[Q] Installing android on the nextbook NXW8QC16G

[hack14u]

For those working with an OTG and hub and want to play around. Have everything plugged in, keyboard, mouse, usb. Boot into bios, power, volume down, then F9, and you will see your USB stick, and can boot from there. Also disable secure boot in bios. Trying to play around with Win 8.1 still installed is about impossible because of bitlocker. It won't let you do jack. If you do a clean install of Win 10 preview, it disables bitlocker making it easier to play. Nothing will work if you upgrade to 10, but not to worry. Stick the drivers (http://www.notebook-driver.com/hp/hp-stream-7-tablet-drivers-software/) onto a USB and load. The touch driver needs to be done from device manager, yes, it's like that. There you have it, Win 10 on the HP Stream 7. Oh ya, use 32 bit, and rufus as stated before to create bootable usb. Now you can start playing. So far I have gotten as far as another poster, with a boot animation of android with pretty colors, but that's it. I have tried the ones from the Intel project since they recognize the 32 bit, but still have had no success. I will keep at it, but I am having a hard time creating a new partition because Win 10 took up space and even though it shows some free in diskmgmt.msc, when I use the partition wizard installing android, it won't give me enough to work with. Very strange beast this one is. If anyone has any new tips, or are still trying, please post so we can all get something going together.

 

[tom_codon]

The latest build of Windows 10 build 10041 works great.
I backed up drivers from Windows 8 using Double Drive 4.1.
I created a system restore disk on a USB stick.
Used Rufus to format usb stick, to FAT32 , for the Windows 10 install, but had to avoid adding the image to the rufus tool as it kept changing the format of the USB stick to NTFS(the UEFI boot doesn't seem to be able to boot from). Manually copied the contents of the ISO to the memory stick and installed Windows 10.
Once in Windows 10, I installed all drivers except the display and network drivers (when I did on previous installs, i would end up with an endless boot).
Rebooted, attached a usb Wifi dongle, ran Windows updates, rebooted, and all, including touch and built in wifi work perfectly.
I am willing to do a driver dump of the current setup if anyone wants to avoid the Windows updates, or doesn't have a USB dongle to get the drivers updated.

Everything seems to be working brilliantly

can you upload the backed up driver pack some where ?

Thanks so much !

 

[Sloogle_Flugelmann]

Will someone please upload the recovery partition? I deleted mine like an idiot and now Windows won't boot

 

[mvrog]

Try installing this one:

http://xdaforums.com/android/software-hacking/how-to-install-bluestacks-1gb-ram-t2885950

@Sloogle_Flugelmann, is that a recovery image from a NXW8QC16G? I tried using it, but got an error saying that I can't use a 64 bit program on a 32 bit processor. I'm not sure if I have the wrong recovery image, or if I made the recovery drive in the wrong way.

Thank you.

---------- Post added at 06:31 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:22 PM ----------

How did you get the nextbook to boot from usb? I've got an OTG cable, i've tried making a windows 8.1 recovery usb from a working windows 8.1 laptop. The nextbook sees the usb, and I can actually add the BOOTx64.EFI to the database in the bios, tried enabling and disabling secure boot, but still it doesn't show up in the bootable devices. The only thing that shows up is the windows boot manager.

@wailer247, I can tell you how it's supposed to work. I have a NXW8QC16G tablet stuck in a boot loop. I connected a USB OTG cable, which goes to a USB hub with a flash drive and a standard PC keyboard. (A powered hub is probably a good idea, but my unpowered hub seems to be working.) If I press the ESC key a few times while turning on the tablet, I get a menu. I can navigate the menu using the arrow keys and the enter key. If I go to the boot options and choose the flash drive, I can boot from the flash drive. In theory, if I had the right recovery drive image on the flash drive, I'd be able to reinstall Windows on the tablet. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find the right image. (It needs to be created from the same model of tablet.) If you could help me search for one, I'd appreciate it.

---------- Post added at 06:39 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:31 PM ----------

Are you referring to a windows recovery? I have this same tablet, I can make one for you tomorrow and post it if you'd like.

@Silentwidow, I need the NXW8QC16G recovery image, too. Is it still available for download somewhere? Thanks!

 

[rdoac]

I have an 8gb recovery USB image for the 32gb 10.1 inch I can put somewhere

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk

---------- Post added at 10:27 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:27 AM ----------

Although at this stage I'd recommend just installing the windows 10 preview

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk

 

[mvrog]

Got recovery drive to work!

Yay! I got it to work! My tablet's no longer stuck in the dreaded boot loop. I started with the recovery image from @Sloogle_Flugelmann. (Thanks, Sloogle_Flugelmann!) Since it's a .rar file, not a drive image, I made a bootable recovery drive using my 64-bit Windows 8.1 laptop, then copied the files from the .rar file onto it, replacing the files put there by Windows. The result was a bootable drive that didn't work. It complained about trying to run 64-bit software on a 32-bit processor.

So, I got my hands on a recovery drive made from a 32-bit Windows 8.1 laptop. I copied the following files from Sloogle_Flugelmann's .rar file onto it (leaving all other files alone): \reagent.xml, \sources\$PBR_Diskpart.txt, \sources\$PBR_ResetConfig.xml, and \sources\Install.Wim. I booted, and voila! The restore took a long time, but it worked.

In case anyone's looking for a USB hub to try this with, search Amazon for B00WE5SZ6A. That's the one I used. It's only $3 and it worked great. The tablet had no problem powering the hub, the keyboard, and the flash drive. It's a good idea to start with a full battery because the process takes a while. For those who didn't read my last post, press ESC on the keyboard right after turning on the tablet to get to the menu. Then you can choose to boot from the flash drive.

 

[Kitsumi]

I might be bringing back a dead thread, but I thought I might add, I got linux and android to boot just fine! The only problem with linux is that it doesn't find the wifi card, at all.
I don't know why this happens, but lspci and lshw do not output anything close to network.
Android however, has no issues, that I can find so far. I haven't tested audio yet so i'm not sure about it.
If you would like to know how, just ask

 

[The Socktor]

I might be bringing back a dead thread, but I thought I might add, I got linux and android to boot just fine! The only problem with linux is that it doesn't find the wifi card, at all.
I don't know why this happens, but lspci and lshw do not output anything close to network.
Android however, has no issues, that I can find so far. I haven't tested audio yet so i'm not sure about it.
If you would like to know how, just ask

How did you get it to install??

 

[Kitsumi]

How did you get it to install??

Linux or android?

 

[J67r]

how did you install android? and could you check if everything is working. wifi, touch, rotation, sound

 

[bondktr]

nxw8qc16g stuck on recovery loop

Cant boot in to BIOS, its still stuck on recovery loop, tried different sequences with the buttons , with a OTG cable and keyboard the tablet recognizes both until the screen shows "Diagnosing your PC", do you guys have any sugestions , how can i get into BIOS , whats the right sequence?

 

[lolwatpear]

Linux or android?

how did you get android running on it?

edit: I see you made a thread here: http://xdaforums.com/windows-8-rt/general/nextbook-flexx-11-tutorials-t3184636

is it possible to install it to the internal hd and/or dual boot?

 

[playermty]

could you repair your tablet? I have the same problem

 

[ivo1404]

Hi,
I have the same tablet, installed windows 10 than returned to 8.1, can someone backup drivers for 8.1?
Thanks

 

[SkyHusky]

Ugh

Hey guys
So i have this tablet, and i upgraded to Windows 10, and deleted all my windows 8.1 files as they took up to much space on the SSD. I want to revert back to Windows 8.1, but I can't because of what i did -_-
So i was trying the tutorials online for installing android, but i just cant do it. I can get into the BIOS or the UEFI settings, and selected boot from file, but the android file isn't there even though i made the USB device a "bootable" one from Power ISO. So right now I'm stuck on Windows 10, and it is sooooo slllooowwww. This tablet has never been slower. Please please pllleeeaaasseee help me, as I know how and where to download the Android ISO, but i need help on installing it, replacing Windows. Is it even possible? :/

 

[_Gadget_]

Hey guys
So i have this tablet...............

Have you managed to come right with the image yet??? In one of the previous posts someone did upload an image of the recovery (Sloogle_Flugelmann if I got that correct). You also mentioned you found an ISO for an Android install for this unit! Could you please supply the link for this? I would love to get rid of the Winblows on it and use Android......... although I do still need to get a replacement for the OTG hub that I was using as this never seemed to work like it was meant to in the first place I think (That and the fact that in my attempts to get Winblows off of and Android on the tablet the micro USB port used for power broke off the board of the unit, and I just couldn't be bothered to fix it).

I'm actually really surprised that no one has yet mastered this, taking into account this unit has been out for almost 2 years now (Mine, just gathering dust, because it's original purpose was to be wiped and XBMC/KODI installed onto it, Velcro'd to the back to the TV, and forgotten about (HDMI Output to TV and USB used for the Remote Control and Power to the unit), but that just seems like a pipe dream at this juncture). The specs of the tablet would be absolutely ideal for this except for the space required for the library (As currently, the home partition of my normal box is full from the data that gets stored there for all the series and movies, and this has been made bigger not so long ago to 40GB, although I think by using the memory card I can redirect the library to store there instead of on the internal...... Hopefully). Although none of this is possible without getting XBMC/KODI onto it

Anyway, if anyone has any thoughts, I would appreciate it very much.

Thanks.
Gadget.

 

[Wierd_w]

Win8.1 restore image

Have you managed to come right with the image yet??? In one of the previous posts someone did upload an image of the recovery (Sloogle_Flugelmann if I got that correct). You also mentioned you found an ISO for an Android install for this unit! Could you please supply the link for this? I would love to get rid of the Winblows on it and use Android......... although I do still need to get a replacement for the OTG hub that I was using as this never seemed to work like it was meant to in the first place I think (That and the fact that in my attempts to get Winblows off of and Android on the tablet the micro USB port used for power broke off the board of the unit, and I just couldn't be bothered to fix it).

I'm actually really surprised that no one has yet mastered this, taking into account this unit has been out for almost 2 years now (Mine, just gathering dust, because it's original purpose was to be wiped and XBMC/KODI installed onto it, Velcro'd to the back to the TV, and forgotten about (HDMI Output to TV and USB used for the Remote Control and Power to the unit), but that just seems like a pipe dream at this juncture). The specs of the tablet would be absolutely ideal for this except for the space required for the library (As currently, the home partition of my normal box is full from the data that gets stored there for all the series and movies, and this has been made bigger not so long ago to 40GB, although I think by using the memory card I can redirect the library to store there instead of on the internal...... Hopefully). Although none of this is possible without getting XBMC/KODI onto it

Anyway, if anyone has any thoughts, I would appreciate it very much.

Thanks.
Gadget.

I own the native android and windows 8.1 versions of this hardware.

Key differences between the two:

The cheaper android version has 64bit UEFI firmware, with lots of scary options that can soft-brick the tablet. (I know, I have softbricked my android one) The options I know do this are disabling the xhci mode (it kills OTG!!) and messing with the display config (No display, even on HDMI out).

The windows version has 32bit UEFI with significantly less options, and as far as I can tell, you cannot softbrick it just by toggling an option in there like you can on the android version.

Android version's UEFI supports boot from SDCARD!! Windows version UEFI does NOT.
(GRUB does not know how to deal with booting from the SDCARD though, and drops to GRUB prompt)
(Windows 8 64bit installer bombs with inscruitable "ACPI bios error")
Android version's firmware has option to present the MMC slot as choice of ACPI bus child, or PCI bus child. GRUB can see the device in PCI mode, but booted kernels hang.

The windows version is very picky about the USB sticks it will boot from. I have had the best luck with a pair of sandisk 8gb sticks. The compact HP ones I have dont show up in the UEFI menu, even though they are prepared properly.

The recovery image for the windows version is available from Nextbook, Kinda Sorta. They point you to a 4.4gb ISO file hosted on Mega. Mega throttles the **** out of the download making most attempts to get such a large file fail. I had to use an aggressive download manager (flashget) to get the file, and Mega reset the download over 70 times. I would NEVER have gotten the file without the downloader. I needed it after trying to play around with other OSes on the tablet. It works. I used Rufus to make it into a bootable USB stick.

In a nutshell, the recovery image boots into WinPE, then wipes the whole internal flash, builds the partitions, then populates them. It copies the INSTALL.WIM file to the recovery partition, because it is a two-stage process, and the script looks for the image there. If an enterprising fellow decided to do so, they could probably modify the scripts (and the WIM files that contain them) to look for the WIM from USB, and force it to make a much smaller recovery partition. I am actually considering that modification, as well as enabling NTFS compression from the start.

Takeaway:
Of the two, the cheaper (78$ vs 99$) android offering appears to have the more capable firmware, but it is very easy to softbrick! It is unable to start the windows installer though. I very much doubt that a raw dump of the android version's flash will boot on the windows version, as it uses a 64 bit loader. Testing with a 32bit loader seems like an amusing thing to try though.

I would have to buy ANOTHER android version tablet to dump the flash, since the one I have is now soft-bricked.

I was mostly replying to point out that the windows version's recovery image can be grabbed from Nextbook's site.

What I would personally try first, is dumping a working win8 flash to an SDCARD, and trying to boot android version hardware on it.

 

[_Gadget_]

I own the native android and windows 8.1 versions of this hardware.

What I would personally try first, is dumping a working win8 flash to an SDCARD, and trying to boot android version hardware on it.

Excellent. Thank you for the update, although not being too technical as far as the EFI is concerned, all I managed to surmise from all of the above is that there isn't a way "Currently" to wipe Win10 off the device and install a Much Better OS such as Android on it. Such a pity as a 4 core 1.33GHz cpu ought to run android SO much better than the crap it has on it presently (Besides the fact that either in tablet mode or Desktop mode I feel the requirement to have a Mouse and Keyboard plugged into it 24/7...... And I think you can imagine what That looks like with a 8 inch screen and a full sized keyboard and mouse attached to it :laugh::laugh::laugh: ) Anyway, thank you once again for the feedback, maybe one day someone gets bored and makes a ROM for it.... one can always dream

 

[MUSANIDE]

I've managed to get Win8.1 Pro 32bit on my nextbook (64 bit usb doesn't pick up to boot).
The internal storage is 16GB and disk management reporting 16GB, I only see 2/3GB space left, where Win10 Pro (Technical Preview) had almost 6GB space left, strange. There also only a 300MB recovery partition and 100MB for GPT/boot etc..

Hardware reports the same as Win10 and nothing works, except and external wifi adaptor (So blaming it on the Win10TP doest help). I'm attempting an update to see if it picks up drivers for the internal hardware.

The recovery image might have these drivers, but I'm not sure. Still trying to figure out have to load the recovery image.

I've also tried different Linux distro's that they say is EFI compatible, but so far I'm not able to get the to boot.
The Rufus utility with GPT option and fat32 is the only option working currently it seems to get a Windows installation to boot.
I'd still love to get a Linux distro to work on this nextbook too.

DID YOU MANAGE TO FIND SOLUTION FOR THIS MACHINE???