Hi there,
I juste got a cheapo Azpen A729 tablet. I succesfully rooted it with Kingo Root and it was also recognized by ADB. I then tried to boot into bootloader through ADB, but it never when past the Azpen logo screen and since then the tablet is stuck at the that screen whenever I try to restart it. So I'm afraid that I bricked it... On the Azpen website there are firmwares for several of their devices, but not for the A729. Does anyone have experience with this device and maybe some advice? Thanks!
maksmtl said:
Hi there,
I juste got a cheapo Azpen A729 tablet. I succesfully rooted it with Kingo Root and it was also recognized by ADB. I then tried to boot into bootloader through ADB, but it never when past the Azpen logo screen and since then the tablet is stuck at the that screen whenever I try to restart it. So I'm afraid that I bricked it... On the Azpen website there are firmwares for several of their devices, but not for the A729. Does anyone have experience with this device and maybe some advice? Thanks!
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Click to collapse
yes you bricked your device.
you rooted that device, but not unlock dootloader.
Hi,
I just tried to boot into bootloader, not to unlock it or anything else. I simply rooted the device, I didn't try to install any custom recovery (not that there would be one anyway, AFAIK) or anything like that. If I'm missing something here, would you mind to explain? Thanks.
Paget96 said:
yes you bricked your device.
you rooted that device, but not unlock dootloader.
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Click to collapse
maksmtl said:
Hi,
I just tried to boot into bootloader, not to unlock it or anything else. I simply rooted the device, I didn't try to install any custom recovery (not that there would be one anyway, AFAIK) or anything like that. If I'm missing something here, would you mind to explain? Thanks.
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Click to collapse
Ok, I understand
This device have stock recovery???
Yes, everything is stock, the only thing I did was rooting it with Kingo Root, like so: http://forum.xda-developers.com/android/help/root-azpen-a729-t3003908
Unfortunately there isn't much information out there yet for the A729, it seems to be fairly recent. Treecheetahdolo here managed to unbrick his A727, but unfortunately there is no firmware (yet?) available for the A729 on azpens site to try this...
Paget96 said:
Ok, I understand
This device have stock recovery???
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Click to collapse
maksmtl said:
Yes, everything is stock, the only thing I did was rooting it with Kingo Root, like so: http://forum.xda-developers.com/android/help/root-azpen-a729-t3003908
Unfortunately there isn't much information out there yet for the A729, it seems to be fairly recent. Treecheetahdolo here managed to unbrick his A727, but unfortunately there is no firmware (yet?) available for the A729 on azpens site to try this...
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Click to collapse
Go to recovery and wipe data and cache.
I'd like to, but I'm not able to go into recovery unfortunately... It's supposed to be vol-down + power button (http://www.azpenpc.com/service/detail.php/id-9.html), at least for the earlier devices, but this doesn't seem to work here, it always gets to the Azpen logo screen and gets stuck there... I tried every other key combination I could think of, but to no avail. Either the device is seriously bricked, or there's a secret key combination here to go into recovery that azpen didn't communicate...
Paget96 said:
Go to recovery and wipe data and cache.
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Click to collapse
maksmtl said:
I'd like to, but I'm not able to go into recovery unfortunately... It's supposed to be vol-down + power button (http://www.azpenpc.com/service/detail.php/id-9.html), at least for the earlier devices, but this doesn't seem to work here, it always gets to the Azpen logo screen and gets stuck there... I tried every other key combination I could think of, but to no avail. Either the device is seriously bricked, or there's a secret key combination here to go into recovery that azpen didn't communicate...
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Click to collapse
The [Vol- ] [POWER] combo works, but you have to hold them until the unit powers on, (like forever). If it won't go past the Azpen LOGO, I would recommend contacting your local supplier.
Ok, so if, when you boot into recovery, it still passes through the Azpen logo, then there might definitely be a problem... :-/ Mrdownboy, you have a A729, right? Did you already boot into the bootloader at some point? This thing does have a bootloader, right? I contacted Azpen to see if they have a firmware image that I could try to flash, before trying to going through a RMA procedure with my rooted tablet... We'll see. Anyway, thanks!
mrdownboy said:
The [Vol- ] [POWER] combo works, but you have to hold them until the unit powers on, (like forever). If it won't go past the Azpen LOGO, I would recommend contacting your local supplier.
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maksmtl said:
Ok, so if, when you boot into recovery, it still passes through the Azpen logo, then there might definitely be a problem... :-/ Mrdownboy, you have a A729, right? Did you already boot into the bootloader at some point? This thing does have a bootloader, right? I contacted Azpen to see if they have a firmware image that I could try to flash, before trying to going through a RMA procedure with my rooted tablet... We'll see. Anyway, thanks!
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Hey maksmtl,
I haven't tried accesing the bootloader yet, I'm still on the process of acquiring another brand new A729 for dumping the ROM and then start from there. I'll call Azpen tomorrow and ask them about a stock fw, but I wouldn't hold my breath. Once I have a stock ROM, I'll start looking into a custom recovery. Baby steps...
---------- Post added at 01:27 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:22 PM ----------
maksmtl said:
Ok, so if, when you boot into recovery, it still passes through the Azpen logo, then there might definitely be a problem... :-/
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I don't quite understand what you are saying here... You have to hold [Vol-] [POWER] until the unit powers on, (forever...). Then just sit back and relax. If after 15 mins you're not on recovery, and it's boot-looping, it might need a STOCK ROM re-flash.
Hi mrdownboy,
what I meant is that, I thought that, as with e.g. a Nexus device, when you boot into recovery it directly goes there, without going through the google logo screen first as it would in a normal boot. So I thought/was hoping, that on the Azpen it would do the same thing, not going through the logo screen when booting into recovery. That's why I thought that I didn't have the right key combination, because it would always boot into the azpen logo screen, where it then gets stuck. From what you said, I understood that the azpen still goes through the logo screen first, before going into the recovery menu, or did I misunderstand you here? When I press and hold [Vol-] + [POWER], the device boots directly into the azpen logo screen after 8 seconds or so, after that nothing happens anymore. I also tried to keep holding the buttons after the logo appears, but that doesn't seem to change anything neither, unless you really have to do that for an insanely long time...?
mrdownboy said:
I don't quite understand what you are saying here... You have to hold [Vol-] [POWER] until the unit powers on, (forever...). Then just sit back and relax. If after 15 mins you're not on recovery, and it's boot-looping, it might need a STOCK ROM re-flash.
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Click to collapse
Did you get into recovery?
mrdownboy said:
Did you get into recovery?
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Nope... But again, just to be sure, since I'm still a bit confused here: when you go into recovery it DOES go through the Azpen logo screen first, right?
I wrote to Azpen as well about a firmware for the A729, since they have firmwares for other models, but I didn't get a response yet. But then again, if if I had a firmware, I'm not even sure if I could flash it with PhoenixUSBPro tool, if the device can't go into recovery, I doubt it can go into download mode... Btw, be careful in your development if you don't want the same thing happening to you when booting into the bootloader... It would be definitely cool to have a custom recovery and eventually cutom ROMS however!
If I can't recover my device I don't even know if I'll try going through a RMA though, since it might be too expensive sending the tablet in, considering its initial cost...
maksmtl said:
Nope... But again, just to be sure, since I'm still a bit confused here: when you go into recovery it DOES go through the Azpen logo screen first, right?
I wrote to Azpen as well about a firmware for the A729, since they have firmwares for other models, but I didn't get a response yet. But then again, if if I had a firmware, I'm not even sure if I could flash it with PhoenixUSBPro tool, if the device can't go into recovery, I doubt it can go into download mode... Btw, be careful in your development if you don't want the same thing happening to you when booting into the bootloader... It would be definitely cool to have a custom recovery and eventually cutom ROMS however!
If I can't recover my device I don't even know if I'll try going through a RMA though, since it might be too expensive sending the tablet in, considering its initial cost...
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If you call them right now, you'll be surprised how good they are at personal customer service. They WILL offer options, but they don't have the firmware available for public release yet. Is your model the A729BT or the A729 Non-BT? I really want to do a ROM dump, but it's proven way more difficult than I initially thought. If there is a way to dump a ROM w/o rooting it would be excellent.
Also, I don't think they have a bootloader installed.
mrdownboy said:
The [Vol- ] [POWER] combo works, but you have to hold them until the unit powers on, (like forever). If it won't go past the Azpen LOGO, I would recommend contacting your local supplier.
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Click to collapse
That's what they show on their website, but it has not worked for me at all. I've tried repeatedly with vol+ & power, vol- & power, vol+ & vol- & power... nothing has worked, it always boots fully up.
Is yours the A729 with bluetooth from TigerDirect? (their website lists that only the TigerDirect version has Bluetooth)
Were you actually able to get into the stock recovery menu?
---------- Post added at 09:26 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:42 PM ----------
mrdownboy said:
If you call them right now, you'll be surprised how good they are at personal customer service. They WILL offer options, but they don't have the firmware available for public release yet. Is your model the A729BT or the A729 Non-BT? I really want to do a ROM dump, but it's proven way more difficult than I initially thought. If there is a way to dump a ROM w/o rooting it would be excellent.
Also, I don't think they have a bootloader installed.
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Click to collapse
I called them and I definitely did not find them customer-friendly.
I politely pointed out that the Users menu was missing and as I understand it, it's only an entry in a config file to enable it and asked if it would be possible to get a patch as I bought this for my son and didn't want to have to root it and the guy on the phone cut me off mid-sentence and scolded me for even mentioning rooting the device and told me it'd void my warranty. I asked about the firmware image and he was very dismissive about it. I asked if I could submit a bug report about the fact that a valuable feature of JB 4.2+ was missing (and the fact that this was a tablet that appeared to have a phone build of Android, more below). I'm not even sure how to describe his response "you want to submit a BUG REPORT?!"... yes, I do. He gruffly agreed to take down my request and proceeded to ask me for full contact info (full name, address, email, phone number, etc.). When I asked for the case number, he was confused... they apparently have no bug or complaint tracking system whatsoever. He explained to me that there was no way the developers were going to provide a patch, that Android is open source and it's up to the developers to decide how to configure the builds, etc. After some back and forth, I finally asked him how big the company was. He was obviously taken aback, so I explained that he seemed to know an awful lot about what the developers would be willing to do... he took this as a compliment and explained that I had "called corporate" (I called the support number on their website).
This screams "tiny operation" to me... either this guy was one of the developers (answering the customer support line), one of the main people in the company, or they're simply an importer and order the devices in bulk and resell them with nothing more than a custom logo.
Alibaba lists this unit for "US $1 - 45"... minimum qty 100 units.
More on the build: This device appears to have a default config for a phone, as not only is the Users menu missing, but it has a "Mobile network settings" menu which is entirely non-applicable to a device like this (menu items include "Data roaming", "Preferred network type" (2G/3G), "Network operators", etc.).
I sure hope I caught him on a bad day, and others have better luck.
Oh - and the reason I was reluctant to root it right away was I'm a bit gunshy and wanted to make sure I could return it if I needed to. I recently had a horrid experience with a d2 tablet that bricked itself (black-screen before splash-screen) after a few hours of use on Christmas morning (nearly every review on newegg for the device, all posted after I bought it, had the exact same problem). I'm lucky I was able to send that one back for a refund. Thankfully, this one appears to be a *lot* more reliable a unit (my son has played many, many hours of games on it for the past month).
I talked to the Azpen support, and they told me to push the volume button in the middle (I guess that comes down to the same as pressing vol- and vol+) and the power button. In my case that didn't work, but my tablet seems to be definitely bricked... I have the BT model from TigerDirect.
glabifrons said:
That's what they show on their website, but it has not worked for me at all. I've tried repeatedly with vol+ & power, vol- & power, vol+ & vol- & power... nothing has worked, it always boots fully up.
Is yours the A729 with bluetooth from TigerDirect? (their website lists that only the TigerDirect version has Bluetooth)
Were you actually able to get into the stock recovery menu?
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maksmtl said:
I talked to the Azpen support, and they told me to push the volume button in the middle (I guess that comes down to the same as pressing vol- and vol+) and the power button. In my case that didn't work, but my tablet seems to be definitely bricked... I have the BT model from TigerDirect.
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I just tried it again by pressing in the middle (in case there was a 3rd switch) and could feel both the up and down button click, and it booted all the way up (the logo came and went 3 times as it was booting up). I held all three (incl power) buttons down until it had the full Android display up (with the lock slider).
So... sounds like the guy was wrong - even on a fully functional unit, that won't bring up the menu.
It does have a recessed reset button (you can only hit it with a paper-clip or similar). I've seen some devices where you have to hold that down for ridiculous periods of time. I'm surprised the guy didn't mention that.
maksmtl said:
Hi mrdownboy,
what I meant is that, I thought that, as with e.g. a Nexus device, when you boot into recovery it directly goes there, without going through the google logo screen first as it would in a normal boot. So I thought/was hoping, that on the Azpen it would do the same thing, not going through the logo screen when booting into recovery. That's why I thought that I didn't have the right key combination, because it would always boot into the azpen logo screen, where it then gets stuck. From what you said, I understood that the azpen still goes through the logo screen first, before going into the recovery menu, or did I misunderstand you here? When I press and hold [Vol-] + [POWER], the device boots directly into the azpen logo screen after 8 seconds or so, after that nothing happens anymore. I also tried to keep holding the buttons after the logo appears, but that doesn't seem to change anything neither, unless you really have to do that for an insanely long time...?
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Please don't panic. I've found myself in the same situation with my A729 where key press sequences and back panel reset were to no avail. As a matter of fact, just last night I found myself where you are now. After booting into the bootloader through ADB, my Azpen had that same zomie stare that your's is experiencing.
Here's what I did. I turned it over screen down and walked away. Simply let the battery deplete over night. When you attempt to turn it on tomorrow it will complain of insufficient power. Plug it into your charger for about a half-hour, press and hold down the Volume "UP" button and then press the power button (You've heard this drill before, but THIS time you've given the instrument time to "forget" the last instruction given to it.) Let me know if this time (finally) your Azpen A729 boots into the recovery screen.
Most importantly, don't panic. Let the battery deplete firstly and then attempt the recovery mode.
- PoFolk
Hi PoFolk,
that sounds very promising! My Azpen is draining its battery right now. I actually had a suspicion that the tablet wasn't completely shut off, since every time I plugged in the charger, it would boot into the Azpen screen right away... But I didn't think about letting the battery die to give it a fresh start. Crossing fingers right now...
Oh, and I'm not panicking actually, I was almost expecting some problems with such a cheap tablet. I would probably be panicking more if this was my Nexus 7, which I just gave a new youth through F2FS.
Anyway, I'll let you know how it went tomorrow, thanks! Btw, are you sure about Volume "UP"? That would be new.
PoFolk said:
Please don't panic. I've found myself in the same situation with my A729 where key press sequences and back panel reset were to no avail. As a matter of fact, just last night I found myself where you are now. After booting into the bootloader through ADB, my Azpen had that same zomie stare that your's is experiencing.
Here's what I did. I turned it over screen down and walked away. Simply let the battery deplete over night. When you attempt to turn it on tomorrow it will complain of insufficient power. Plug it into your charger for about a half-hour, press and hold down the Volume "UP" button and then press the power button (You've heard this drill before, but THIS time you've given the instrument time to "forget" the last instruction given to it.) Let me know if this time (finally) your Azpen A729 boots into the recovery screen.
Most importantly, don't panic. Let the battery deplete firstly and then attempt the recovery mode.
- PoFolk
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Works for me:
1) Depress "UP" volume button throughout this procedure.
2) Depress power button and release when Azpen bootloader logo appears.
3) Sing or hum a tune whilst the Azpen logo stares at you, all whilst you're depressing the volume "UP" button. (yes, it seems like an eternity)
4) Android system recovery screen pops up.
5) Don't try anything fancy just yet. Select "reboot system now".
6) Light up a cigar or draw a beer. Your Azpen should be restored.