[GUIDE][ROOT][RECOVERY][4.4.2] Lenovo A3500-H

[BobToss]

Great - thanks for the advice re TWRP 3.0.2. And if you're able to offer any hints regarding the SD card later that would be much appreciated. Thanks so much.

You did nothing wrong, I initially had issues with having the SD card recognized properly too... I just can't remember what I did, I need to check when I'm home from work having the device at hand - I use mixplorer and also the device itself has no issues using the SD card, it's definitely possible to fix, probably even simple...
I check it out later and see what I can tell you

By the way, I suggest you to use TWRP 3.0.2 for stability reasons, just remember that TWRP 3.1.1 uses a differently named folder for backup, so you cannot see previously made backups on the other TWRP version, just copy & paste the files from /TWRP/BACKUP/000000000 to /TWRP/BACKUP/lenovo a7 (and vice versa) to make them appear in your booted TWRP -> restore

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[Ranjit87]

Internal SD card not recognized properly

BobToss please do the dutiful and share the solution to the SD card issue. I have issues with having the SD card recognized properly. What is the solution shared?

Great - thanks for the advice re TWRP 3.0.2. And if you're able to offer any hints regarding the SD card later that would be much appreciated. Thanks so much.

Great - thanks for the advice re TWRP 3.0.2. And if you're able to offer any hints regarding the SD card later that would be much appreciated. Thanks so much.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sam Nakamura

You did nothing wrong, I initially had issues with having the SD card recognized properly too... I just can't remember what I did, I need to check when I'm home from work having the device at hand - I use mixplorer and also the device itself has no issues using the SD card, it's definitely possible to fix, probably even simple...
I check it out later and see what I can tell you

By the way, I suggest you to use TWRP 3.0.2 for stability reasons, just remember that TWRP 3.1.1 uses a differently named folder for backup, so you cannot see previously made backups on the other TWRP version, just copy & paste the files from /TWRP/BACKUP/000000000 to /TWRP/BACKUP/lenovo a7 (and vice versa) to make them appear in your booted TWRP -> restore

Sent from my OnePlus 3T using XDA Labs[/QUOTE]

 

[BobToss]

Ranjit I don’t yet have a solution. I was posing the question. Sam Nakamura Is the expert. I suggest you keep an eye on this thread for updates.

 

[Sam Nakamura]

BobToss please do the dutiful and share the solution to the SD card issue. I have issues with having the SD card recognized properly. What is the solution shared?

Great - thanks for the advice re TWRP 3.0.2. And if you're able to offer any hints regarding the SD card later that would be much appreciated. Thanks so much.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sam Nakamura

You did nothing wrong, I initially had issues with having the SD card recognized properly too... I just can't remember what I did, I need to check when I'm home from work having the device at hand - I use mixplorer and also the device itself has no issues using the SD card, it's definitely possible to fix, probably even simple...
I check it out later and see what I can tell you

By the way, I suggest you to use TWRP 3.0.2 for stability reasons, just remember that TWRP 3.1.1 uses a differently named folder for backup, so you cannot see previously made backups on the other TWRP version, just copy & paste the files from /TWRP/BACKUP/000000000 to /TWRP/BACKUP/lenovo a7 (and vice versa) to make them appear in your booted TWRP -> restore

Ranjit I don’t yet have a solution. I was posing the question. Sam Nakamura Is the expert. I suggest you keep an eye on this thread for updates.

Okay guys, here we go...
Unplug the SD card and plug it back in, the device should recognize it and show a notification where you can choose setup between adoptable or portable storage, I recommend you to use portable storage, never tried adaptable...
I had to relink the SD card in my file explorer, I use mixplorer, you'll find the SD card mounted to /storage/(alphanumeric code, it's different and unique for every single SD card) - check the pictures and tell me exactly what issues you have, make screenshots if necessary...

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[BobToss]

Sam, thanks for taking the time to look into this. I’m now using Mixplorer - it’s great and I can now pretty much do everything I need. The problem isn’t really with the removable SD card, it seems to be a problem with apps being able to access the internal/shared storage. For example if I didn’t have an external SD card I think it would be impossible to download or install an apk file. The default browser can’t download files, the default file manager opens then immediately shuts. My work around is to use CM Browser which allows me to specify the download location and I can then specify the removable SD. The only problem I really have now is using apps that won’t allow me to change the download location.
I hope I’m making sense? It seems that the system can see both the internal and removable storage, but apps can’t access or see the internal storage. I’ve attached some pics. I had to take photos as when I tried to screenshot it said insufficient storage. The last two pics are of what Mixplorer calls “Root” and the final picture is after I clicked on the SDcard folder in that list.
Any ideas? It’s really frustrating me, but as I said I can work around the issue pretty much so I don’t want to waste your time on it.

Okay guys, here we go...
Unplug the SD card and plug it back in, the device should recognize it and show a notification where you can choose setup between adoptable or portable storage, I recommend you to use portable storage, never tried adaptable...
I had to relink the SD card in my file explorer, I use mixplorer, you'll find the SD card mounted to /storage/(alphanumeric code, it's different and unique for every single SD card) - check the pictures and tell me exactly what issues you have, make screenshots if necessary...

Sent from my Lenovo A3500-FL using XDA Labs

 

[Sam Nakamura]

Sam, thanks for taking the time to look into this. I’m now using Mixplorer - it’s great and I can now pretty much do everything I need. The problem isn’t really with the removable SD card, it seems to be a problem with apps being able to access the internal/shared storage. For example if I didn’t have an external SD card I think it would be impossible to download or install an apk file. The default browser can’t download files, the default file manager opens then immediately shuts. My work around is to use CM Browser which allows me to specify the download location and I can then specify the removable SD. The only problem I really have now is using apps that won’t allow me to change the download location.
I hope I’m making sense? It seems that the system can see both the internal and removable storage, but apps can’t access or see the internal storage. I’ve attached some pics. I had to take photos as when I tried to screenshot it said insufficient storage. The last two pics are of what Mixplorer calls “Root” and the final picture is after I clicked on the SDcard folder in that list.
Any ideas? It’s really frustrating me, but as I said I can work around the issue pretty much so I don’t want to waste your time on it.

OK, that's definitely weird and not meant to be like that, my only issue where with the external SD card not showing but you got the internal storage not being recognized, so few questions:
Did you gave storage permissions to the internet browser you're using, also files (default explorer works for me perfectly)? -> check settings, apps, search & tap the app and see permissions, even though system apps usually have all permissions they need... Go to system app section and find "package installer" app and clear app data (not only cache)
How did you flashed this ROM? Best and cleanest way is to use TWRP -> advanced wipe and wipe all but internal storage before you flash ROM & GAPPS, I'd do a backup of this set up and factory reset the ROM, just to see if it helps, if not restore your previous setup... Also you can just reflash the ROM and wipe dalvik & cache before rebooting, this sometimes solves issues, did you modify anything which could lead to the issue? Have you tried rebooting without external sdcard?

Don't worry about wasting my time, I help when my time allows it, not a thing... Excuse my relatively chaotic answer, it's late here don't worry, we'll solve this eventually...


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[BobToss]

I'll try wiping everything and start from scratch. There's nothing on the device I'm worried about losing. I tried looking at the permissions. The web browser didnt have access to Storage, but it didnt seem to make a difference even after changing that. The default file manager didnt have any permissions requested. And when I looked at the Package Installer app there was no option to clear app data or cache (as far as I could see) - screenshot attached.
I'll let you know if a completely new install works...

OK, that's definitely weird and not meant to be like that, my only issue where with the external SD card not showing but you got the internal storage not being recognized, so few questions:
Did you gave storage permissions to the internet browser you're using, also files (default explorer works for me perfectly)? -> check settings, apps, search & tap the app and see permissions, even though system apps usually have all permissions they need... Go to system app section and find "package installer" app and clear app data (not only cache)
How did you flashed this ROM? Best and cleanest way is to use TWRP -> advanced wipe and wipe all but internal storage before you flash ROM & GAPPS, I'd do a backup of this set up and factory reset the ROM, just to see if it helps, if not restore your previous setup... Also you can just reflash the ROM and wipe dalvik & cache before rebooting, this sometimes solves issues, did you modify anything which could lead to the issue? Have you tried rebooting without external sdcard?

Don't worry about wasting my time, I help when my time allows it, not a thing... Excuse my relatively chaotic answer, it's late here don't worry, we'll solve this eventually...


Sent from my Lenovo A3500-FL using XDA Labs

 

[Sam Nakamura]

I'll try wiping everything and start from scratch. There's nothing on the device I'm worried about losing. I tried looking at the permissions. The web browser didnt have access to Storage, but it didnt seem to make a difference even after changing that. The default file manager didnt have any permissions requested. And when I looked at the Package Installer app there was no option to clear app data or cache (as far as I could see) - screenshot attached.
I'll let you know if a completely new install works...

If you have a chance starting from scratch with a clean setup is the best solution, remember to use TWRP's advanced wipe to wipe all but internal storage, this should give best results, if issues persist report back, so we'll have to find a solution, it's not a issue for me and I haven't heard about this either, so let's hope a clean flash will fix it...

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[EPa]

And when I looked at the Package Installer app there was no option to clear app data or cache (as far as I could see) - screenshot attached.

You have to tap on "Storage", then on the next screen you can see the "clear data" and "clear cache buttons".

 

[BobToss]

Alas, the problem persists. Here’s what I did:
1.wiped everything even the external SD card
2.Returned to stock rom using SP Flash tool
3.Flashed twrp 3.0.1 using SP Flash tool
4.Booted into stock Rom to confirm everything worked fine, including browser and file manager
5.Used TWRP to wipe everything except internal storage
6.Installed RR and Gapps
7.Booted into RR

Same issues as before- file manager refuses to open, browser closes if I try to download anything.

Anything obviously wrong with the process I followed? Maybe it’s time to bin the a3500 and move on

If you have a chance starting from scratch with a clean setup is the best solution, remember to use TWRP's advanced wipe to wipe all but internal storage, this should give best results, if issues persist report back, so we'll have to find a solution, it's not a issue for me and I haven't heard about this either, so let's hope a clean flash will fix it...

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[Sam Nakamura]

Alas, the problem persists. Here’s what I did:
1.wiped everything even the external SD card
2.Returned to stock rom using SP Flash tool
3.Flashed twrp 3.0.1 using SP Flash tool
4.Booted into stock Rom to confirm everything worked fine, including browser and file manager
5.Used TWRP to wipe everything except internal storage
6.Installed RR and Gapps
7.Booted into RR

Same issues as before- file manager refuses to open, browser closes if I try to download anything.

Anything obviously wrong with the process I followed? Maybe it’s time to bin the a3500 and move on

OK, I personally never flashed clean, I actually dirty flashed from cm13 to lineageOS 13 to RR, just out of craziness, try to clean flash again lineageOS 13 with GApps, boot once and return back to TWRP and Wipe all but internal storage & DATA and flash RR + GApps...
Maybe this makes a difference, I definitely didn't experience this issue, so something was avoiding it, I'll also backup my system and clean flash RR to see myself and find a way to solve this, just give me few days...
This is weird, especially as you're the first to report, I wonder about the others, did they experience this too?


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[BobToss]

Solved!

Sam, you found the solution! Thanks! Installing lineageOS 13 first followed by RR worked. Everything working fine now. What a relief. Seems it needed an incremental upgrade and didn’t work going from android 4 to 7 without installing 6 first.
Ready for my next challenge now - any chance of Oreo?
Thanks again for your help.

OK, I personally never flashed clean, I actually dirty flashed from cm13 to lineageOS 13 to RR, just out of craziness, try to clean flash again lineageOS 13 with GApps, boot once and return back to TWRP and Wipe all but internal storage & DATA and flash RR + GApps...
Maybe this makes a difference, I definitely didn't experience this issue, so something was avoiding it, I'll also backup my system and clean flash RR to see myself and find a way to solve this, just give me few days...
This is weird, especially as you're the first to report, I wonder about the others, did they experience this too?


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[Sam Nakamura]

Sam, you found the solution! Thanks! Installing lineageOS 13 first followed by RR worked. Everything working fine now. What a relief. Seems it needed an incremental upgrade and didn’t work going from android 4 to 7 without installing 6 first.
Ready for my next challenge now - any chance of Oreo?
Thanks again for your help.

I just tested a clean flash of RR N, downloaded YouTube & Chrome from apk mirror and all went smoothly, default browser asked for permissions to storage and installation was successful, so I cannot replicate your issue, all fine here but nice to hear you found a workaround for your issue...

No idea about Oreo, RR N was ported from the Asus z500, liquidporting team, lol pro 100 (aka @mihael zzzzz) ported it to our device, so huge thanks to those guys for doing the actual work, if the z500 gets Oreo we will like get it too but that is only a assumption, I think it's already great to have nougat with Substratum support and and all critical features working..

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[BobToss]

Interesting that a clean flash worked for you. Anyway, just glad to have found a fix and as you say RR is a gfantastic ROM -very happy to now have that on the device.

I just tested a clean flash of RR N, downloaded YouTube & Chrome from apk mirror and all went smoothly, default browser asked for permissions to storage and installation was successful, so I cannot replicate your issue, all fine here but nice to hear you found a workaround for your issue...

No idea about Oreo, RR N was ported from the Asus z500, liquidporting team, lol pro 100 (aka @mihael zzzzz) ported it to our device, so huge thanks to those guys for doing the actual work, if the z500 gets Oreo we will like get it too but that is only a assumption, I think it's already great to have nougat with Substratum support and and all critical features working..

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[jimmy19742]

Passing here just to wish @samnakamura a very Happy New Year!
Sam is my first tutor in Android but now I've been studying other programming languages and have no time for Java.
Thank You so much for Your help,Sam.
Guys, listen to Sam!
And TGIF!
Cheers!?
Sam,do you think we'll get Oreo based custom ROM?

 

[Sam Nakamura]

Passing here just to wish @samnakamura a very Happy New Year!
Sam is my first tutor in Android but now I've been studying other programming languages and have no time for Java.
Thank You so much for Your help,Sam.
Guys, listen to Sam!
And TGIF!
Cheers!?
Sam,do you think we'll get Oreo based custom ROM?

Thank you for the nice words and have a great 2018 :highfive: here's what I have written previously and I don't have anything to add - let's hope for a nice surprise but I don't think it's very likely...

"No idea about Oreo, RR N was ported from the Asus z500, liquidporting team, lol pro 100 (aka @mihael zzzzz) ported it to our device, so huge thanks to those guys for doing the actual work, if the z500 gets Oreo we will like get it too but that is only a assumption, I think it's already great to have nougat with Substratum support and and all critical features working.."

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[mumu971]

Hello there,
wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2019

how did you get gps working on viperos 7.1.2?

with Regards

 

[XDA Rooter]

Fake

 

[Sadman Chowdhury]

SD Card error

So, here's a link of a working TWRP 3.0.2 (and TWRP 3.1.1) for all lenovo a3500 variants, all functions are working for me on a Lenovo a7 40 a3500-FL, no issues no errors, definitely something we can work with..

https://uloz.to/!Fj2WOlOn4JSt/twrp-3-0-2-lenovo3500-img

G-drive mirror for twrp 3.0.2 for Lenovo a7 40 a3500
TWRP 3.0.2 for Lenovo A3500

TWRP 3.1.1
https://forum.xda-developers.com/android/development/recovery-twrp-3-11-lenovo-a3500-t3684225

Latest TWRP by Liquidporting (currently TWRP 3.1.1-4)
https://liquidporting.github.io/twrp/ (not working!)

By the way:
I successfully run a Lenovo a7 40 a3500-fl with twrp 3.0.2 and RessurectionRemix 5.7.4 (final marshmallow build) which is fast, smooth and stable - especially compared to the stock Kitkat Rom, this solution makes the device feel almost new and kept me from buying a new one the last year...

Here's a link of RessurectionRemix 5.7.4 (G-drive) which I'm using and 2 others which I consider to be the most stable ones and definitely daily driver material at the time I'm writing, with about 7 or 8 different ROMs in total, it's working for the whole lenovo a7 40 a3500 (F/FL/H/HV, etc.) family, declared H/HV version have RIL (Telephony) working when F/FL versions have not as these models are WiFi variants, you can change the build.prop to display the the correct model cause this will show lenovo a7 a7 40 a3500-fl (or any different version from yours), it's just a cosmetic... also unwanted telephone settings on a Wi-Fi tablet can be hidden with Xposed Framework and a module called "settings editor", which works really nicely...

RessurectionRemix 5.7.4 (android 6.0.1)

RessurectionRemix 5.8.4 (android 7.1.2)

Bluetooth fix for Nougat

->GPS fix Nougat

->Camera fix for Nougat

----------------------
CyanogenMod 13 (android 6.0.1)

lineageOS 13 (android 6.0.1/latest marshmallow ROM)


For volume level being to loud flash this in recovery:
Audio_Fix/android 6

This device has a unlocked bootloader by default, so the easy way is to use kingroot to gain root privileges, then install flashify or rashr for Playstore to flash the TWRP image, after that boot to recovery by pressing and holding power and volume up & down simultaneously - now in TWRP do backup EVERY partition (especially NVRAM), wipe everything but internal storage and flash rom and Gapps (according to the device architecture)... This method works without a PC, alternatively the method described by OP can be used

Edit: non of the work is mine, I don't claim any credits whatsoever, it's just what could be found on the web by anyone, links I share are from tested working roms, they may contain bugs or are unsave to use, privacy concerns must be assumed but I personally cannot confirm any issues whatsoever..
Do at own risk! Good luck!

Finally I found the man who belongs the most credit for all the goodness! Thank you @mihael zzzzz


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Unable to access SD Card in RessurectionRemix 5.7.4

 

[Sam Nakamura]

Unable to access SD Card in RessurectionRemix 5.7.4

Sorry, I don't own this device anymore but I remember that it took some fiddling to get SD card working, it's differently mounted than what some file explorers expect, I'd suggest that you browse your device with a file explorer starting from / (root directory), I'm sure you'll be able to find it, depending on the file explorer you use you should be able to bookmark the correct path, I'd suggest you to use Mixplorer by the way!

Good luck!

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