[Q] Backup of current stock rom for Gtab - G Tablet Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Just had my Gtab about two days. I've seen how to install a new roms from these forums and youtube.
How do I backup my current stock rom for my Viewsonic Gtab? Is a backup already there somewhere? Will it have all my apps I've loaded since I got it?
Like to be able to set the device back as it is now, just in case.

delkster1 said:
Just had my Gtab about two days. I've seen how to install a new roms from these forums and youtube.
How do I backup my current stock rom for my Viewsonic Gtab? Is a backup already there somewhere? Will it have all my apps I've loaded since I got it?
Like to be able to set the device back as it is now, just in case.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello,
if you would like to back up your current stock firmware you will need CWMod installed. You can go to this link and read up on how to install CWM.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=865245
Also just want to make you aware that if something bad does happen in the process of firmware you can use nvflash and recover your device and bring it back to factory.
it is here.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=861950
Let us know if you need more help.
enjoy.

delkster1,
I agree about CWM.
But I also recommend people get Titanium Backup and install and learn how to use it. Many G-Tablet users do. And don't forget after backing up that you need to manually copy the backups off to a microSD card or to your PC in case something messes the
tablet up.
Rev

Related

Is there a stock ROM for the "Woot version?"

Is there currently a recovery ROM for the g-Tablet version shipped by woot.com? This is a 3389 ROM with some customizations. Most, or possibly all, of these can be replicated easily since they consist primarily of some home screen setup, links, and a few apps including the Kindle reader, ColorNote, and Pandora.
Following the recommendation to do a data wipe after installing a replacement ROM appears now to mean that even with the backup.zip from my wife's unmolested tablet I'm unable to return the tablet to its actual original state.
If there is not, I currently have one woot.com g-Tablet that is unopened since my wife ordered one for herself after I'd ordered one for each of us. I'm planning to sell it, but if I can create a backup ROM without messing the tablet up for the eventual purchaser I'm willing to try.
I'd like the same thing, if you come across one or make one yourself.
I ended up doing a Format SD Card, thinking it literally meant the external MicroSD Card I had put in the device, because I had read this may help prevent force closes, but it formatted the internal storage which had my stock backup on it and left my MicroSD card alone. I should have copied that over to my PC before wiping anything, just in case, but I'm so used to Android phone hacking that I thought I could get away with it.
I had a ton of force closes with TNT Lite and rebooted, hoping it would help, but then it got stuck in a reboot-loop. So I ended up repartitioning the internal space (thus wiping it AGAIN ::sigh: and using nvflash to restore bekit version 1105 (nvflash_gtablet_2010110500) and OTA updating.
Woot ROM
Going to make one now. Finished charging my "woot" g tab and booted once to make sure it worked. Just installed clockwork. Making backup. Let me know if you still need it.
jm20 said:
Going to make one now. Finished charging my "woot" g tab and booted once to make sure it worked. Just installed clockwork. Making backup. Let me know if you still need it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes I do, please.
uploading now....
uploaded
http://www.mediafire.com/?poe59nppdfqhizn
jm20 said:
http://www.mediafire.com/?poe59nppdfqhizn
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for doing that. Unfortunately, it doesn't restore the tablet to its shipped state.
Edit: scratch that - I did eventually get it to do exactly that.
mstevens said:
Thank you for doing that. Unfortunately, it doesn't restore the tablet to its shipped state.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd originally assumed the way to use this would be to rename it to update.zip and use it in recovery. That seemed to flash something, but did not come close to restoring to the shipped state.
Next, I realized it was a clockworkmod backup and figured I could extract it to my clockworkmod backup directory and run a restore from it. This just gave me an MD5 checksum error.
Any more thoughts on how to use this?
Edit: see my later post. I did get it to work.
Do you need the ROM?
My woot Tablet Reset after the 3rd power cycle and restored itself to something besides the original shape I received it in. I thought it was ridiculous as it would not show the "Stock" Videos it was shipped with. Angry Birds also did not work originally. After it Reset things worked. I would return it in the state it is and say it didn't work almost at all when it first arrived.
The original active wallpaper was kind of cool though.
TomRathbun said:
I would return it in the state it is and say it didn't work almost at all when it first arrived.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My g-Tablet is working fine. It's just a bit messed up in terms of applications and links after I flashed a few ROMs and now I'm having trouble getting it back to its original state.
TomRathbun said:
My woot Tablet Reset after the 3rd power cycle and restored itself to something besides the original shape I received it in. I thought it was ridiculous as it would not show the "Stock" Videos it was shipped with. Angry Birds also did not work originally. After it Reset things worked. I would return it in the state it is and say it didn't work almost at all when it first arrived.
The original active wallpaper was kind of cool though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mine was the same way. I didn't wait until it was fully charged until powering it up and it had angrybirds and some other stuff loaded on it. None of it would run though, it would just force close out. After turning it off, waiting for it to fully charge, and then turning it back on did I get put through the new user wizard and everything worked right.
would these work?
Hello, I was curious to know if you had seen (and if it would work) the viewsonic stock Roms that are mentioned on another post in the g tablet section of this site. I can't post links yet but there is a sticky called "viewsonic G-Tablet ROMs frequently asked questions (read this first)" this is posted in the G tablet general section.
The 3rd post down in that sticky has "gtablet recovery firmware images (official viewsonic images)" and there are 3 versions available to download the latest being 3316. Could you flash to this and then do ota updates to get to the current version? I'm sure you'd have to get a few of the apps back yourself (angry birds, Pandora, whatever else came on it) but wouldn't this get you pretty close to how it was when you got the gtab? I'm new to all this and am just throwing this out as a suggestion. I'm curious to know if this is all you'd need though.
barcod21 said:
Hello, I was curious to know if you had seen (and if it would work) the viewsonic stock Roms that are mentioned on another post in the g tablet section of this site.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Those work pretty much as expected, but they don't restore the tablet to its state as shipped by Woot. Not having seen any other g-Tablet, I can't be certain but I strongly suspect they do restore the tablet to what it would have been if I'd gotten it from Sears or someplace. I already know I can rebuild it. I'm just looking for the lazy way and, ideally, to get it *completely* back to stock, i.e., any updated drivers or other things that may not be immediately obvious.
So, I did get jm20's file to work for restoring my woot.com g-Tablet to its original shipped state. There may be several ways to do this, but I'll outline what worked for me.
- installed clockworkmod and booted into cwm recovery.
- did a data wipe and formatted all partitions then rebooted, whereupon I naturally got an error.
- rebooted into APX mode.
- performed an NVFlash restore.
- as soon as the tablet rebooted and asked if I wanted to connect via USB, I connected without doing any setup.
- via USB to the tablet, created a directory clockworkmod in the root of sdcard (on the tablet, not the removable SDHC card) and a subdirectory backup within that.
- on my computer, extracted the directory 2009-01-01.00.26.55 from the downloaded .zip file.
- copied that directory via USB into /clockworkmod/backup.
- reinstalled clockworkmod.
- rebooted into cwm and ran a restore of the directory I'd copied.
At this point the tablet now looks and acts mostly like it did when I first opened it. The only problem is that OTA updates no longer work because of clockworkmod. I addressed this via NVFlash using the following in a command window:
- nvflash.exe --bl bootloader.bin --download 9 recovery.img
whew!
Sorry about the lack of instructions
I am really busy with a bunch of other stuff, and I'm just playing with the G-tab when I take a break. The file I uploaded is as you figured out just a direct copy of the folder that clockwork recovery made when I told it to backup the "unused woot g-tab"
Like I said I only booted it up once to make sure it worked and then I immediately made the backup which is why the date says 2009.
After the backup was done, I copied the folder that clockwork made which contained the backup files to my desktop. I then zipped it up and uploaded it to mediafire.
Therefore the zip file is not a file that clockwork can use to restore the ROM, however if you extract the folder/files from the zip file and copy them to the g-tab, clockwork will recognize the folder and will do a full restore from that folder / files.
Sorry for the confusion.
A few other things:
I bought two of these from Sears as soon as they came out (late October 2010). I opened one and tried to use it. The stock ROM barely worked. It was basically useless. I knew the hardware was great but it was crippled by the ROM. I installed clockwork and flashed a few ROMs and found Vegan to be the best of the bunch, however even that left much to be desired as it was still very early on in the whole scheme of things.
After two days of using the one I had opened, things weren't looking good and I returned the unopened second one.
After about 10 days of trying to see the positives, I couldn't take it any longer and the first had to go back also. Unfortunately I had rooted it and installed clockwork and I simply couldn't bring myself to return it in that condition so I spent somewhere around 12+ hours reading various forums (mostly this one, android forums, and android central) figuring out how to completely return the unit to "stock". No traces of clockwork or any other boot manager and I put a clean stock ROM back on it.
Two reasons why I mention all of this:
1. If someone is needing to do this, it can be done unfortunately I have no idea how I did it and didn't bother to keep the files or information because I swore I'd never buy another G-tab (woot made a liar out of me).
2. If you are considering using an older "stock" ROM, don't waste your time. The woot ROM is actually pretty good. Had I known the woot ROM was halfway decent I would have bought two of these. Any of the newer ROMs are probably better than what I initally experienced.
Lastly, if anyone cares; I am currently running Calkulin's ROM with Clemsyn's kernel and I must say I am impressed. The unit is stable and very fast. Those guys have done some great work. Finally some great software that can take advantage of the hardware. Again, had I known things had gotten so much better I'd have ordered two.
If you guys are running something else and you like it let me know, I haven't had time to mess with the other ROMs.
OK, I have got to get back to work. Hope this helps.
Clarification
jm20 said:
Going to make one now. Finished charging my "woot" g tab and booted once to make sure it worked. Just installed clockwork. Making backup. Let me know if you still need it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Brand new Android user here. My Woot gtablet reset itself also after the third reboot to something other than the original. If I figure out how to insert your Woot ROM zip file, this will restore the gtablet to it's orginial state?
Thanks
TomRathbun said:
My woot Tablet Reset after the 3rd power cycle and restored itself to something besides the original shape I received it in. I thought it was ridiculous as it would not show the "Stock" Videos it was shipped with. Angry Birds also did not work originally. After it Reset things worked. I would return it in the state it is and say it didn't work almost at all when it first arrived.
The original active wallpaper was kind of cool though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had this experience as well. (This Woot tab is my second g-tablet.) I updated it immediately upon the first boot, then rebooted. One or two reboots later, a setup screen magically appeared. After going through the setup process it seems that all of the original woot settings were now gone.
It also seems that Adobe Flash is no longer installed, and has to be re-installed. I haven't tried Angry Birds yet, but I believe that the latest firmware update comes with that pre-installed. Flash can be re-installed by downloading it from the ViewSonic g-tablet "Favorites" page, or use this link and reboot after installation:
http://www.freewarelovers.com/android/download/temp/1291899570_Adobe_Flash_Player_10.1.95.1.apk
As for being able to return to a "stock" firmware, I always save the updates before allowing it to install them. I believe they can be found in the /cache folder after it downloads, and must be copied to external storage before you run the update. I haven't actually tried to use these to restore to a stock firmware, but I believe that you just copy it to /mnt/sdcard and rename it to update.zip.
These are the versions that I saved:
update-smb_a1002-2967-user.zip
update-smb_a1002-3053-user.zip
update-smb_a1002-3588-user.zip
Edit: None of these are the "Woot" version.

What is the best way to backup my Gtab before modding?

Hi,
I am new to Android and the Gtab. I am basically curious as to what the best way is to backup my Gtab. What software and the steps to take (what is the difference between cwm and nvflash?).
I actually like the stock rom but my biggest frustration is the lack of the market which I would like to have. Having that said, I would like to run something different on the Gtab which will support the market app and not the Gmarket app. I looked around the forums and I see lots of good tutorials but it confuses me on how I backup with my stock rom before I begin any of the tutorials to upgrade to a new rom. I feel like backing up is the biggest step and don't want to mess this up so that I can revert back if I do make a mistake down the road. I'm sure once you do this a couple of times it starts to make sense but I have not done it yet and want to make sure I understand everything before I move forward.
I am a beginner but want to be able to get more out of my Gtab. Please help.
It needs to be modded right out of the box, so how much could you have possibly gotten installed?
Ok, I'm kidding.
What are you trying to "backup"? If it's DOC's and Books, music, etc, either dump it all onto a secondary memory card, or dump your data to a PC using usb connection. As for settings like email, etc. I say skip the backup and just reinstall the stuff.
I keep all of the working installers I've found on my external SD card so if I need to wipe & start over, I just go through and click/install them again.
bnovak said:
It needs to be modded right out of the box, so how much could you have possibly gotten installed?
Ok, I'm kidding.
What are you trying to "backup"? If it's DOC's and Books, music, etc, either dump it all onto a secondary memory card, or dump your data to a PC using usb connection. As for settings like email, etc. I say skip the backup and just reinstall the stuff.
I keep all of the working installers I've found on my external SD card so if I need to wipe & start over, I just go through and click/install them again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
Thanks for the post. I think I may have not worded my question right. My fault since I am new. What I mean is what do I need to do to backup my current OS I suppose. For instance, it has android 2.2 correct? I upgraded OOTB to firmware 3588 which works well but no market. What do I need to do to back this OS up so that I can revert back to it in case of any problems? Sorry if I am still confusing you guys but like I said earlier, I am completely new and still learning the phraseology and such. Thanks!
jetguy35,
Most people get Titanium Backup and backup the apps and system with a batch file in that.
That takes care of apps.
If the whole tablet gets messed up you either NVFlash back to the bekit 1105 version
per the NVFlash recovery thread in developers, if its not too bad you reinstall the
current 3588 version from a download.
There are other ways some people suggest, but I don't recommend what I haven't used and don't know about.
Good Luck!!!
Rev
An app called Titanium Backup will allow you to back up your apps and their data.
To do a complete system backup, you'll need to get clockworkmod installed (bekit .8 version), once booted into clockworkmod there is a back up option which will back up all system files and apps.
Check this thread in the development section for installing clockworkmod:
[Sticky][Guide]Install ClockworkMod, A ROM, Flash Player, and the Market Fix
Insall clockwork mod .8 and boot to recovery and backup entire rom. ..then save a copy from internal to external sd card in case you need it.
Sent from my VEGAn-TAB-v1.0.0b5.1.1 using Tapatalk
personally (and I was in your shoes last week)
I would just go through the TNT Lite post and flash that ROM onto the tablet. If you go TNT 4.4.0 you DO NOT WANT CLOCKWORK.
It's really simple - plug in USB, copy the correct files to the tablet, push and hold pwr-volume up and give it a couple minutes.
I think the vanilla ROM is floating around so if you don't have a bunch of personalized files, I wouldn't worry too much about it. Anytime you flash it, you are going to have to add some of the programs back in anyway.
Roebeets TnT build is super fast and super stable. You won't know what hit you when you turn it on the first time.
bnovak,
That's a good idea, but not everyone is ready, or has the expertise or even wants
to move up to a ROM.
I have two tablets and one is running the experimental next generation TwoTabX ROM
that is on hold waiting for VS to do something -- and the other most of the time is
pure stock (so I can test stuff and get OTA updates etc.
When I go to work, doesn't matter which I take because both work well.
Stock is not bad!!! You should have seen the original software!!!
Rev

[Q] Full backup ... Full imaging?

Is there any way to do a full backup or image of our gtablet(TNTLite4.4)? I've used Titanium Backup of certain apps, but I would like to do a full image of the tablet and store that off to be uploaded at a later date.
Is there any way to do this? I've seen NVFlash around, but none of those threads are exactly what I'm looking for..
Thanks!!
I would say clockworkmod recovery does exactly that. But I know you might not be running it since you have TNT Lite.
Best thing IMHO would be flashing Calkulin+Clemson's v4 OC Rom. You can run that with clockworkmod and it'll be just like TNT but faster and better.

[Q] Newbie - confuzed ??

Hi:
I just got my Viewsonic Gtablet today. It is still powering for 1st time use, I'm waiting for the green light to come on.
Meanwhile I've been researching Rom's to put on it and I decided to go with TnT Litet 5.0
but when I went to find a TnT light Rom I see it's been retired and Mountain Laurel now seems to come into play, but reading on that it seems maybe Viewsonic themselves have a better firmware now.
I'm a little confuzed as to what I should actuaally be looking at to install.
C'mon, what rocks??
and a how to would be great
also, in previous adventures I've always backed up stuff before i continue (xboxes, sat recievers and such with saving a bin.
the videos i've looked at do not address that issue,
is it not neccessary to have a back up in case one screws up?
Viewsoninc released a new update with a locked bootloader and then pulled it. The custom roms are ahead of the vendor so I would try one of them. I beleive the rom you are refering to is on the locked bootloader and is supported elsewhere. There are several roms to choose from here.
Installing bekit 0.8 clockwork will allow you to make backups
not a good idea
Personally i don't think it's a good idea to use TNT 5 because it's 1.2 based ROM. If you really into TNT ROMs i suggest getting a lower version. Or... you can use my favorite ROM Vegan GingerEdition
Norsemon said:
Hi:
I just got my Viewsonic Gtablet today. It is still powering for 1st time use, I'm waiting for the green light to come on.
Meanwhile I've been researching Rom's to put on it and I decided to go with TnT Litet 5.0
but when I went to find a TnT light Rom I see it's been retired and Mountain Laurel now seems to come into play, but reading on that it seems maybe Viewsonic themselves have a better firmware now.
I'm a little confuzed as to what I should actuaally be looking at to install.
C'mon, what rocks??
and a how to would be great
also, in previous adventures I've always backed up stuff before i continue (xboxes, sat recievers and such with saving a bin.
the videos i've looked at do not address that issue,
is it not neccessary to have a back up in case one screws up?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Vegan Ginger is a great rom and to be a little safer but also have a super fast one try the Calkulin-Clemsyn one. As far as backup goes - Clockworkmod will allow you to back up a complete image of your rom with everything inside it (think of backing up windows with office installed inside of it). Titanium backup will allow you to back up just your apps with their associated data (think of backing up Word and all the documents you created in Word). The difference? You try rom A and use it for a while. You've downloaded apps, played games, etc. and then you want to try rom B. You do a titanium bakcup of your apps and store them somewhere like your pc. You do a clockwork backup of rom A and store that on your pc. Now, you install Rom b. You use Titanium backup to restore your apps (so you don't have to download them all again and you don't have to start playing angry birds from the beginning and enjoy rom B for awhile. After a week you think, "I like Rom A better". If you've done much with your apps you can again do a titanium backup of them to restore. If you haven't done much you can just skip that step. Now do a clockwork backup of rom b and store it on your pc. Retrieve the original backup of rom A from the pc and restore it with clockwork. Voila, it is back with all the apps inside of it and you go forward from there. Making backups periodically is a good idea in case something gets screwed up. Now the steps to do all these things are available in the stickys in this forum. It takes a while to learn your way around but the fun of messing with your gear, trying roms, changing things up.... worth the learning curve. Have fun!
enigma0456 said:
Vegan Ginger is a great rom ..... worth the learning curve. Have fun!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanx for the enlightenment, now i kinda get the drift and thebadfrog & Djapatos thnx, u guys gave the icing for enigma's cake

Backing up stock GB 2.3.6

Going to try rooting my P1000L Galaxy Tab, I want to back it up first, what is the best way to do this? Being completely new at this, I want to have my Tab fully backed up so I can restore in case something goes wrong.
Short question, Whats the best way to fully back up my Galaxy Tab?
Thanks in advance for any help on this.
BajaCapt said:
Going to try rooting my P1000L Galaxy Tab, I want to back it up first, what is the best way to do this? Being completely new at this, I want to have my Tab fully backed up so I can restore in case something goes wrong.
Short question, Whats the best way to fully back up my Galaxy Tab?
Thanks in advance for any help on this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
IF you have CWM then make a full nandroid backup else , install TitaniumBAckup from market and backup all.
Do note that Titanium backup does not backs ur system files
Thank you for your response, it gave me a direction for reading into.
I dont have CWM installed and to be honest I did not even know what it was, I did a search a read a bit on it and it sounds very good, I assume I must have a rooted ROM to install it right? So I think I will try purchasing Titanium BackUp, I see there is a free version, I wonder if I should get the paid version, got to read on that.
While researching CWM I read that all Android devices ship with a recovery console, albeit with limited functions, this is good to know, if worst comes to worst and me as a newb to this make a mistake I could recover with the stock recovery console right?
Thanks again for your help, I do hate being a newb, I do learn fast and I am fairly good with all electronics,PCs, laptops etc, I will learn Android dammit lol
bala_gamer said:
IF you have CWM then make a full nandroid backup else , install TitaniumBAckup from market and backup all.
Do note that Titanium backup does not backs ur system files
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As it turns out I cannot use either one, CWM or Titanium BackUp, they both require root Looks like I am back to where I started, I need to root GB 2.3.6 which to a newb is a bit of a pain...

Categories

Resources