console window or stop the update before it is complete. If the
update is interrupted mid-way, your Adam will be damaged irreparably.
Hopefully all goes well, and in a couple of minutes your Adam will boot up with the new
software. Congratulations! If at any point you find that things aren't going according to plan,
please send an email to
support@notionink.com rightaway.
Thanks for your continued support
Team Notion Ink
