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Thread: revert back iBall Slide tablet to its stock rom

  1. #1
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    Nov 2011
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    revert back iBall Slide tablet to its stock rom

    I have the "iBall Slide" tablet. Bought it about 2-3 weeks ago. After using it for a week, I thought of trying custom firmware for the tablet, because I heard that custom ROMs provide much better performance. (well I kinda knew before purchasing that this is actually a rebranded Herotab C8+ so finding new ones wasn't difficult).

    Thing is, I flashed the device to the new firmware, and pretty much everything works (except the front camera). I'm not very satisfied with the custom ROM (no significant performance increase, infact boot times have increased) and I'd like to revert back to the stock ROM. Problem is, I didn't make a backup before flashing.

    So, can any iBall Slide owner help me out with this? I will need someone to compress the contents of their "/system" directory and a few other files to revert back to the original ROM.

  2. #2
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    Re: revert back iBall Slide tablet to its stock rom

    Well, you should have backed up the stock ROM of the iBall Slide tablet before rooting it with the custom rom. Now the main problem relies on whether there is a stock rom available on the net which can be used in your tablet. You can go to xda and ask people over there if they have stock rom for this tablet.
    In The Absence Of Light
    Darkness Prevail's

  3. #3
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    Re: revert back iBall Slide tablet to its stock rom

    To be honest, I did try to backup. Firstly I thought of CWM ROM Manager but I learnt that it isn't compatible with Slide. Then I thought of trying a new backup method (basically it involved taking one of the ROMs and changing their script to backup the ROM instead of flashing it). It didn't really work, and broke my stock ROM. I did get a display but it said something like "upgrade system activated". Now to get my device to boot I was forced to flash a custom ROM (losing the stock ROM).

    BTW, do you have an iBall tablet? Can you provide the files in "system" folder? It's safe (as long as you simply copy and paste it to your external SD card or internal SD card data partition) and doesn't even require your device to be rooted.

  4. #4
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    Re: revert back iBall Slide tablet to its stock rom

    C'mon guys doesn't anyone here own an iBall tablet? I can assure you it's perfectly safe to copy the "system" directory to the SD card... you don't need root to do this... and it doesn't carry over any of your personal information either...

  5. #5
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    Re: revert back iBall Slide tablet to its stock rom

    Quote Originally Posted by namko View Post
    C'mon guys doesn't anyone here own an iBall tablet? I can assure you it's perfectly safe to copy the "system" directory to the SD card... you don't need root to do this... and it doesn't carry over any of your personal information either...

    Hey i am using slide and i have the same problem. i am presently using Prox32's custom ROM and the front camera doesnt work. Even i couldnt take a back up before i flashed. But one of my frens has a slide which is running on stock ROM so let me know if u know a way to back up the stock ROM. i can use his device to back it up...... and i also spoke to iball tech guys and they said they have an update for iball and they do that only in service centers. so will upload the file if i can get a copy of that.

    Cheers,
    Androfan

  6. #6
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    Re: revert back iBall Slide tablet to its stock rom

    Even I'm using Prox32's Genesis (v2.7.1). Although the UI is great and fancy, and the front camera doesn't work, I'm more fed up with the long boot times...

    Yes I have a plan (or method) for performing backup. If you're not interested in the background details, feel free to skip this paragraph. Basically, the tablet has two storage devices, a ROM and the internal SD card (and external SD card too). The ROM has "kernel" (core of Android), "logo" (boot logo that shows on booting), "system" (the place where rest of Android is acually installed) and "recovery" (not sure about this but this is loaded when you flash i.e. press Menu+Power). The internal SD card has 4 partitions: "data" (apps and their settings are stored here, linux file system), "cache" (not much to say here, linux file system), "user" (all your user-data, VFAT file system) and one more (I don't know). Basically, this means that backing up "kernel" and "system" is sufficient, which is stored in ROM, thus implying internal SD is not necessary. You can access "system" without rooting, but to backup "kernel", you'll need root access (if your friend has root I'd suggest backing up the whole NAND, all 5 partitions + system).

    Now, to backup system without root, you need to copy the "/system" directory somewhere (i.e. external or internal SD card). Once you have this directory, you need to compress it to ".tar.gz" (if you can't I can do it for you... basically I too need this directory). Note that one file, which is "/system/etc/wifi/wpa_supplicant.conf" (or something like that) will not copy because it requires root privileges to read, so you'll have to use it from somewhere else (from some other ROM e.g. Genesis) for this. Next I'll need the "/proc/mtd" file (gives layout of ROM), "/proc/version" file (tells kernel version, we will know if compatible or not), "/proc/mounts" (tells the mounted partitions) and finally "/proc/partitions" (tells partition sizes). Also I need the contents of "/sys/block/mmcblk0/mmcblk0p1/size", "/sys/block/mmcblk0/mmcblk0p2/size", "/sys/block/mmcblk0/mmcblk0p3/size","/sys/block/mmcblk0/mmcblk0p4/size" (size of 4 partitions on internal SD). With all these files and information, I'll be able to reconstruct the firmware (in the form of Genesis ROM) that can be used to flash and restore the device. Can you upload all these somewhere (e.g. MediaFire) or email it to me (I'll PM you my email ID if you want to email)

    If your friend has root access, then it'll be possible to recover the kernel as well. You'll need to type these commands in terminal (it's perfectly safe -- these commands only read the ROM -- they do not modify the ROM. Use Terminal Emulator app on android or ADB, that comes with Android SDK):
    Assuming you have external SD plugged in:
    Code:
    su
    cd /extsd
    cat /dev/mtd/mtd0 > mtd0
    cat /dev/mtd/mtd1 > mtd1
    cat /dev/mtd/mtd2 > mtd2
    cat /dev/mtd/mtd3 > mtd3
    cat /dev/mtd/mtd5 > mtd5
    Assuming you dont have external SD plugged in:
    Code:
    su
    cd /sdcard
    cat /dev/mtd/mtd0 > mtd0
    cat /dev/mtd/mtd1 > mtd1
    cat /dev/mtd/mtd2 > mtd2
    cat /dev/mtd/mtd3 > mtd3
    cat /dev/mtd/mtd5 > mtd5
    This will create 5 files (mtd0, mtd1, mtd2, mtd3, mtd5) on your external SD card, or the internal SD card (which is the ROM dump -- if you're curious as to what they contain see the "/proc/mtd" file). With these files, it will be possible to completely bring the tablet back into factory condition. Though I'll need to perform a bit of research.
    Last edited by namko; 12-11-2011 at 02:56 PM.

  7. #7
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    Re: revert back iBall Slide tablet to its stock rom

    This link gives a complete script, incase your friend's tablet is rooted

  8. #8
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    Re: revert back iBall Slide tablet to its stock rom

    Even I was searching for a stock rom. Then I read somewhere that iball has an update for slide. So I went to the service centre (Ghatkopar - Mumbai) and asked then for the update. The technician asked if I was facing any problems, I said Facebook app is not working, he said that it was a common problem with slide and upgraded my slide. My slide is now back to stock and everything (including Facebook). Before the upgrade I was facing a problem with Bluetooth, voice skipping when listening through Bluetooth headphones, I am yet to check if the problem is now resolved, other then that everything is working fine.

    I suggest you try the service centre route, it will definitely work.

  9. #9
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    Nov 2011
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    Re: revert back iBall Slide tablet to its stock rom

    Yes. I think that's the only option left.

  10. #10
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    Re: revert back iBall Slide tablet to its stock rom

    Thank you Namko for extending your help.
    Yes you are correct it is hard bricked , no display all black screen !!
    Here is the story:
    1. I took a latest firmware from merimobiles.com for herotab c8 .
    2. I put it on my internal SD.
    3.I boot my laptop with recovery mode power+M button. The upgrade got lost in the filesystem step.
    I am so dumb that I tried it again and again ....after complaining about couple of times ,now it is totally dead . None of the combinations are working for me.

    Also I rip it open as for one Slate droid suggestion, looks like my internal SD card is corrupt.I cannot mount it in my windows.
    I also did some research on this. I understand that since this tablet boots from NAND flash first , I need to change the boot sequence. I am assuming here that the boot loaders in NAND flash also got wiped out/corrupted.

    I also saw the link that you have given , but I have to install Linux first. Will certainly try out that today.
    My questions are
    1. Am I on the right track ?
    2.Do you know how to bypass NAND completely i.e. to always boot from SD?

    P.S. I was very upset with the battery of the IBall slide(4 hrs only on very light usage).Hence wanted to do whatever I can to increase the battery life and eventually got into this mess
    After ripping it apart , now I feel like a complete looser as nothing could have been done on this front.The battery is 2200mah , in stead of 4400mah as claimed by Iball.

  11. #11
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    Nov 2011
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    Re: revert back iBall Slide tablet to its stock rom

    You say it failed in the filesystem step. It means the bootloader was correctly flashed. It should be recoverable. However, opening the tablet was a bad idea. You need to do this only when the bootloader is corrupt (I believe in your case it isn't).

    Try the procedure with minimal invasion. First try with the external SD only. Use a small SD card (2GB is OK, but dont know about larger sizes like 4 GB. 16 GB will definitely not work)

    If you are absolutely sure that you did everything correctly and still no progress, only then open the tab and try with internal SD (in my case I didn't have to open the tab, and my flashing process too was interrupted in filesystem step only, I was able to recover it following the procedure). But I believe this would happen only if bootloader is corrupt (which I believe isn't, as you say it failed in filesystem step).

    As for bypassing NAND, I don't know for sure, it is possible to perform internal SD installation however I do not know the exact steps. I sure wish you didn't try flashing using the internal SD in the first place, that is the source of the problem however what's done is done.

    You can do it without linux if you have a Hex Editor that can also handle disks (e.g. I used Hex Workshop) But you'll need a 4GB card (for 2GB card I had to do a little editing myself to make it work).

    PS: You can thank me when it's fixed.

  12. #12
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    Re: revert back iBall Slide tablet to its stock rom

    Have u tried this


    Requirements:
    Access to internal SD card
    An average understanding of how your tablet works and how to use windows
    HP Flash format tool
    Winimage (trial is fine)
    Genesis 2.7.4
    Card reader or way of accessing the SD card without your tablet


    Part 1 - Internal SD Method:
    Open up your tablet and get your SD card out of the slot
    Open a command prompt window by right clicking and selecting run as administrator (Start menu > All programs > accessories > Command prompt)
    Type 'Diskpart' (without the ' marks)
    Type 'List disk'
    Look at the list and find the one which matches the size of your SD card (mines 8gb so it says 7850mb)
    Type 'Select disk x' (x = your SD card mine is disk 1 so I would type select disk 1)
    Type 'Clean' (this will remove all partitions and data so back up before you do it)
    Put your SD card back into your tablet


    Part 2 - External SD Method:
    Remove your External SD card and put it into your computer
    Open the HP flash format tool
    Select your external SD card
    Select Fat32 and do not do a quick format then select start (this will take some time)
    Once done a pop up will appear hit ok and close the flash format tool
    Open up your trial copy of Winimage
    Go to 'Disk > Restore virtual hard disk on physical drive'
    Select your SD card and hit ok
    Browse to the genesis 2.7.4 folder and you should see INand_mm_sd_mbr.vhd select it and hit open then yes on the pop up
    Once done close Winimage
    Unplug your External SD card and then plug it back in (Windows will tell you that you need to format but don't do that! Hit cancel on the pop up and proceed)
    Open up control panel and browse to Administrative tools, then open computer management, select storage then disk management
    At the bottom you should see your SD card divided up into lots of chunks, select the biggest one that is not unallocated
    Right click this partition and click format again not a quick format and in FAT32 (Name it SDcard no spaces this may take a while)
    Once formatted windows will mount the partition automatically and you need to copy over the Genesis 2.7.4 files to this partition (a dialogue will poop up saying you plugged in a device this is windows mounting the partition!)
    Last edited by rahul32111; 25-11-2011 at 10:30 PM.

  13. #13
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    Re: revert back iBall Slide tablet to its stock rom

    on camera issue i have read that it may work if we have hex value in u-boot.bin of original firmware. default value is gc0308.

    someone please try to backup original rom if u have

  14. #14
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    Nov 2011
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    Re: revert back iBall Slide tablet to its stock rom

    Thanks to you for your help.
    But still I was not able to revive my tablet. The stubborn thing refused to start
    Today I handed it over to IBall support folks, fortunately they are very helpful.
    They too used the stock rom to upgrade it and it did not work.They have kept it with them for further investigation.
    Let us see what I have damaged during the firmware upgrade.
    I will keep you posted.

  15. #15
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    Re: revert back iBall Slide tablet to its stock rom

    @rahul32111:
    The camera model is "hm2055" (BTW it's "u-boot.arg" not "u-boot.bin" and do not forget to update CRC). If you need anymore help, feel free to ask. If you want the entire ROM, please PM me.

    @BrickedTablet:
    Don't worry, it's a really robust tablet. They'll be able to fix it. Even if the bootloader is corrupted, it is still possible to fix it. The procedure involves temporarily shorting pins 7 and 8 of the NAND. But don't worry - it's in capable hands - if they can't fix it they'll surely replace it.

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