Phantom update investigated - Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime

I posted back on the 26th that my prime had "updated" with a new firmware, at least that is what it looked like.... until it rebooted on the same .21 firmware that I was on prior.
Thread was here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1674370
Let me give you a play by play of what happened after some further investigation.
Woke up and grabbed the prime to check weather and schedule for the day, figured with all the talk about possible updates, I should check. Showed that an update was available! I yell out "finally!"- the wife asks what I am so happy about. I tell her that I am currently updating the prime to get us off of the gawd-awful .21 that she hates so much. She has been waiting just as I have for the update since having a poor browsing and gaming experiences since we got our first prime.
The prime goes through the download process- I go to the settings area to look at the build that I am currently on-- this is the standard .21- build from march. I complete the download that the prime reboots, shows our buddy the android getting his guts re-arranged just like every firmware update shows while the update is applied. The wife is standing there waiting for it to complete.
It reboots, she starts using it, says that it seems stable after browsing for a little bit. I jump into the forums and spread the news. Demandarin asks for a screen shot since he is not showing an update. I pry the prime out of my wife's hands and go to see the version--- SAME FREAKING VERSION!! NOOOOOO!
Posted the screenshot and ask if anyone sees a version of anything that has changed-- nope. Now I am really pissed and wondering what happened.
So now I start investigation into what happened and why. I look at the device tracker to see if they saw me download and apply the update-- nope, only shows the date that I originally downloaded .21:
2012-03-29 23:17:11US_epad-9.4.2.15-user to US_epad-9.4.2.21-user
So I keep digging and find out that it just downloaded the exact same .21 that it did at the end of march! The firmware that it just downloaded has a new date/time stamp from may 26.. but it is the exact same file.
Just thought I would post to see if anyone else had this happen on .21- or if anyone has any idea how this could happen.

Samsung did the same thing with their updates on my TV, I would go look and see a new date and think a new update only to find the same version number and same fixes.

Related

Official ASUS Thread - Random Lockups after ICS update

Good Day,
For those users who are suffering from the "Random Lockup or Screen Corruption" problem after the ICS update we are currently finalizing our replication efforts along with a final fix. We have identified two issues that could potentially cause this problem and will start contacting a subset of users who have already reported the problem for further testing and system level information.
Issue -
1. System might randomly lockup or generate a blind screen effect after the ICS update. I have received a few reported cases matching this behavior and we will be in contact with most of you in the near future.
a. If we do not contact you directly, it does not mean we are not working on this problem. I have read all the messages and randomly selected a couple of users for further contact. We will have a fix for this problem shortly.
Sincerely,
Gary
1/18/12 Update - We will continue to contact additional users over the next two days. We are in the process of qualifying a fix now and are awaiting a system return to verify this fix with our partners shortly.
1/19/12 Update - The ICS 9.4.2.11 update being rolled out now addresses the horizontal line and random signal line issues after the initial ICS load. It also addresses poor video playback (especially YouTube), however if you still have the YouTube corruption problem after this update, please uninstall then reinstall Flash from the app market. This patch also addresses the random reboot problem after the ICS update but we still have another patch that is in qualification testing at NVIDIA to fully solve these problems.
1/22/12 Update - I will provide an update tomorrow on our new Customer Service Support program for the Transformer Prime and additional forum support that will be coming in the very near future. In addition, I expect an update from engineering and NVIDIA shortly on the random lockup problem after the ICS update.
1/23/12 Update - Replication testing is still in process and I do not have an update to provide yet. We will provide a customer support hotline and direct email address shortly for users suffering with this problem. In the meantime, we will start another series of direct communication between our service/engineering group and selected users for additional testing.
1/25/12 Update - We are working on two different solutions now and hope to have a fix available in early February. One option to try is to revert back to the last Honeycomb image through the manual update process, set the unit power mode to balanced performance and screen brightness manually to 50%, and then manually update to the latest ICS build using these instructions - http://service.asus.com/TF201_fwupdate. You will need a fully charged battery and have the system plugged into AC power. This worked on a couple of returned units but not on all units. Only try this procedure if you are comfortable with flashing a new ROM image and want to take the time to complete each process.
1/31/12 Update - We are now testing a firmware and driver update. I will provide an update once initial alpha testing is completed.
2/1/12 Update - We received new code from NVIDIA today and are in the process of testing it. If this code is acceptable and provides a solution to the lock/reboot problem after the ICS update, we will release it in beta form for additional testing with users suffering from this problem before implementing it in the next OTA update. I should have an answer in two days if we can release the current patch code.
2/7/12 Update - We received another new code update from NVIDIA for testing today. Hopefully we will be able to release a beta patch or OTA update shortly. I will have an update after testing is completed tomorrow.
2/8/12 Update - We plan on releasing a new OTA update with revised firmware and code to solve the random lockup/reboot problem early next week.
2/8/12 Update - We pushed 9.4.2.13 US early to address the random lock and reboot issues plus you might see general improvements in performance including WiFi and maybe even aGPS.
9.4.2.13 Release Notes -
1. Fix Random Reboot / Lockup Problem (100% success in regression testing with returned units, hopefully the same in the community)
2. Enable Google WideVine video rental in the US
3. General Performance Enhancements
4. New WiFi Firmware (there might be improvements in WiFi performance or lock capabilities, still working on the WiFi/BT dropout fix that will not be assisted by the WiFi/GPS firmware updates) (Edited for clarification)
2/23/12 Update - We will release the .15 Firmware update in the very near future. To date, 100% success with the beta testers whom I thank profusely not to mention a very smart engineer at HQ.
Just a reminder, for those I or engineering did not contact directly yet about this problem, it does not mean we are ignoring your problem. We have read all the messages so please do not be upset if we have not contacted you yet.
3/6/2012 Update:
I am back and will start answering messages.
Thats great news! Thank You for your help Gary!
Thanks for the update!
Gary Key said:
We will have a fix for this problem shortly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So does this mean it is a software problem and will be fixed through an update? I'm still not sure if I want to send in my tablet, but based on the news it kind of sounds like it will be fixed with an OTA update.
Based on my VERY little experience with this tablet, it seems that the lockups only occur while I am in high performance mode. The balanced setting gives me no problems as of right now, compared to substantial lockups with high performance. Anyone else have similar results?
redandblack1287 said:
Based on my VERY little experience with this tablet, it seems that the lockups only occur while I am in high performance mode. The balanced setting gives me no problems as of right now, compared to substantial lockups with high performance. Anyone else have similar results?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Most of the people who've responded in the original thread have said that it either happens A.) randomly, B.) when something "high performance" is going on, or C.) "usually" when trying to use the browser. In nearly all cases, the tablet was working just fine in Honeycomb.
Various users have been able to replicate the issue within certain applications, seemingly narrowing it down, though still others have different experiences. There seem to be two common veins of this problem - the very frequent lockup/reboots, often accompanied with freezing on boot, and the more sinister infrequent lockup/reboots.
For more info, check out the doc in my signature or the original (and lengthy) thread here.
Gary Key said:
Good Day,
We have identified two issues that could potentially cause this problem
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Two issues? Care to explain? Two potential hardware problems? We know anything and everything no matter what and when your doing something the lockup can happen so I would love to know what you mean by "two issues that could potentially cause this problem"
Unfortunately, I am having the problem with freezing/locking up and subsequent rebooting since I upgraded to ICS (never rooted).
While going to "power saving" mode seems to lengthen the time between freeze-reboots, it does not eliminate them.
I have a few days left before I'll need to return this to the retailer for a refund...and am trying to decide what to do. If it is a simple software/firmware fix, that's great...but if I need a whole new tablet, I guess I might as well return this one for a refund.
Thoughts?
And: Gary, thanks for your help to all of us!
Good that you are aware of this problem with the freezes and the pad does not respond to touch.
And this is what I like about asus. That they work closely with customers. And bring updates
Coming from a Samsung Galaxy Tab. And there was never any updates or support. Was always left out in the dark.
So those who complain that they do not receive updates should take a look at how things look for other brands.
I've read through a lot of posts and would like to repond with my own analyzing effort
First of all, no issues when I've had HC. After upgrading to ICS, the reboots started immidiatly. I've it on the following (some times):
1. Browser: Random crashes when surfing
2. WakeUp: When putting the screen off and waking it up. On first keypress in a app or(not that much on homescreen) it will lockup and reboot after a few seconds.
I must say in the first couple of days the reboots where constantly happening on above 2 scenarios, after almost a week now, the problem is much less. I do have reboots, but it is definitly not going over and over.
I think it is a combination of ICS and Asus Drivers. It would be weird if it is a hardware problem as there are no issues at all in HC. As the amount of reboots are affecting a lot of users, it puzzles me why Asus isn't able to reproduce it themselves
But ok. Love the tablet, but they will need to resolve these issues. First GPS, then Wifi and now this... I don't think a lot of people can handle more
I posted this in the other thread about locking up primes, but figured I would post it in here as well. If it's not necessary, please delete it. Anyways, here it goes.
I have one of the newer primes, and ever since the ics update to 4.0.3 it's been randomly rebooting. I also notice i get the android.process.media error quite a bit. At first I thought it was the asus stuff not playing well with ics, so i turned as much of it off as I could. That seemed to calm down the weird graphics glitch where it would freeze then when you'd press the home softkey, the screen would instantly blank unreadable, looks like when you halfway unplug a vga cable or something. Once you reboot, it comes back fine. Now I'm just getting random reboots.
Seems to occur shortly after the android.process.media fc's. I was playing with androidvnc just now and twice it rebooted. Going to try the force gpu rendering first, and if that doesn't work, I'll try to flash the zip. Here's the key info. I also notice when I have wifi off and it's chilling in my bag, it stays just fine. I know by checking the uptime. But as soon as I turn wifi on and start messing with it, it can run from 2 minutes to 2 hours then I get a reboot. Very random. Will report back on the gpu rendering and the zip to see how it goes. Honestly it looks like it's stuttering right before it locks up. Almost like the processor isn't getting the voltage it needs, or bad memory. It's so hard to tell though.
Here's the fyi:
Never rooted
Worked perfectly on Honeycomb
Updated it the day the update came out to 4.0.3, and the camera firmware to tf201-0x9900
Other misc info:
Gps - 6.8.13
Wifi - 6.1.1.17
bluetooth - 9.23
Kernel - 2.6.39.4
Build number - IML74K.US_epad-9.4.2.7-20120106
I'm seeing similar symptoms as everyone else but i dont recall seeing reports of the additional 'Upgrading Android' message that i seem to be seeing.
Below is the chain of events over about 6 hours since unboxing the tab.
Took delivery of device, powered on and configured wifi followed by upgrade to ICS 4.0.3 and camera firmware. After upgrade, verified everything was working then did a wipe of user data and cold boot (both done by restarting with volume down and power pressed)
Configured device again with basic settings to get online and used it for approx 1 hour of browsing with stock ICS browser before lockups started. Lockup occurs followed by a reboot about 20 seconds later. Balanced power mode is in use.
Lockups and reboot occuring frequently, probably no more than 10-15 minutes apart. Browser is most frequently in use at the time but I see the same symptoms in other apps.
After perhaps 3 hours of this lockup/reboot cycle the device restarted and stuck at the EEE Pad screen. I then reset using the pinhole. Device then entered a boot loop. It would restart at any time between the dots in a circle and occasionally the login screen but would lockup and reboot before i could unlock. During this reboot cycle i then saw a message saying 'Upgrading Android, Step 1 or 16' which then counted up to 16 and changed to 'Starting applications' but froze and rebooted. This 'upgrading' cycle occured several times. After a significant number of wipes, cold boots and pin hole resets the device now appears to boot although the lockup and reboot cycle continues when in use.
If i can help, pm me for any details you need.
Guys, let's wait for Garys response before badgering him. Just wait a little longer. Just hit the seven day mark since the ICS update.
Sent from my SGH-I897 using XDA App
So basically they don't know a damn thing. And no I won't give him or Asus any more time. As it is they showed that they simply can not handle releasing a product. I'm not giving Any benefit of the doubt because Asus has lied and pushed out a faulty product to all of us. im not Just talking about ics. this is crazy.
Just got my first reboots last night on 4.0.3 in performance mode while doing heavy surfing with the stock browser. First the browser instantly disappeared in the middle of what I was doing, then I got a reboot when I tried it again with all the same tabs open. It seems the stock browser has trouble rendering/navigating around the full desktop version of Facebook. It lags like crazy. Could it be the heavy PHP code that Facebook desktop site is written in is making the Tegra 3 flip out/overheat?
I remain hopeful that Gary Key's crew at ASUS can replicate the problem and fix it.
imb951 said:
Just got my first reboots last night on 4.0.3 in performance mode while doing heavy surfing with the stock browser. First the browser instantly disappeared in the middle of what I was doing, then I got a reboot when I tried it again with all the same tabs open.
I remain hopeful that Gary Key's crew at ASUS can replicate the problem and fix it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How long did you go thinking you did not have the lockup issue?
PrimeTimeBro said:
How long did you go thinking you did not have the lockup issue?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I didn't have a single lockup since upgrading to ICS until last night, however last night I was really putting my Prime through its paces. Bluetooth streaming audio, wifi on, several tabs open in the browser and I was surfing constantly. Like I edited into my previous post, I think the Facebook desktop site and the stock 4.0.3 browser do not get along very well. I don't have my Prime on me now, but when I get home this evening I'll stress test a different browser like Dolphin HD...
All of my lag appears to be in the browser. If I go into about:debug and turn on "Normal Rendering" it improves somewhat. 3rd party browsers such as "ICS Browser Plus" do not experience this issue as much, although it does somewhat.
Lag and freezing is especially noticeable when flash video is involved, although Adobe just released an update --here's hoping that improves something.
AndroidPhan said:
So basically they don't know a damn thing. And no I won't give him or Asus any more time. As it is they showed that they simply can not handle releasing a product. I'm not giving Any benefit of the doubt because Asus has lied and pushed out a faulty product to all of us. im not Just talking about ics. this is crazy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. Return Prime
2. Buy iPad
3. Get off the forum.
4. Everyone else profits without up constantly complaining like a big baby.
Sent from my SGH-I897 using XDA App
imb951 said:
Just got my first reboots last night on 4.0.3 in performance mode while doing heavy surfing with the stock browser. First the browser instantly disappeared in the middle of what I was doing, then I got a reboot when I tried it again with all the same tabs open. It seems the stock browser has trouble rendering/navigating around the full desktop version of Facebook. It lags like crazy. Could it be the heavy PHP code that Facebook desktop site is written in is making the Tegra 3 flip out/overheat?
I remain hopeful that Gary Key's crew at ASUS can replicate the problem and fix it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Besides the fact, that PHP is server side scripting and has nothing to do with the Prime, I too experience difficulties with the Facebook main page and resulting lock-ups/reboots. I'm really torn between waiting for a fix and driving to the RMA site, which is close by my hometown here in Germany, to hand the Prime in.
The frustrating experience for me is, that I'm not using the browser that often to surf around facebook, but I really rely on gBrowser to read the news on my commute and this also leads to reboots. Do I have to go back to a single newspaper now?
Btw. I've written my Prime's details into the datasheet that flies around here.
imb951 said:
I didn't have a single lockup since upgrading to ICS until last night, however last night I was really putting my Prime through its paces. Bluetooth streaming audio, wifi on, several tabs open in the browser and I was surfing constantly. Like I edited into my previous post, I think the Facebook desktop site and the stock 4.0.3 browser do not get along very well. I don't have my Prime on me now, but when I get home this evening I'll stress test a different browser like Dolphin HD...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This doesn't sound like the same lockup issue. Did your screen freeze on whatever current screen it was on for 10 seconds and then reboot?

Rejecting OTA

Hello all. I've been reading with much dread on the changes to my phone with the Verizon forced OTA update. I really don't care about the extra battery bar, and didn't want to have my battery life wasted by the Verizon Location bloatware. I caught my phone twice trying to install the OTA, and I defered it until tomorrow.
That's when I notice you can "reject" the update. Currently if you go into settings, status, you can then click on reject. It appears the OTA will not install.
Hope this helps,
BOBBY
PS- I have a screen shot but can't post a Photobucket link as a new member yet.
I read on here that it will be forced upon you on Feb. 5.
Don't be afraid...
Nope
I rejected the OTA a couple of times; didn't stop it from installing when I wasn't looking a few days ago.
It really sucks that you can't permanently reject an update if you don't want it.
My son has a DroidX that is bone stock. He doesn't care about mods whatever, his phone is all beat up and he could care less what the wallpaper/icons etc are. He just wants it to work.
When the GB update came out for it, he absolutely DID NOT want it but eventually it installed anyway and his phone has been really messed up ever since (it worked fine before the update)
He has so many apps installed that he really doesn't want to factory reset it ( he doesn't even know where he got half of them) but it is going to have to be reset soon.
MINIATURE-ART said:
Hello all. I've been reading with much dread on the changes to my phone with the Verizon forced OTA update. I really don't care about the extra battery bar, and didn't want to have my battery life wasted by the Verizon Location bloatware. I caught my phone twice trying to install the OTA, and I defered it until tomorrow.
That's when I notice you can "reject" the update. Currently if you go into settings, status, you can then click on reject. It appears the OTA will not install.
Hope this helps,
BOBBY
PS- I have a screen shot but can't post a Photobucket link as a new member yet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My phones actually rejecting it normally. Ive restarted my phone a couple of times and it notifies me that its DL however it just fails to install. I don't want the update right now but i do wonder if that will come back to bite me in the as*
Ever since the update my phone seems to lag just a little bit when scrolling screens in sense. Or has it always been this way and I'm just noticing?
pilot85 said:
My phones actually rejecting it normally. Ive restarted my phone a couple of times and it notifies me that its DL however it just fails to install. I don't want the update right now but i do wonder if that will come back to bite me in the as*
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can always save it for later.
The file is called OTAPkg.zip and should be in /cache/fumo. You can just download it and postpone the install then move it out to somewhere where you can always use it at a later date.

Check this out! Is it Possible to downgrade back to Honeycomb?

Check this out When I first fired my new tablet up today it was on Honeycomb and I was shocked I have been through like 6 of these and I was getting good reception with this one. I could go to the furthest part away from my router and get 16-18MB/s download all other primes I have owned in the past would get 2-4MB/s. I thought that I finally got a good prime. yes! but that was not to be after upgrading to ICS I'm now getting the same old results as all my other tablets I've had problems with and had to send back or return. DAMMIT MAN!!!!
For the first time I really don't think its all the backplate only causing weak WiFi issues I haven't checked WiFi and BT together yet but its probably shot now too. F**K its, ICS and Asus don't have it running right. Nothing changed hardware wise on my tablet, so how can it be a hardware issue. I'm telling you I used to be fully on the bandwagon saying it was the backplate but how can that be its the same tablet I was getting good results with Honeycomb 20mb download then after these firmware upgrades I get 4MB download from same spot tested about 10X each. I tested it first thing as soon as I opened it with honeycomb and had these great results. Then upgraded to ICS and went to hell. Asus really needs to get to looking into other issues something broke from Honeycomb to ICS and they need to figure it out.
I got another Prime coming this week for backup and if it arrives with Honeycomb with the same results I will not upgrade it. I will have to stick with honeycomb. So Asus needs to quit blaming this on the backplate its the firmware upgrades that they cant get right.
Question - Can I downgrade back to Honeycomb with a blob file or something if so can someone tell me where to look Ive been searching.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1492887

[Q] Strange lines on my TF201 screen

Since the .28 update today i saw the attached lines on the side of my screen, if i tough the screen they go away but the moment i take my hand off they come back. I am not sure if its the new update this has caused this issue or something else.
Anyone else have had same/similar issues since the new update?
Should I RMA TF201?
v1ks said:
Since the .28 update today i saw the attached lines on the side of my screen, if i tough the screen they go away but the moment i take my hand off they come back. I am not sure if its the new update this has caused this issue or something else.
Anyone else have had same/similar issues since the new update?
Should I RMA TF201?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey,
i was actually getting that on my tab too
i wasn't very sure
but usually if i press the home key, it would be gone... so i don't know...
Mine has also started doing this since .28 pretty sure this is the artifact issue talked about in the review thread in general. It's done it to me twice now,rebooting seems to have fixed it but never did this to me on any of the older firmwares. Prob have to wait till the next update see if they update the driver or somethin
I also rebooted the pad and its ok for now until as you say it comes back again. I just cant believe how updates which are meant to fix problems are causing more issues.
One thing i also noticed was that when playing NFS it crashed and the game was stuck, i had to reboot pad as nothing would work.
All these + other problems after the recent update!
I'm getting the same lines on my tablet. Just rebooted it and haven't seen the lines return after 5 minutes.
Im seeing these lines , except larger, when connecting to my laptop threw splashtop/my cloud.
Think its the same issue?
Have seen them in other build versions
Have seen them a couple of times on my prime .28 too. But I have seen them in the old firmware as well, so It's not a problem with the update.
They only appear in the homescreens and not in apps and they disappear shortly.
Manar Aleryani said:
Have seen them a couple of times on my prime .28 too. But I have seen them in the old firmware as well, so It's not a problem with the update.
They only appear in the homescreens and not in apps and they disappear shortly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ive only seen this since the update never had it on the .21 firmware. Anyway lets hope its sorted in the next release for now the reboot is doing the trick
Just when I thought ASUS was done with messing up my Prime, they do it again. I will never buy another ASUS product, in fact, in the past 5 months, I have purchased 2 Dells, 2 HP's, and 3 Kindle Fires. All users very satisfied.
I'm having this issue too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7AK8Yyriiw
I'm gonna try manual firmware installation to see if this works. Suspects faulty firmware download via FOTA
That's a graphics memory issue. Its driver related, it was basically gone in .21 Update. It could have been re-introduced in .28 with the nVidia drivers update they did.
I'm almost sure it isn't Asus fault. At least not directly

no update since last year

so, i was waiting patiently for a very long time for another update, but nothing came. it was when i was on my last straw being forced to look at boxes whenever anyone with an apple device posted emojis did i search around and see there is indeed a 2019 update. i talked to a huawei employee and he told me to DL hisuite on the PC, which i did. when i connected and clicked update, it claimed i was up to date. yet when i checked my emui it's 5.
so, i want to save myself some trouble before i ask to even get the update: did huawei fix the boxes i see whenever anyone using apple posts an emote? and has anyone even had this problem? am i the only one? if the answer is yes to the first question, what can i do to update my mediapad pro since it keeps insisting nothing is wrong with it?

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