How to Downgrade your Archos Gen 8 Device (28, 32, 43, 70, 101) from 2.0.71 to 2.0.54

[apr24991]

I finally did what Archos support said couldn’t be done. I was able to downgrade my firmware from the extremely buggy (and non-rootable) 2.0.71 firmware, to the 2.0.54 rootable firmware.

Warning: This process involves downloading and installing the Archos SDE firmware. This WILL void your warranty. Proceed at your own risk!

This process was done using a Windows 7 machine (and the Archos tablet, of course).


Phase 1 – Removing the 2.0.71 firmware and replacing it with the Angstrom OS

1. If you do not have your Archos plugged into the AC Adapter, plug it in now.

2. Download the SDE Developer Edition firmware here:
http://www.archos.com/support/download/firm_dev/firmware_archos_android_gen8.aos

3. Power off your Archos (if powered on). Then boot your Archos in Recovery mode by holding the Volume – button and pressing the power button. Release the power button, but keep the Volume – button held down. It will boot into recovery mode.

Recovery Mode navigation works as follows:
Volume + moves up
Volume – moves down
Pressing Power is Enter

4. Press Volume – to Format System and Press Power.

5. Press Volume – to Reformat Device and Press Power.

Warning: Make sure you have backed up any critical data on your Archos tablet prior to proceeding any further. If you have not backed up your data, select No and press Power, and No on the previous menu. At that point it will reboot the device and you can back up your data.

6. Press Volume – to I understand and press Power. It will then reformat the partitions.

7. When the USB Connection menu appears, plug in the Micro USB cable into your computer and into the Archos tablet. Windows (or your mac, I suppose) will recognize the tablet as a drive letter in My Computer - Mine was A101IT (I). Copy the SDE firmware file firmware_archos_android_gen8.aos to the tablet (e.g. drive I: on my computer). Copy to the root directory ( /) folder on the tablet.

8. Once the copy is done, press Power on the Archos Tablet (and remove the Micro USB Cable)

9. It will install the SDE firmware, then reboot.

10. It will boot into the AngStrom OS. At first this OS looks intimidating, but it is quite harmless.

11. It will come up with a new user details screen. Type in a user name, a password, and confirm the password. Then press OK. It will then log in and take you to the desktop.

12. Press the ^ key in the lower left hand side of the screen, and press Turn off. You may have to press a few times to get it to respond as the touch responsiveness was NOT very good for me.

13. Press Yes to log off. It will then power down



Phase 2 – Installing the 2.0.54 firmware onto your tablet.


1. If you do not have your Archos plugged into the AC Adapter, plug it in now.

2. On your pc, download the Archos 2.0.54 firmware from here:
http://www.arctablet.com/assets/archos-firmware/gen8_2.0.54-firmware_archos_android_gen8.aos

3. Rename the file firmware_archos_android_gen8.aos. (If you downloaded the file in the same place you downloaded the SDE firmware file, just overwrite it.)

4. Then boot your Archos in Recovery mode by holding the Volume – button and pressing the power button. Release the power button, but keep the Volume – button held down. It will boot into recovery mode.

Recovery Mode navigation works as follows:
Volume + moves up
Volume – moves down
Pressing Power is Enter

5. Press Volume – to Format System and Press Power.

6. Press Volume – to Reformat Device and Press Power.

7. Press Volume – to I understand and press Power. It will then reformat the partitions.

8. When the USB Connection menu appears, plug in the Micro USB cable into your computer and into the Archos tablet. Windows (or your mac, I suppose) will recognize the tablet as a drive letter in My Computer - Mine was A101IT (I). Copy the 2.0.54 firmware file firmware_archos_android_gen8.aos to the tablet (e.g. drive I: on my computer). Copy to the root directory ( /) folder on the tablet.

9. Once the copy is done, press Power on the Archos Tablet (and remove the Micro USB Cable)

10. It will install the 2.0.54 firmware, then reboot.

11. Congratulations, you now have the 2.0.54 firmware installed.


Enjoy,

Jason Andreas

 

[lagoskon]

I can confirm this guide is correct. Downgrade working. Only for 2.0.54 . Downgrade to 1.0.84 has failure message .

2.0.54 with z4root and setCPU 1000 gives faster A70IT than 2.0.71 fw Overdrive mode. And less screen decalibration issues.

EDIT : Original guide was posted in androidtablets.net forum

 

[k1nk33]

For some unknown reason my 101it can't see my home network after downgrading! It's able to see my neighbours wep encrypted network but not mine which is wpa encrypted? Anybody else having this problem and any solution would be appreciated.

 

[flo44]

Need some help guys;

Step 10 of the phase 2 :
I have copy/paste the .aos file in the root directory but I have this message : "Update failed: (1)"

Sry for bad English, I'm french..

PS : This is not the first time I do that kind of skill =X

 

[lagoskon]

1. It only sees WEP encrypted networks. (2.0.54 problem) , change your to WEP and everything is ok.

2. Are you sure you copied 2.0.54 aos file and not the 1.0.84 ??? Download again and copy it again. and carefull to lace it in root (not in folder by accident)

 

[k1nk33]

thanks for the quick reply.bit ****e that it only see's wep networks though . anybody know of a workaround to get wpa recognised?

 

[iznogooood]

1. It only sees WEP encrypted networks. (2.0.54 problem) , change your to WEP and everything is ok.

2. Are you sure you copied 2.0.54 aos file and not the 1.0.84 ??? Download again and copy it again. and carefull to lace it in root (not in folder by accident)

2.0.54 and WPA2 PSK running fine here.

 

[lagoskon]

2.0.54 and WPA2 PSK running fine here.

Confirmed ...

I tried WPA/WPA2 combined in my router . I turned to WPA2 PSK and it connects fine. Thanks

 

[apr24991]

I am able to get connected via WPA2 with my A101 without any problems.

 

[constant7010]

@apr24991, thanks a lot for this guide! I did not downgrade to 2.0.54, but i've used your guide to permanently boot to urokdroid's kernel. I'm now able to boot urokdroid's 2.0.71 without going through the recovery menu. Now I don't need to press volume - while powering up or rebooting to up bring up the modified kernel/initramfs. It now always boot to urokdroid's kernel which is what i want.

 

[foxtrotter]

@constant7010 : Bravo ! And ... how did you do so ?
I'm quite interested but how did you converte the urku files to .aos file ?
if i could have urku native on my a101 it should be e great thing !

 

[constant7010]

I'll try to retrace the steps I did, and put more detailed/clear instructions if i have a chance, but basically here's what i did:
1) follow uruk's instructions on installing to sd card. create 2 ext4 partitions 1 for root 1 for data.
2) create additional 2 ext4 partitions on the SD.
3) boot into uruk's kernel.
4) use adb to mount the 2 partitions (/tmp/rawfs, /tmp/system), and copy the contents of /mnt/rawfs to 3rd partition and the contents of /mnt/system to 4th partition (cp -a /mnt/rawfs/* /tmp/rawfs/, cp -a /mnt/system/* /tmp/system/)
5) extract and modify initramfs.cpio.gz. i edited etc/moutpoints change the devices for rawfs, system and data to the devices of sd partitions (e.g. mmcblk0p1 to mmcblk2p3, etc). change mount type to ext4 with noatime option.
6) repackage initramfs.cpio.gz.
7) follow the phase 1 downgrade instructions here. this will natively boot the developer edition.
8) go to recovery menu, developer menu, then go to flash kernel/initramfs. flash uruk's kernel and the modified initramfs.cpio.gz.

after this everytime you boot or power on it will always boot to sd card.

 

[Javierinnn]

USB host gone

Hi, anybody having problems with the USB host after downgrading?
I can´t connect anything anymore, no mouse or memory stick.

 

[foxtrotter]

@constant7010 : tx for you guideline.
So i assume that IF i want to boot with the original system i just have to boot in recovery mode and select Android Boot ?
I asked just to know if i keep the choice to boot a proper systeme if something goes wrong with the sd card

 

[constant7010]

@foxtrotter,

I'm not sure about but this is what I have observed. After you apply Phase 1 of the instructions in post#1, you actually lose your android firmware, and will be replaced by developer mode firmware (Angstorm). So everytime you boot it always boot in developer mode. In fact after this, you will no longer see Android as one of the boot options in recovery mode. However you can always reapply the Android firmware in the recovery menu to bring back the original OS.

Actually on my first try after doing phase 1, i thought applying urok's kernel and initramfs.cpio is enough. But my system just kept on rebooting. Since Android was no longer accessible in recovery menu, I had to reapply the Android firmware, which is phase 2 on post#1, but using 2.0.71 firmware. And then I traced the Android boot process, and it looks it's accessing the contents /mnt/rawfs and /mnt/system which were missing after you apply phase 1. So I tried copying the contents of /mnt/rawfs and /mnt/system to 2 new partitions in my SD, and modify initramfs to use these partitions. And after applying phase 1 again, and putting urok's kernel and my modified initramfs, it now successfully boots to SD.

 

[apr24991]

Need some help guys;

Step 10 of the phase 2 :
I have copy/paste the .aos file in the root directory but I have this message : "Update failed: (1)"

Sry for bad English, I'm french..

PS : This is not the first time I do that kind of skill =X

@flo44,

Make sure that you renamed the Gen8_2.0.54-firmware_archos_android_gen8.aos file to just firmware_archos_android_gen8.aos. Then copy the renamed file to your Archos. Make sure the file is placed in the root folder (/) of the device.

Look at step 3 under Phase 2.

If you just copy the file over without renaming it, you will get the (1) error.

You can always power the unit off and boot back into recovery and start Phase 2 over.

 

[apr24991]

For some unknown reason my 101it can't see my home network after downgrading! It's able to see my neighbours wep encrypted network but not mine which is wpa encrypted? Anybody else having this problem and any solution would be appreciated.

k1nk33,

I was playing around yesterday trying to get different 1.x firmwares to work with no avail. So then I decied to go back to the 2.0.54 firmware. When I did, I noticed that my wifi was not working. So I upgraded to the 2.0.74 firmware, then went through the whole downgrade process again. That fixed my problem.

 

[foxtrotter]

@constant7010 : ok so i can see you rule to manage the Archos SDE boot.
I'm not so confident so i will keep my backup solution with multi boot.
But plz don't hesitate to keep us aware of the stability of your new configuration with those added partitions !

 

[detroyerx]

can i downgrade from 2.1.4 (froyo2.2.1) to 2.0.54 following this tutorial?

thanks in advance!

regards.

 

[Serpens Alatus]

Write Protected

Hi there,

i tried that tutorial, but i cant copy any files on the root file system of the pad. It says "Device is write protected."

What did i do wrong?

Regards

Serpens