[GUIDE] BOOTANIMATION LOOP? Look here.

[JdgM3NT4L]

I just finished helping recovering another tablet from an animation bootloop and I figured it might be a good idea to start a thread and share what we've figured out with the community.

If my tablet was bootlooping and I didn't really want to do a whole lot of crazy steps I'd try installing from update.zip before doing all of this. There's plenty of information about that around. But if you find that for whatever reason the stock recovery is totally borked or whatever this method should help.

First. You have to know that this will wipe your tablet. So hopefully you've got backup. Also we need to hope that you have you SBK. If not there is a little on that later. This should work on any A500 with any bootloader. Also I didn't include much about installing from update.zips or how to recover your U.I.D. from your sd card. Those are covered in detail in other threads and are easy to find.

Also. If you have a functioning recovery you do not need this guide. At all.

Hello!

I was about to unroot and get back to stock with my A500 so I flashed a stock ROM via CWM to get a ota-update. Before i had a custom ICS ROM installed and now I installed a HC stock ROM. The problem is that i forgot to go through the wipe menu in CWM before the flash and now when I start up my tablet I first see the ACER logo as usual, then a android text-logo which the tablet is stuck at. I've waited 20 minutes and is still shows the same thing. The logo has an animation which i still can see. I've tried to restart the tablet and get into CWM again without succes.

I have read different threads for several hours but I can't find my problem. What should I do? :crying:

Here is a brief overview.
What you are trying to do is get into recovery, wipe properly and flash your stock rom. You are going to...
Get the tablet into APX mode.
Use Blackthund3rs APX tool with bundle number 17 and flash it.
Once it flashes and you restart immediately go into recovery.
Don't let the tablet boot or it will instantly erase the recovery that we just installed.

Ok. First get blackthund3rs tool fired up. There is an attachment at the end for this.

Choose Bundle Market. and say yes to this...

Hit the View Bundles Tab.

Choose bundle number 17.

Choose to stage the download for flash.

Once it is finished with this...

It will ask for your SBK.

Choose to use the default BCT.

From here follow the onscreen directions for the manual method to enter APX.

Now this is the key to the whole process.

When the tablet reboots you must be holding the volume down button so that it enters directly into CWM.
If you miss it and you see the bootanimation, it will be too late and you will have to start all over.
So when you get to the PASS screen. and you power it off. Don't forget to be holding that volume button when it restarts automatically.

After that it should be as easy and entering the wipe menus, then flash your rom.

I've done this one at least three different tablets and it works everytime.

Good Luck. Please let me know if I can help with any of this.

How do I know my SBK code?
Great guide!

How do I know my SBK code?
Great guide!

Ok. In the state that your tablet is in getting the serial number (U.I.D./SBK) will be difficult at best unless we get lucky. It is normally pretty easy to find when the tablet has USB debugging enabled. With a new install of a stock rom there is zero chance that your tablet has that enabled.

Soooo...

Hopefully when you've had your tablet connected to your pc it saved the U.I.D. or serial. Or you have a Nandroid backup or some other CWM log. You can find the serials on the sd card for those easily enough. The serial can then be changed into the sbk easily.

If you don't have any of those and you have had your tablet connected to your pc at one time or another, you can try this...

Go to this webpage http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/usb_devices_view.html and scroll way way down to near the bottom and get the program. It is called USBDeview.

Once it downloads extract the whole zip to your desktop. It should be in a folder and have three files inside.

Open the file USBDeview and then first thing choose the options tab/button and uncheck "Display Devices Without Port/Serial Number".

Then make it sort by Description by clicking the words at the header of the list that says " Description". Finally look for an entry about A500, or Acer Iconia A500. Hopefully you see those. Look in the columns to the right and find the column titled "Serial Number". There may be multiple entries. But you can be sure that the one that you need will have 16 digits.

If that doesn't show any results, do this. Sort by "VendorID" ( 1 ). Then look for "VendorID" 0502 that has "ProductID" 3325 ( 2 ). It should show A500 or Acer Iconia A500 ( 3 ) Look in the serial number column if you match those IDs. It will be your serial number/U.I.D. (Thanks to sc2k for sharing this!)

If you do find the number then you are home free.
What you will do now is convert your serial/U.I.D. to an SBK. You can go here and download the program to your pc. Run it and enter your serial number.

If not then there is quite a bit of work ahead. But don't give up. It can still be fixed. And as an added bonus you'll get to play around in Linux...

That thread is here. srbeen posted a great guide and there isn't much that I can add that would help.

Once you've completed his guide you should be ready for just about anything. Maybe even world domination. Good Luck.

 

[Moscow Desire]

Nice job with screenshots.

Remember, there is a difference between "bootloop" and "boot animation loop".

Bootloop, is when the device tries to enter the OS, and boots back to the bootloader and original sequence. Over and over.

Boot animation loop, is where the animation continues to loop, is usually caused by bad data that didn't get wiped. Can also be caused by a bad kernel.

Stuck at the Acer screen, is a different matter.

3 different animals. 3 different solutions.

However, any person who puts together a guide, should deserve looking at. The steps are sound and I am sure they will help some users.

Thanks!

MD

 

[JdgM3NT4L]

Nice job with screenshots.

Remember, there is a difference between "bootloop" and "boot animation loop".

Bootloop, is when the device tries to enter the OS, and boots back to the bootloader and original sequence. Over and over.

Boot animation loop, is where the animation continues to loop, is usually caused by bad data that didn't get wiped. Can also be caused by a bad kernel.

Stuck at the Acer screen, is a different matter.

3 different animals. 3 different solutions.

However, any person who puts together a guide, should deserve looking at. The steps are sound and I am sure they will help some users.

Thanks!

MD

Thanks. I'll alter the title to reflect bootanimation.

 

[Moscow Desire]

Thanks. I'll alter the title to reflect bootanimation.

But a good job, and I am sure, it will help others!

And we welcome all guides that help with these things.

Oh, more to your thing, Boot loop. or boot animation, can also be caused by running an ICS rom, on an HC bootloader. Which is more inline with your guide.

Again, good job Mate.

MD

 

[JdgM3NT4L]

But a good job, and I am sure, it will help others!

And we welcome all guides that help with these things.

Oh, more to your thing, Boot loop. or boot animation, can also be caused by running an ICS rom, on an HC bootloader. Which is more inline with your guide.

Again, good job Mate.

MD

Appreciate the comments, especially when they help keep things clear.
I've never been good at seeing all of the angles, so I'm glad your proofing it for me.

So no worries. And Thanks!

But I've been thinking about it, and this might be a good place to start when repairing any of the issues mentioned. If nothing else it is a near foolproof way to get into a working recovery, albeit with a custom ICS bootloader. But that's pretty easy to get past as well if stock bootloader/rom is what's desired.

So basically, if a working recovery is the goal, it should help.