Lenovo IdeaPad A1 7" Tablet Review and Root!

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neavissa

Senior Member
Aug 27, 2007
151
9
First of all, thanks for all the help! Second, I always thought of myself as a smart guy... apparently I am not, ha ha. This will not work, no matter what I try?! Here is what I do:

1. Reset to factory settings... Mine came with 4.0.3, btw
2. Install ROM manger, Root Explorer and Titanium backup.
3. Follow all the instructions form this link here, including downloading all files: http://www.dominantwire.com/2012/04/how-to-solve-wait-for-device-problem-in.html
4. Try the first method, using SuperOneClick but it will not do it because it is telling me that some ADB drivers are missing...
5. Copy the files to my external sd card, renamed it "update" and try to get into the recovery mode. No matter what I do, it will not work?!

thanks,

G
 
N

neavissa

Senior Member
Aug 27, 2007
151
9
jpisini said:
Have you tried using a boot able sdcard to install cwm?

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

hi, I had no idea that I had to do that!? But don't I have to get to the boot loader first!? If I can't get there, I don't see why it matters what sd card I am using!? Or maybe that is the reason I can't get to the boot loader!?


Thanks,

G

Sent from my IdeaTab A2107A-F using Tapatalk 2
 
J

jpisini

Senior Member
Nov 26, 2011
1,330
254
Weymouth
I am not home so can't post links. There is a way to make a boot able sdcard that the a1 can boot to under most circumstances. I can post better instructions when I get to a PC

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
 
N

neavissa

Senior Member
Aug 27, 2007
151
9
jpisini said:
I am not home so can't post links. There is a way to make a boot able sdcard that the a1 can boot to under most circumstances. I can post better instructions when I get to a PC

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

I would really appreciate that...

Thanks,

G

Sent from my IdeaTab A2107A-F using Tapatalk 2
 
J

jpisini

Senior Member
Nov 26, 2011
1,330
254
Weymouth
neavissa said:
I would really appreciate that...

Thanks,

G

Sent from my IdeaTab A2107A-F using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse


here are the instructions

Originally Posted by jpisini View Post
Unless I am mistaken 5.0.27 can write the ram disk with the zip file it just can't back it up.

------------------

For those that need a bootable sdcard check out this post by anddior
http://www.android-hilfe.de/root-hac...ml#post3397771

English translation (roughly)

And so it is done:

First , this tool donwload. http://www.chip.de/downloads/Image-W..._46121030.html
Second A1_BootSD.iso Download http://a1.cu2.at/A1_Bootable_SD/A1_BootSD.iso
Third A micro SD card plugged into computer
4th Win32DiskImager.exe start
5th Image File: A1_BootSD.iso, device: the SD card where it is written and start with "Write"
6th SD card stuck in pure A1
7th A1 with power and volume then - start ().

A1 boot from SD and CWM is loaded.
It can be clearly seen as the soft touch light bulbs (OC kernel)

What I do is after doing the above grab a copy of CWM and put it in the root of this card you can flash it from there.
Place the card in the A1 hold down power and volume down until it vibrates then let go of power, when you see the Lenovo logo then let go of the volume button it takes a minute but should look like it is flashing something and then boot into the card. Give it a few minutes.


Depending on what OS you want to install after the fact use these versions of CWM

Stock Gingerbread or CM7 early versions 5.0.27

middle versions of CM7, some versions of ICS and Gingermodspeed 5.0.28

Later versions of CM7 and some ICS use latest 6 version

I put all three on the bootable card that way I have them and I can always switch at will.
 
N

neavissa

Senior Member
Aug 27, 2007
151
9
jpisini said:
here are the instructions

Originally Posted by jpisini View Post
Unless I am mistaken 5.0.27 can write the ram disk with the zip file it just can't back it up.

------------------

For those that need a bootable sdcard check out this post by anddior
http://www.android-hilfe.de/root-hac...ml#post3397771

English translation (roughly)

And so it is done:

First , this tool donwload. http://www.chip.de/downloads/Image-W..._46121030.html
Second A1_BootSD.iso Download http://a1.cu2.at/A1_Bootable_SD/A1_BootSD.iso
Third A micro SD card plugged into computer
4th Win32DiskImager.exe start
5th Image File: A1_BootSD.iso, device: the SD card where it is written and start with "Write"
6th SD card stuck in pure A1
7th A1 with power and volume then - start ().

A1 boot from SD and CWM is loaded.
It can be clearly seen as the soft touch light bulbs (OC kernel)

What I do is after doing the above grab a copy of CWM and put it in the root of this card you can flash it from there.
Place the card in the A1 hold down power and volume down until it vibrates then let go of power, when you see the Lenovo logo then let go of the volume button it takes a minute but should look like it is flashing something and then boot into the card. Give it a few minutes.


Depending on what OS you want to install after the fact use these versions of CWM

Stock Gingerbread or CM7 early versions 5.0.27

middle versions of CM7, some versions of ICS and Gingermodspeed 5.0.28

Later versions of CM7 and some ICS use latest 6 version

I put all three on the bootable card that way I have them and I can always switch at will.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Super Cool! Thank you! I am not gonna get a chance to do it today, but I will let you know by tomorrow if I got it to work!

thanks,

G
 
K

kross666

Member
Apr 17, 2012
32
23
Got it working

kross666 said:
Out of nowhere suddenly this new problem has cropped up.

The ADB window doesn't seem to recognize my A1 but recognizes other android phones.
I've tried reinstalling ADB drivers. It also shows up on driver manager.
'Usb Debugging option' is also checked

Is there anything iam missing?

---------- Post added at 07:28 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:25 PM ----------
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

nvm. Got it working. Posting a generic troubleshooting guide for everyone : http://goo.gl/OS3Vi
 
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S

serpolets6

Member
Jul 26, 2012
8
0
montpellier
Screen unresponsive

Hello,

My tablet was warning me "low memory" as I had plenty of free memory, after having tried many things I decided to re install ICS.

Everything worked well
BUT... my screen became totally unresponsive
and I am stuck on the screen "Touch the Android to begin."

I Have tried "calibration touch" and get "calibration fail, error code 65280".

I have tried to downgrade to Gingerbread, to install Cyanogen, to use the Gmarkall process to unbrick...
always the same result: unresponsive screen.

Any help ?

Thank you
 
J

jpisini

Senior Member
Nov 26, 2011
1,330
254
Weymouth
Does the screen work in CWM? If yes then it is a driver issue try reinstalling stock recovery and then flash original gingerbread.

Sent from my A1_07 using xda premium
 
J

jpisini

Senior Member
Nov 26, 2011
1,330
254
Weymouth
Can you mount drives on PC? If yes try formating them something is not being wiped.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
 
J

jpisini

Senior Member
Nov 26, 2011
1,330
254
Weymouth
If that doesn't work go back to CWM 5.0.27 it seemed to do a better job at wiping. You can also try the unbrick sdcard method as that is supposed to format everything. If you need a link let me know I will find it.

Sent from my A1_07 using xda premium
 
S

serpolets6

Member
Jul 26, 2012
8
0
montpellier
jpisini said:
If that doesn't work go back to CWM 5.0.27 it seemed to do a better job at wiping. You can also try the unbrick sdcard method as that is supposed to format everything. If you need a link let me know I will find it.

Sent from my A1_07 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

If by "unbrick sdcard" you mean the Gmarkall unbrick sd card I have tried it without result.

By the way, Amazon offers me to refund. So I think I"ll send may tablet back and buy another one

Anyway, thank you for your answers
 
K

kross666

Member
Apr 17, 2012
32
23
Ideapad A1 USB Host

Guys,

We need to get usb host on ideapad A1. It's weird that other cheaper tablets have this basic functionality but a1 doesn't.
Even nook didn't have usb host at first but some dev implemented it and they have a fix now.

Milaq made changes to the a1 kernel regarding usb host :
https://github.com/gmarkall/lenovo_a1_07_kernel/commit/35e6f97f9e24654304a144d95bc0f152691c78e1

Although i don't have much experience on linux but i'll still check it out soon. Hopefully together we can get it working.
 
A

AleHC_98

New member
Jan 11, 2013
2
0
Root Help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I rooted my device and i reboot it and it goes to a black screen, i try to go to Recovery Mode and it shows me an android with a check mark on a triangle and the it turns off.

Please help me.
 
J

jpisini

Senior Member
Nov 26, 2011
1,330
254
Weymouth
What did you use to root? You may want to download the original ROM from Lenovo (sorry on road now no link) put it on the sdcard name it update zip and reflash. If you can't find instructions post back and I will when I get home later today.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
 
Last edited:
C

cobyman7035

Senior Member
Oct 24, 2012
2,657
171
TORONTO
if you ever 'brick' it go there and reinstall, its time consuming, i've had to do it a few times now, this thing is a POS! it always resets when i turn on/off WIFI!

http://www.dominantwire.com/2012/09/how-to-unbrick-lenovo-ideapad-a1-solved.html

after rooting i cannot view/connect to my pc via usb mass storage, this is thing is buggy like hell when its non stock lol

if you set setCPU to max 1000mhz all the time and have have free 300mb ram, it runs ok i think, otherwise its slow as hell
 
Last edited:
J

jpisini

Senior Member
Nov 26, 2011
1,330
254
Weymouth
Put CM7 on it or Gingermodspeed. The A1 will run ICS but it is made for Gingerbread and it shows.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
 
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    paulnelson88
    Just picked up my new Lenovo A1 Tablet yesterday at Fry's! With a little elbow grease this thing rocks! I'm just going to go down a list of what Ive done to make it a sweet tablet.

    1) Superoneclick 2.2 will root this baby just need to install adb drivers...easiest root to date.

    2) Once it's rooted I installed LCD Density from market and set it to 200. Make sure you select killall and hit reboot.

    3) Installed SetCPU from Market. I set it to Performance with the screen on then set it to conservative with the screen off 300mhz/300mhz. Make sure you hit the set to boot button. Once I did this it felt much faster than my Xoom. I havent tested battery life yet.

    4) Installed Spare Parts from Market. Set the windows animations speed to fast and transition animations to fast. Makes a world of difference.

    5) Installed LauncherPro! Get rid of the stupid Lenovo home screen!

    6) I installed WidgetLocker Lockscreen. You can do the Honeycomb screen and re-size it to fit. Gives it a nice feel!

    7) Installed the new Adobe Flash11 from market

    8) Installed App2Sd and moved all my apps to my 4gig sd card and cleared cache.

    9) Picked up a badass 7" case with a stand at OfficeMax! fits perfect! $30 http://www.officemax.com/technology/...^return_skus~Y The website only shows a 10" but they have a 7" version

    10) Google Nav works great tethered to my phone via wifi. I'm downloading a offline Nav as we speak.

    11) Charges Via USB!

    12) Screen gets really bright at max. I just use Auto

    13) Skype was working till I did the Lenovo update no video sound works fine. Front camera sucks back camera is good. To be honest I use my Samsung Galaxy2 for all my pictures.

    14) As soon as I turned it on and connected to the internet it wanted to update. I don't know what the update is about but it was a huge file.

    I'm just getting started with this tablet. I was torn between the Nook2 and Fire. What I love about this is its easy to root comes with Market and charges via usb. I installed Amazon Kindle and Google Books. Their is a new update to Amazon Kindle that makes the app look just like the fire lol.

    Anyways hope this helps! Please feel free to ask me any questions. I will be updating this thread as I learn more.

    Comes with Gingerbread 2.3.4




    Link to ADB Usb drivers. Install first! make sure you have Debug on http://www.mediafire.com/?6v19365dkvc6k8r

    SuperOneClick 2.2 Install 2nd http://www.mediafire.com/?0bi19eva4h4c218
    View
    6
    S
    sinanju
    Just got a call from my customer advocate contact and he confirmed that the A1 source will be available next week. The K1 source was posted a few minutes ago.
    View
    6
    B
    bobroberts2
    If anyone needs the firmware files, you can find them here: http://download.lenovo.com/slates/a1/OTA

    SC = Simplified Chinese (I think)

    US = US

    To install:
    KiyoeHK said:
    1. Download the file, rename it to "update.zip".
    2. Copy the file to the root of micro SD card.
    3. Hold "Vol-" button, then power on. You will see a android logo and a status bar.
    4. After downloading the ROM, A1 is turned off itself.
    5. Power it on
    Click to expand...
    Click to collapse

    If you truly want to go back to factory settings:
    1. Install the firmware as described above (this will return your system partition to default and unroot you)
    2. Then do a factory reset from Settings -> Privacy -> Factory data reset (this returns your data partition to default)

    If you want an easy way to figure out you are having the rebooting issue without having to constantly monitor your tablet, then do the following:
    1. Turn on airplane mode
    2. Then turn on your wireless (you don't have to be connected, just have it on)
    If you come back to your tablet and the wireless has been checked off, that means your unit rebooted on its own. When airplane mode is on, all wireless connections will be unchecked after a reboot. If you don't have a reboot problem, then your wireless should stay checked until you manually reboot.

    If I can't fix the tablet today, I'm going to return it.
    View
    5
    gmarkall
    gmarkall
    tm515 said:
    but I don't see much progress. Would be much happier if the CM7 becomes bug free (front camera video working, gps date fix etc.)
    Click to expand...
    Click to collapse

    We'll get there eventually. At the moment there's progress being made as a result of the kernel sources being available - for example, we're getting the capacitive button light to be always on. All this progress is down to Milaq.

    I'm presently working on a safe way to flash kernels, that won't brick your A1 if you flash a bad kernel. I think this is necessary to make it easy for lots of people to test an experiment with different kernels and compile their own, without taking any risks themselves. This could take me a little while to implement though.
    View
    5
    S
    sinanju
    Video How-To

    I'm removing my presence at the Lenovo Community. I didn't want to lose this, so I'm moving it here:

    This is a guide to transcoding video for playback on the A1. In principle, it also applies the K1 but there are no specific instructions for it.

    Background:

    The processor in the A1 has hardware support for multimedia. It supports a number of codecs (video coding/decoding) and, if the video being played conforms to the supported codecs, playing that video will result in better picture quality and longer battery life.

    The "stock" video player only supports hardware playback, so any videos that are not supported by the hardware will not play back properly. There are other video players available for Android that may play videos not supported by the hardware, but because those require more CPU, they may not support as high a quality of video and will run down the battery far more quickly.

    A better alternative, when possible, is to transcode (convert from one codec to another) the video so that it can be played by the stock player using hardware codec support. This guide suggests the use of the free transcoding software, Handbrake, which is available on Mac, Windows an Linux: http://handbrake.fr/ In addition to being available on multiple platforms, Handbrake will take full advantage of multicore CPUs to perform the transcoding, resulting in very fast transcoding times -- or, at least as fast as it can be.

    Some relevant information about the A1: The screen resolution is 1024*600 which gives it an aspect ratio of 16:9.375. Information about the processor and the codecs it supports can be found here: http://www.arm.com/products/processors/technologies/neon.php


    Steps:

    Install Handbrake on your computer using the instructions found via the link above
    Download the following preset: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/25738269/A1.plist
    Using the Options button on the lower-right side of the Handbrake interface, import the preset. It will be called "A1" in the preset list.
    Using the source button, find the video you want to convert
    Click the preset to make sure it's applied

    Have a look at the Scale Dimensions. At this point, for widescreen content, the first dimension should be equal to 1024. For 4:3 ratio content, the second dimension should be 600. If neither is the case, click Picture Settings and change the the storage width or height (depending on wide screen or not, respectively) to 1024 or 600 (for example, 1024*576 or 800*600) -- the goal is to maximize one value to the limit on the A1 without the other going over. This is to avoid the A1 doing any scaling to play the video. Once set, close the picture settings.

    If you are going to be on an airplane when you view the video and you do not have a noise cancelling headset, you may want to click on the Audio tab and expand the Advanced section. Bump up the gain a few dB. Careful, though... if you set that too high, your audio will be distorted. Select the destination for the converted video, then press start.

    How long the process takes depends on your PC and the video being encoded. For wide screen video the resulting size of the video will be about 0.5GB per hour of recording. For highly dynamic video (action movies, for example) the result will be greater. If you need a smaller video and are willing to give up quality, before starting the conversion, click the Video tab and lower the bitrate value. Values below 1000 kbps will show noticeable degradation, but experiment to find what's right for you. Alternatively, you can increase the bitrate, but at some point, the hardware won't be able to keep up. If you have lots of time, you can also have Handbrake do two-pass encoding for an even better picture.


    Sources:

    Handbrake will rip directly from DVD.

    Flash recordings can be downloaded from sites like YouTube with a Firefox plugin called DownloadHelper.

    TiVos are also a good source of video content. You can use the TiVo desktop (www.tivo.com/desktop) or a direct https connection to the tivo (https://[your tivo ip here] using "tivo" as the username and your media access key as the password) to transfer recordings. The recording will be in an encrypted format, but you can use a tool like tivodecode (http://tivodecode.sourceforge.net/) to decrypt it. The result will be an MPEG-2. Some recordings may not be transferable from the TiVo because of content protection applied by your cable provider -- complain to your cable company. Verizon FiOS provides content protection-free service.

    Feedback:

    Always welcome
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