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How To Unbrick Your Amlogic AML8726-MX Series Tablet - v2.0

672K views 939 replies 244 participants last post by  pollogtito 
#1 ·
Has this thread helped you unbrick your device?
Were you able to unbrick your device?
Yes, from a "soft" brick2318.70%
Yes, from a "hard" brick2721.95%
Yes, from a "deep" brick3226.02%
No, I was unable to unbrick my device4133.33%
 
#2 · (Edited by Moderator)
How To Unbrick Your Amlogic AML8726-MX Series Tablet - v2.0

If I've helped you unbrick your device please consider a donation, even if it is small it will help!

My laptop is currently all sorts of messed up, so there may be many questions I now can't answer.
I will use the donations to pay the monthly file hosting fees and other development costs.

These methods, including the 'deep brick' method, will work with every Amlogic AML8726-M Series tablet. However, not all tablets have official stock firmware releases, so if your tablet does not have a firmware release it becomes really difficult to unbrick it and you will have to experiment. I can confirm that you can unbrick the Ainol Crystal, Fire, Hero, Aurora 2 and Elf 2. I've had reports of unbricking the Venus, Mars and some other non-Ainol tablets with the same AML8726-M hardware.

Just to be clear, there are very specific files to be used with each tablet, flashing a Crystal firmware to a Hero will brick the tablet, flashing a Fire firmware to a Crystal will brick the tablet, etc. There are ways to experiment but if you don't know what you are doing you might make things worse. Try to read through and understand as much as you can before you get started.

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All unbricking files can be found here.

Valkoz has been posting the newest version of the AML USB Burning Tool in this thread. Version 1.6.2.01.28 is also available in my unbricking MediaFire folder.

Extra special thanks to tigger-gg for help with the new rescue images, help re-writing these instructions to be clearer and testing multiple unbricking methods on several devices.


Also thanks Santjaga to for a shorter Russian Translation of the unbricking instructions found here.

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Definitions of different bricking types

  • A "soft" brick - is when back light turns on but either nothing happens and it stays black or it shuts back down. It's also when you get a boot loop, it can't get past the splash screen or boot animation and you are unable to enter into the recovery.
  • A "hard" brick - is when the back light does not turn on and it appears that your tablet is completely dead, but when you plug it into the computer and hold down the Power and Vol - buttons, the tablet shows up in your device manager as "M3-CHIP or M6-CHIP."
  • A "deep" brick is when your tablet appears completely dead and is not recognized by the computer at all.

NEW METHOD! - Creating a SD rescue card in Linux

Christian Troy has posted a easy to follow tutorial on creating a rescue SD card in Linux and unbricking your tablet. It should work for all Amlogic based tablets and will work even if you are deep or hard bricked. See his thread here. If you do not have a Linux distro installed, you can run one from a USB drive, from a Live CD or inside a Virtual Machine with a program like VirtualBox. VirtualBox allows you to run other operating systems inside your existing operating system without having to dual boot. If you are completely unfamiliar with Linux, the distro called Ubuntu is a good place to start.

Method One - SD Card Method for a "soft" brick.

Using an SD card of 2GB or less is preferable but 8GB or less will usually work. Some cards over 8GB might work but the tablets become picky about SD cards the larger they get. There are a variety of rescue images in SD Method MediaFire folder for different tablets. The Crystal, Fire, Hero, Elf2 and Aurora2 ones are all confirmed to work. I've also provided .zip files for each of the images so you can see what is inside the image without writing the image to an SD card. If you are having trouble with those images, the ELF2 image seems to work best for preparing the SD cards, you can then delete the ELF2 files and replace them on the card with the files from your tablets SD Method .zip file.

Step 1

  • Put a flash card in your computer. Right click the "USB Image Tool" and "Run as Administrator." If you are attempting to use a SD card larger than 2GB you can click on "Options" and check the "Ignore size checks..." and "Truncate oversize images..." boxes. If you are using an SD card of 2GB or less you do not need to check these options.
  • Click on "Favorites --> Add," select your recovery image that you downloaded and then click on your SD card and click the "Restore" button. You might want to click on the name next to the image you just loaded and name it something you can remember in case you ever need to use it again.
  • Check to make sure your SD card was re-sized to around 500MB instead of it's full capacity. The size of the card should be the size of the .img file that you are writing to the card, so some might be significantly smaller or larger, depending on the .img being used. Sometimes after using the software, the card will not show up in the computer and you need to take it out and put it back in. If you do not do this, the card will usually not work on your tablet. The software seems to have a failure rate writing the image to the card, of around 1 in 25 attempts, so start from the beginning if it doesn't work the first time.

The "aml_autoscript" is a NAND scrubbing tool to format your internal memory. Not all AML Autoscripts will work with all tablets, they are written differently, some being for very simple NAND functions and some that reset all the partitions. The AML Autoscript is necessary to unbrick most tablets. The "factory_update_param.aml" file contains the following commands:

--wipe_data
--wipe_cache
--wipe_media
--update_package=/sdcard/g06refe2-ota-eng.grady.wang.zip

If you are using a different firmware package and attempting to make your own recovery SD card, you need to open the "factory_update_param.aml" file and change the name of the .zip on the last line to match the firmware package you are flashing. This file is telling the tablet to automatically perform the wipes and to automatically flash the firmware package without you doing anything yourself in the tablets recovery.

Step 2

  • If your tablet is not off, hold down the Power button for 10-15 seconds.
    0A9UVDQ.jpg
  • Remove the SD card from your computer and put it in your tablet.
  • Hold down the Power and Vol - buttons until the screen turns on. Release the buttons as soon as the screen lights up.
    wAsUNbf.jpg
  • You'll see a different Android logo with a progress bar and a spinning object in its chest. If you see the normal green Android logo that says Ainol underneath it, hold down the Power button to power off the tablet and hold down the Power and Vol - buttons again. Sometimes it can take a few minutes to see the auto-flashing screen. Particularly with the Ainol Hero, I've seen it take several minutes to start booting.
  • If that still does not work, when you see the normal green Android logo, continue to hold down the buttons. The screen will go black and then boot up again after a little while, then the normal green Android logo will be displayed again. Continue to hold the buttons and you will see alternative auto-flashing green Android logo.
  • When the tablet is done auto-flashing it will turn off. Leave it off and remove the SD card quickly. If you don't remove the card in time, the tablet will boot back up and the auto-flashing will start again.
  • Boot up your tablet and see if everything worked. If it didn't work try again, try the alternative methods below or move on to Step 3.
  • If you are having trouble getting the firmware to auto-flash, darecky has reported that you can try holding down the Vol- button and then "pulsing" the Power button by pressing it every 0.5 seconds until the logo appears.

Alternative Method 1

  • Use the elf2_0527.img to create your SD card using the same steps.
  • Delete all the files on the SD card and replace them with the files in the zip package for your tablet that I have provided in the SD Method folder. Or replacement with your manufacturers official firmware package that has an aml_autoscript and add your own factory_update script.
  • Complete the rest of the steps.

Alternative Method 2

  • Use the elf2_0527.img to create your SD card using the same steps.
  • Do not replace any files, use the card as it is.
  • Complete the rest of the steps. This will install the ELF2 firmware and has worked for both Batch 1 and "deep" bricked Batch 3 Crystal's for me. It should also work on Batch 2 Crystals and Aurora2 tablets. It would probably not work with the Hero or Fire but I'm unsure.
  • Move on to Step 3 to replace the ELF2 firmware with official stock firmware.

Step 3

This only works if the first method completed far enough to allow you into the Stock Recovery or if the Alternative Methods worked and you now need to install the correct firmware.

  • Restore your SD card back to normal capacity with the SD Formatter software. This can take a long time, be patient. Choose the following options:
    - FORMAT TYPE -> FULL (Overwrite)
    - FORMAT SIZE ADJUSTMENT -> ON
  • Download the Ainol Stock Recovery and your Stock Firmware package.
  • Extract the Ainol Stock Recovery package and place the "u-boot.bin" and "uImage_recovery.recovery" in the root of your SD card.
  • Extract the Stock Firmware zip file and place all the files in the root of your SD card. If the firmware package already contains "u-boot.bin" and/or "uImage_recovery" then you can replace the ones from the Ainol Stock Recovery package. You can also use these files from any firmware package if the ones in the Ainol Stock Recovery package do not work for you.
  • Hold down the Power and Vol - buttons to enter the Stock Recovery.
  • Flash your firmware package and reboot the tablet.
  • If it worked, either plug your tablet into the computer and use USB mode or shut down your tablet and remove the SD card, then remove the "u-boot.bin" and "uImage_recovery" files from your SD card.
  • Boot back into recovery and make sure that the firmware package correctly installed the Stock Recovery on your device.
  • Your tablet is now back to it's original Factory Settings.

TROUBLESHOOTING

If none of the above works there are some things you should try before moving on in the following order.

  • First thing to try is using the SD Formatter software mentioned above and re-formatting your SD card, then try to add the SD Method rescue files from your tablets .zip or .img file directly to the card without using the USB Image Tool.
  • If that doesn't work then try the USB Image Tool again. It might be different this time if you formatted with the SD Formatter software and actually work.
  • If that doesn't work, try another SD card, these tablet don't work well with all SD cards.
  • If you can still boot into recovery then put a copy of the uImage_recovery file from TWRP or CWM on the SD card, boot into the custom recovery and check your partitions using the instructions in the Manual Partition section of this guide. If something looks wrong then you may need to manually fix your partitions first before using the SD Method.
  • If all of the above fails and you've tried it several times, see the Alternative SD Method that involves opening the tablet and bridging two pins on the NAND to force the tablet to boot to the SD card.

Method Two - AML Flash and SD card for a "hard" brick.

Do not try and use the "hard" brick method unless you are absolutely sure you have "hard" bricked your tablet.

I have not tested the method myself yet but CXZ recommended mentioning that it might be easier to use the Deep Brick to SD Card Alternative before trying the AML Software. Scroll down to that section and attempt that method using a SD Rescue Card before trying to use the AML Flash package.

AML released a low-level flash tool for flashing firmware to Ainol devices through a USB connection. However, the only AML flash package that Ainol has released is for the Ainol Fire, so we have to use some tricks to unbrick an Ainol Crystal using this method. Before we begin there are some system requirements and adjustments that need to be made.

  • You must be using a real English version of Windows. If you have an English version with a different language setting it is sometimes possible to edit the "configure.ini" file in the AML USB Burn tool folder but it's better to use an English version. Always edit files like this with Notepad++ or an equivalent advanced text editing tool. Open up the file and change your language code. I do not know your language code so you will have to look it up if you don't know it. Valkoz has also posted a new version that claims to work on non-English version of windows, so you can try that here.
[General]
lanuage=de

[Erase]
enable=true
erasecmd="nand rom_protect off;nand scrub 0;poweroff"
  • You may have trouble with your USB ports. Go to "Start Menu --> Right Click on Computer --> Manage" and then click on "Device Manager" and expand "Universal Serial Bus Controller." Check all your USB hubs by "Right Clicking" them and going to "Properties -> Power Management" and then un-checking the box that says "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power." If you know which hub you are using you can choose to only un-check the box for that hub.
  • The AML software does not like some USB hubs, so if the software doesn't work at first, try different USB ports. I get better success on ports 3 and 4 on my computer.
  • You should shut down as many background applications and close as many folders as you can before trying this method. Some programs will interfere with the software if you leave them open.
  • You must have Administrator Privileges on your computer and run the software as an Administrator. The software will not work if you try and run it as a regular user or a guest user.
  • Make sure you don't have an external SD card in your tablet.
  • If you hang on any loading section, try going back, checking the "erase nand" button, running it to 100% and then starting over.

Step 1

  • Plug your tablet into your computer using a USB cable and go to your Device Manager. You should see your device listed as "M3 Chip" or "M6 Chip."
  • If you do not see your device listed it may be off. Hold down the Power and Home buttons to turn it on in a special mode for the AML Software.
    YCiMk8X.jpg
  • If that does not work and the device does not appear in the Device Manager then try to hold down the Power and Vol - buttons instead.
  • If your tablet is still not recognized by the computer it is a "deep" brick and you will need to follow those instructions first before continuing on to the next step.
  • Right click on your device, go to "Properties --> Driver --> Update Driver" then "Browse computer for driver software" and locate the folder with the "Windows 7 - World Cup Drivers" in it. This will install the drivers necessary to use the AML software. Although I've provided the Win7 64bit drivers in a zip file called "Crystal Drivers.zip," it looks like they are now included in the most recent version of the AML software in a folder called "AmlogicusbBurningdriver" along with drivers for WinXP.
  • Your device should now show the World Cup Drivers instead of showing up as an M3/M6 chip.
  • If in the device manager there is a yellow triangle and you get a "device can not start (Code 10)" error, just ignore it for now.

Step 2

  • Right click on "ImageBurnTool.exe" in the AML Image Burn Tool folder and "Run as Administrator." Click on "Configure --> Import upgrade file" in the menu.
  • You have a couple of choices for how to proceed next:
  • You can use the "1212_AML_burn_recovery.zip" with any batch Crystal. I developed it to unbrick Batch 3 Crystal's but it will also unbrick Batch 1 and 2 Crystals. It will completely install an older version of my Crystal Clear ROM but you will not be able to boot into recovery. You can use the SD card method to auto-flash stock firmware though and also have the option of using ADB if you'd like.
  • You can use the "AMLFLASH.zip" file. This is a slightly modified Ainol Fire zip and was the first way that I managed to unbrick a Batch 1 Crystal. This file was meant to fail before flashing the update.zip firmware packge. So this file will not complete to 100% but will configure your Crystal enough to use the SD Method to complete the unbricking process.
  • You can use the "fire_official_0921_AMLF.zip" on any batch Crystal. When it is completed to 100% you will see the screen flash and some white lines will show up and then the screen will go dark. This is okay, you just need to proceed the SD card method to install the stock Crystal firmware over the Ainol Fire firmware.

If you want to know more about the files in these zips, see the second post in my thread here.
Step 3

  • Select the "Erase NAND" check box and click "Start." This will scrub all the internal memory and seems to be necessary, since I've tried running the tool without scrubbing the NAND and it failed too early.
  • After the tool reaches 100% make sure to uncheck the "Erase NAND" button. Then hold down the Power and Home buttons to turn the device on again.
  • The AML Image Burn Tool will run the config file and you'll see a read out of every command that is happening in the command prompt looking window.
  • If you have an early failure between 0% and 8% then "Config -> Reset Port Match Info" and try again. Most of the time you do not have to stop and unplug the tablet in my experience but in case that doesn't work, unplug the tablet, press stop, reset the port, connect the tablet again and then hit the start button. If that doesn't work it is likely you do not have an English version of Windows and tigger-gg's trick of editing the location congig file didn't work for you. The newest version of the AML software is supposed to work on non-English version of Windows so make sure you have version 1.6.2.0128 or newer.
  • If you get past 8% then ignore all error messages and let the process continue even if it appears to be stalled. It will often give an error message at around 8 0 % for example which can be ignored.
  • The device will be recognized as a mass storage device with the name "Novo7Fire" and if you have Windows Auto-Play on, a window will pop up, close that Window.
  • If you have never installed ADB drivers then the device may appear as a generic "Android Interface" in the Device Manager. If it does then install the ADB driver from the Crystal Drivers zip package. There are now two new ADB driver options in the unbricking folder. The Universal Naked Driver has been very successful.
  • If you used choice 1 or 3 above, the tablet should flash to 100%. If you used choice 2 it should flash to 86%. If you get any warning, ignore them and just wait through the process.
  • Even if you fail at as early as 8% you should be able to proceed with the SD card method on a lot of occasions, just unplug the tablet and follow the steps for the SD card method. Sometimes though you need to at least get to the point where it is recognized as mass storage. If the table is recognize as "Novo7Fire" then make sure to eject it and not just unplug the USB cable.

DO NOT TRY TO BOOT UP THE TABLET YET!

  • Hold down the power button for 10 seconds to turn it off.
  • Proceed with the steps from the SD card method.
  • Do not turn the tablet back on until you've reached Step 2 of the SD card method and place the external SD card with the auto-flash files into your tablet.
  • If you used choices 1 or 3 above and they worked to 100%, you can turn the tablet on and off, experimenting with SD cards if you have a problem, as many times as you'd like. If you used choice 2 or you could not get the software to 100% with the other methods then you will most likely have one chance with the SD card to work. So if it doesn't work, you need to try another SD card image like the fallback ELF2 image and start the entire "hard" brick process over again from the beginning.

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Method Three - Hardware hack for the "deep" brick.

I have not tested the method myself yet but CXZ recommended mentioning that it might be easier to use the Deep Brick to SD Card Alternative before trying the AML Software. Scroll down to that section and attempt that method using a SD Rescue Card before trying to use the AML Flash package.

A "deep" brick can occur on the newer Batch 3 Crystal's with the 3.0.8-gcda87f3-dirty chengnan.tan@droid07-sz kernel when you try to flash the wrong compatibility patch. I have sucessfully unbricked a "deep" bricked Batch 3 Crystal using this method, followed by the "1212_AML_Burn_Test.zip" "hard" brick method and then the SD card method. After completion the Batch 3 Crystal will be converted to a Batch 2 Crystal and all Batch 2 Compatibility zips will work.

Extra special thanks to NiKoLa_N, Schlosss, solsan, neDtheDeeJay, shurikk1977, cem4ik, Zguj, FerZ_174 who wrote up this guide for the Ainol Hero.

Step 1

  • You can use credit card, guitar pick or other similar material object. Run it alongside the edge of the tablet where the screen meets the body, starting on the long side without buttons and ending at the short side with the inputs.
  • Below you will find a video of me using a credit card to open the "deep" bricked Batch 3.



  • You should have the inside of your Crystal orientated like this and look for the Flash Memory chip.
    q7ay5V0h.jpg
  • Here is a closer look at the area to the right of the battery where the Flash Memory chip is located.
    SNEsQ9kh.jpg

Step 2

  • At this point you should have the device plugged in and the AML software open. Have the Windows Device Manager open in another visible window and you should also be able to see if there is a Device change in the AML command prompt looking screen.
  • On the right side of the chip there are a series of pins.
    QJmjlyxh.jpg
  • Counting down from the top right hand corner you want to located the number 5 and 6 pins.
    ciysm8ch.jpg
  • Using a thumbtack or other similar metal object, bridge those two pins by creating a connection between them.
    lzedfP7h.jpg
  • While holding the thumbtack in place, press and hold the Power and Vol- buttons.
  • The device may show up in the Device Manager as an M3/M6 chip at this point and as connected to a port in the AML software. You can remove the thumbtack and you should follow the "hard" brick instructions. If you've already installed the World Cup drivers then the computer should automatically recognize the device and use those drivers and the device will appear in the AML software.
  • If you have an Ainol Fire or other tablet with two chips, you still bridge the 5/6 pins but first try it on the chip that is closer to the battery. If that does not work then try the chip that is closer to the edge of the tablet. When locating the pins, always make sure the text on the chip is facing the right direction and count down from the upper right hand side of the chip. It will not harm the device to try the 5/6 pins on both chips.

If for any reason something goes wrong, you will have to bridge the number 5 and 6 pins again and start over from the beginning. If you get the device to at the very least be recognized as a mass storage device then you won't have to bridge the pins anymore and everything will work fine.

Step 3

  • If you've successfully gotten the computer to recognize the device then you should proceed with the "hard" brick instructions.
  • After completing the "hard" brick instructions you will need to follow the "soft" brick instructions for the SD card method.

Deep Brick to SD Card Alternative

Thanks to powman for this info, I will reformat it to be clearer when I get a chance:

Share my steps to make my ELF2 come back
At beginning, I use feiyu 4.22 rom runs good, but I want to try another rom, so I flash to Light ELF2.6.0 and ELF2 bricks, symptom as below
1. Never see backlight,
2. Never get into recover mode when hold down "-volume" button and press "power".
3. PC cannot see M6-chip when hold down "home" button and press "power".
I follow fuser's [HOW TO] Unbrick your Ainol Crystal, short NAND flash pin 44-43 and push "power" button, I can see M6-chip, but always stops at stape2 when flash by AML USB tool, it looks like I need a USB flash rom for ELF2 but Ainol never release this kind of rom for ELF2.
I almost give up and start to find another used ELF2 from ###########… there is a used ELF2 bid to 42 (crazy….) and I stop at 30, I don't want to spend 4x USD to buy a used ELF2.. So I keep trying to unbrick my ELF2.
I realize every time I short pin 44-43 and power up. SD socket pin1 =3.0V, when I push power button only, SD socket pin1 = 1.2V. It looks like AML8726 will try to read SD if NAND flash has problem. And I google some cpu will erase NAND flash if pin7-8 or pin8-9 short.
And every time I short pin44-43+"power" button, measure SD socket pin1=3.0V then plug in USB cable. PC cannot see device…. That's mean AML8726 already jump to another mode, not USB mode.
Ok let's try this.
1. Remove USB cable.
2. Prepare rescue SD and plug in
3. Short NAND pin7-8 + "power" button

Waooo…. I can see green android!!
But after 30 sec, screen becomes black again. Turn off and on, still no screen.
It looks like AML8726 is trying to recover from SD but still fail, maybe something wrong on SD card. I try to copy feiyu 4.22 rom into SD and do it again.
1. Remove USB cable.
2. Prepare feiyu 4.22 rom SD and plug in
3. Short NAND pin7-8 + "power" button
I can see green android, but also become black after writing something into system.
But I realize every time power up, DDR power goes up to 1.5V for 1 sec then shut down and backlight turn on/off. It's different than before and improves a lot.
Then I try to get into recover mode by hold down "-volume" button and press "power"…. It works!!!!!!!!!! I can flash now! 2 wipes and update from SD, my ELF2 come back!
Here is a pic of how powman is counting the pins:

g4EeFgZ.jpg


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Common Problems.

I can't get the ADB drivers to install correctly

I can't teach you how to use your computer, so if you don't know how to uninstall or install windows drivers you'll have to spend some quality time with Google and then come back here. If you do know what you are doing and are still having problems with the ADB drivers, then try these "Universal Naked Drivers" on XDA might work.
You may have to manually edit the android_winusb.inf file in the universal naked package and add some entries for you device. Copy the address from the device properties page under Details -> Hardware Ids (in the big drop down list) and make the entries for them by copying the generic Nexus format.

File: android_winusb.inf
Lines starting with Google were there already and the other lines are added.

[Google.NTx86] ; Ainol Hero (Dual Core) %GoogleNexusADBInterface% = USB_Install, USB\VID_18D1&PID_D001&MI_01 %GoogleNexusADBInterface% = USB_Install, USB\VID_18D1&PID_D001&REV_0231&MI_01
[Google.NTamd64] ; Ainol Hero (Dual Core) %GoogleNexusADBInterface% = USB_Install, USB\VID_18D1&PID_D001&MI_01 %GoogleNexusADBInterface% = USB_Install, USB\VID_18D1&PID_D001&REV_0231&MI_01
I'm running Windows 8 or 8.1 and can't install drivers

See this blog for instructions on how to temporarily disable your computers security and allow you to install the ADB drivers.

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This took me an insanely long time to put together, including taking the pictures and making the videos. I really hope that it helps you unbrick your device. Please take a minute to click the poll on the top of the thread. If you are in the U.S. and have tried everything but can't unbrick your device then send me a PM. For a limited time I will be excepting a limited number of bricked devices for repair as long as you pay for shipping. If you no longer want your Crystal or other Ainol device and would like to donate your device for development purposes, please let me know.

If I've helped you unbrick your device please consider a donation, even if it is small it will help!
I will use the donations to pay the monthly file hosting fees and other development costs.
 
#3 ·
I decided to flash the official 11-09 Ainol Crystal stock firmware and check it out. I was coming from C10 and after booting back into the Stock Recovery I tried to flash the stock firmware. It said "installation aborted" and would not install the ROM. I tried downloading it again in case the file was bad. Didn't work the second time either. So I tried going back to CM10 and that didn't work. Tried going back to 11-19 stock firmware instead. This is where things got interesting.

The screen went black but was still backlit, so the screen was on. I saw a bright white dot in one of the corners of the screen. I waited a little while and nothing happened so I tried to reboot it with the power button. The Crystal powered down but now it will not turn back on. Guess I'll have to attempt to send it back under warranty and hope for the best. Does anyone have experience sending their Ainol products in under warranty and what was the process like?
Sorry to hear that.I dont know if this helps but when I flashed 1109 i was expecting to flash from the sd card manualy but it did it on its own with the spinning droid and that was over soulgem v3.0.I had nothing else on the sd card only the firmware.I dont know if this helps you.Try it again with the sd card and power and - button held down you have nothing to lose.
 
#4 · (Edited by Moderator)
Continued from first post.

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Method Four - FLDC's Batch 3 Method.

FLDC's Batch 3 unbricking method will only work for chengnen.tan kernel Batch 3 Crystal tablets. It's also the only method as of now that will keep the chengnen.tan kernel when the device becomes unbricked. With my Batch 3 unbricking method, the chengnen.tan kernel is replaced with the grady.wang kernel from the Batch 2 Crystals.

Here is a link to the original thread.
Here is a link to the files you need hosted by FLDC.
Here they are all in one .zip package hosted by me.

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Linux Users

Step 1
  • Load the usb_recovery.zip into the AML Software.
  • The custom bootloader will load a recovery image and give you ADB access.
  • Run the software and if you get a failure at 100% then ignore it.
Step 2
  • Open the CM101 folder which contains a script for a complete recovery of the system and "cm10.1 + gapps + batch 3 compatibility."
  • Run recovery.sh and it will run through a long process of flashing your device.
  • When the script has finished running, power down the your tablet.
Step 3
  • Input an SD card with TWRP for Batch 3 into your tablet.
  • Remove the USB connection to your computer while booting or you'll go back to M3/M6 mode.
  • Hold down the Power and Vol - buttons to boot into TWRP.
  • Don't flash anything with TWRP yet.
  • Using ADB, run the recovery.sh script again. It can't recover completely the first time, so it needs to be run twice.
Step 4
  • Use the command "adb push aml_autoscript /sdcard" or manually copy the aml_autoscript to your SD card.
  • Remove the USB connection to your computer while booting or you'll go back to M3/M6 mode.
  • Boot the device with the aml_autoscript on your SD card using only the Power button.
  • The screen will flash when the aml_autoscript has been run.
  • Pull out the SD card and boot up as you normally would. If your device boots then it worked!
----------------------------------------------------------

Windows Users

You need to have ADB installed. Follow the instructions for the AML software and when you get to the step where you would run the recovery.sh script, instead open your command prompt. Navigate to your ADB folder where you'd placed the files from FLDC's package and run though the following commands:

Code:
adb push fdisk.cmd /tmp<br />
adb push fdisk.sh /tmp<br />
adb shell chmod 775 /tmp/fdisk.sh<br />
adb shell /tmp/fdisk.sh<br />
adb shell parted -s /dev/block/avnftli mkfs 1 fat32<br />
adb push update.zip /tmp<br />
adb push update-binary /tmp<br />
adb shell chmod 775 /tmp/update-binary<br />
adb shell /tmp/update-binary 3 stdout /tmp/update.zip
  • Next copy the Batch 3 TWRP to your SD card.
  • Remove the USB cable from your tablet
  • Boot the device using the Power and Vol- buttons.
  • Insert the USB cable.
From the TWRP recovery run through the following commands:

Code:
adb push update.zip /tmp<br />
adb push update-binary /tmp<br />
adb shell chmod 775 /tmp/update-binary<br />
adb shell /tmp/update-binary 3 stdout /tmp/update.zip<br />
adb push aml_autoscript /sdcard
  • Remove the USB connection to your computer while booting or you'll go back to M3/M6 mode.
  • Boot the device with the aml_autoscript on your SD card using only the Power button.
  • The screen will flash when the aml_autoscript has been run.
  • Pull out the SD card and boot up as you normally would. If your device boots then it worked!
Alternatively, if you are familiar with Cygwin, you can edit the recovery.sh file so that each line has ./ in front of it. For example:
Code:
<br />
#!/bin/sh<br />
<br />
echo "Uploading files..."<br />
./adb push fdisk.cmd /tmp<br />
./adb push fdisk.sh /tmp<br />
./adb push update.zip /tmp<br />
./adb push update-binary /tmp<br />
./adb shell chmod 775 /tmp/fdisk.sh /tmp/update-binary<br />
echo "Creating and formatting userdata partition, ignore any errors if you're running this the second boot..."<br />
./adb shell /tmp/fdisk.sh<br />
./adb shell parted -s /dev/block/avnftli mkfs 1 fat32<br />
echo "Restoring partitions and installing CM 10.1..."<br />
./adb shell /tmp/update-binary 3 stdout /tmp/update.zip<br />
echo "Done, if this was your first run, copy uImage_recovery to SD and reboot."<br />
echo "If this was your second run, copy aml_autoscript to SD and reboot."<br />
echo "Don't forget to remove your usb cable..."
Then you can run the script in Cygwin instead of having to type out all the commands.

----------------------------------------------------------

Trouble-shooting

For those unfamiliar with ADB, if your device isn't listed, you may have to do:

Code:
adb kill-server<br />
adb start-server
Then of course use the "adb devices" command to see if the device is listed.

----------------------------------------------------------

Manual Partition Fixing

I can confirm this works for the Fire, Hero and Crystal if you really messed up your internal partition. Only do this if you are absolutely sure that all other methods have failed and absolutely sure that you performed all the other methods correctly. If you are not 100% sure then go back and try them again. This is serious stuff though, so do some research, understand what you are doing and don't make mistakes. I take absolutely no responsibility if you try this and mess up your tablet even more and I can't really "make a video," give "step by step" instructions or explain it further, at least for now...

So, since this is rather complicated, you probably shouldn't do it if you don't know how and I can't really write up a "how to" or guide at the moment. I just wanted to let people who know what they are doing or have time to write up a guide for others, that you can fix the downgrade partition problem from EXT4 back to UBIFS with adb parted. Or if you have seriously messed up your partitions and all other methods do not work for you:

Boot into TWRP, connect your tablet to the computer. To make sure adb is working and you are connected, type:

Code:
adb kill-server<br />
adb start-server<br />
adb devices
To show you a list of the paritions type the following commands. mtdblock8 and avnftli are the ones that are usually messed up. They should have rather large sizes, mtdblock8 is your internal media storage and avnftli is your internal system storage. I have no idea what avnftli1 is but it also has something to do with the internal storage, like a mirror of avnftli maybe.
Code:
<br />
adb shell cat /proc/partitions<br />
adb shell parted /dev/block/mtdblock8 print<br />
adb shell parted /dev/block/avnftli print<br />
adb shell parted /dev/block/avnftli1 print
For more detailed info on each partitions type the following commands. You want to see if the partition is formatted in FAT32 and labeled as MSDOS. It might show you details or it might even say that there is not a valid partition table. Make sure you have the right partition names.

Code:
<br />
adb shell fdisk -l /dev/block/mtdblock8<br />
adb shell fdisk -l /dev/block/avnftli<br />
adb shell fdisk -l /dev/block/avnftli1
The above commands should output something that looks like this but if it's messed up it probably won't have any info on the last line:

Code:
<br />
Disk /dev/block/avnftli: 13.7 GB, 13723762688 bytes255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 1668 cylinders<br />
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes                        Device Boot 	Start       	End 	Blocks  Id System<br />
/dev/block/avnftli1                 	3   	1668    13382145   b Win95 FAT32
You might not have to format the 'mtdblock8' you should 'print' all your blocks before you do anything and see where you are at. Do this to format avnftli if you need to:

Code:
adb shell parted -s /dev/block/avnftli mkfs 1 fat32
Re-check your partitions, you might now have avnftli1 when you didn't have it the first time around. Sometimes you will need to label avnftli1 and/or avnftli, do that with this:

Code:
adb shell parted -s /dev/block/avnftli1 mklabel msdos
You might also have to format mtdblock8 with the same command as you did with avnftli and might have to label that as well like you did with avnftli1.

Code:
adb shell parted -s /dev/block/mtdblock8 mkfs 1 fat32
and then:

Code:
adb shell parted -s /dev/block/mtdblock8 mklabel msdos
-----

Just to be clear though, you should know that you need to format or relabel a partition and not just run through these commands without checking and understanding what is going on with the partitions first.

----------------------------------------------------------

Diagram on AML Software Package / SD Rescue Card Convsersion



----------------------------------------------------------

Here's the back story and the steps that led me to writing the first version of this guide:

I have a Batch 1 Crystal that only works on the CM10 1.0.3 Comp Zip, so it's one of the "Legacy" Batch 1 tablets. I decided to flash the official 11-09 Ainol Crystal stock firmware and check it out. I was coming from C10 and after booting back into the Stock Recovery I tried to flash the stock firmware. It said "installation aborted" and would not install the ROM. I tried downloading it again in case the file was bad. Didn't work the second time either. So I tried going back to CM10 and that didn't work. Then I tried flashing the 11-19 stock firmware instead and that is where things got interesting.

The screen went black but was still backlit, so I could tell the screen was on. I saw a bright white dot in one of the corners of the screen. I waited a little while and nothing happened, so I tried to reboot it by holding down the power button and then turning it back on. The Crystal powered down but then it would not turn back on! I attempted to send it back to "Mc Bub .com" where I bought this one and they gave me the run around. They did respond to every email I sent but they just kept saying that I should "factory reset" it and that they had none of the necessary files. So on a side note, although I got my tablet from them quickly and at a good price, their customer service sucks and if you get a bad tablet you will never get anything but emails. So if you are in the U.S. stick with F&L Superstore, who at this point I have heard many good things about.

As I attempted to solve this problem I update this thread.

UPDATE 1: I have an interesting development here. If I plug the tablet into my computer it shows up in the device manager as "M6-CHIP" with no drivers installed. Any ideas?

UPDATE 2: Following the directions in this thread I downloaded the regular USB drivers, changed the ID in the .inf file and installed them. The device now shows up as an "Android Original ADB Interface" device but it has the yellow triangle with the question mark and the device can't be started.

UPDATE 3: Neither the Unbrick Tool or the Amlogic Low Level Flashing Tool has worked for me, however, I can get my internal SD card to mount now.

UPDATE 4: I was finally able to get the Unbrick Tool to work by using EASUS partition master to reformat my external SD card to 2GB and I used the USB Image Tool to burn the Ainol Fire's recovery image to the now 2GB SD card. I then replaced the Ainol Fire's ROM and boot image files with the official Crystal firmware and boot image files. I don't know if the boot image files are different, so I decided to be safe. The Unbrick Tool did not install the ROM however and I could not install it from within the Recovery because the external SD card was not being recognized. So I sideloaded it with ADB and the command prompt. I got the tablet to boot up into the stock firmware, which is a huge step from having a tablet whose screen wouldn't even turn on.

UPDATE 4: I reformatted the SD card back to normal size in Windows 7 but I could not get the external SD card to show up in recovery, so I tried sideloading Jasper and SoulGem with ADB. Jasper wouldn't install but SoulGem did install. I still couldn't get the SD card recognized until I went to "Settings --> Storage --> Erase SD card." Then when I went into recovery I could see the Jasper ROM but it still won't load, it says "installation aborted." Turns out the Jasper ROM was packed inside a .zip file that had to be extracted first.

UPDATE 5: At the moment I can't get Clockwork Recovery to work by putting the boot files on the external SD card, so no CM10 ROM.

UPDATE 6: In an attempt to fix the CWM recovery problem, I "bricked" my device again but that gave me a chance to confirm that you can use the ELF II Rescue image to bring the Crystal back to life. I then flashed the official Crystal firmware on an SD card and installed it from the recovery. From there I was able to just copy the CWM recovery files onto the external SD card, boot into CWM and flash CM10. So hopefully everything is back to normal.

---END OF BACK STORY---
 
#6 · (Edited by Moderator)
I bought a Fire which had a broken camera. I emailed GG for an RMA which I received.

Try your retailer first.
If that doesn't work, then you have to go to Ainol directly. Contact them and get an RMA. Shipping will be expensive. The value of the return will be about US$10, and will be for an "electronic repair" which makes the tablet "used" in the eyes of China customs. Hum the song "On A Slow Boat To China" when you are at the Post Office. The clerk will know what to do.
 
#8 · (Edited by Moderator)
that's really bad news.
I got white dot on the screen all the time for about a week, but it's just a dead pixel, the screen works.
I assume you've already tried turning it on connected (I'd say 15 minutes at least) to AC adapter? it helped me turn my crystal back to life in first SoD, though I had to have power button pressed down for approx. half a minute.
if nothing helps, I agree with Alan, try your retailer first.

there's still a discussion about rooted android devices warranty, recently I read an (Polish) article about it which was saying that the producer has no rights to cancel warranty because of that (changing roms may come with it). I hope you'll get it fixed, or replaced.
_

one more thing came to my head, if it'll be screen issue only - what will happen if you connect your crystal via hdmi to any other output?
but in this case it seems more like something else than screen actually.
 
#9 · (Edited by Moderator)
Unfortunately it doesn't turn on at all so I can't test the HDMI or do any troubleshooting at all. It's been plugged in through the USB charger overnight and no change. I don't have a DC barrel charger to try and charge with. I tried holding down the power button for a really long time but no luck. I contacted the retailer and hopefully they will be able to replace it.

EDIT: I have an interesting development here. If I plug the tablet into my computer it shows up in the device manager as "M6-CHIP" with no drivers installed. Any ideas?
 
#12 ·
UPDATE: I was finally able to get the Unbrick Tool to work by using EASUS partition master to reformat my external SD card to 2GB. The Unbrick Tool did not install the ROM however and I could not install it from within the Recovery. So I sideloaded it with ADB and the command prompt. I got the tablet to boot up into the stock firmware, which is a huge step from having a tablet whose screen wouldn't even turn on.

I'm going to rename this thread, compile all the info and download links I collected and describe how to unbrick your Crystal if you ever run into the same problem as me. It might take me a while to sort out all the files and info though.
 
#15 ·
UPDATE 6: In an attempt to fix the CWM recovery problem, I "bricked" my device again but that gave me a chance to confirm that you can use the ELF II Rescue image to bring the Crystal back to life. I then flashed the official Crystal firmware on an SD card and installed it from the recovery. From there I was able to just copy the CWM recovery files onto the external SD card, boot into CWM and flash CM10. So hopefully everything is back to normal.
 
#18 ·
Finally renamed the thread "[HOW TO] Unbrick your Ainol Crystal" and wrote up a step by step guide.
 
#19 ·
Hi, I have a problem with my crystal from batch 121208, after some cwm flashing fails, I now have a "hard" brick. I'm trying to use aml flash, I can get to M3 and M6 mode and start the procedure, well, it only starts properly in M3, what are the difference in these modes? But unfortunately the device shuts down while loading u-boot, is this one using some new incompatible bootloader?
 
#22 ·
#23 ·
Once we get the 1208 firmware, we should be able to pull the bootloader and create a auto-flashable SD card. But if you hard bricked then you might have to experiment with the AML Flash tool as well. I've gotten a lot of reports that the AML flash tool got people out of M3 and M6 mode (I don't know the difference) and then there were able to use ADB or the SD card method but I've also got some reports from people who can't get the AML Flash tool working for them.
 
#24 · (Edited by Moderator)
I happend to have a second tablet from the same batch with cyanogenmod installed, so i can't get the entire stock firmware, but here is a nanddump of bootloader and recovery.
So if someone is better at extracting the correct files from these than I am or helping out with some pointers, any help would be greatly appreciated. I did create u-boot-orig.bin by just removing the trailing zeros on the bootloader dump, but didn't have any bigger luck booting anything in AML flash, if something else is needed just tell me

Also, I tried reading out usb_spl.bin at 0xd9000000 with update.exe but I don't know the length.

http://goo.gl/tfWSL
 
#25 · (Edited by Moderator)
Contact tigger-gg and she can talk you through getting everything we need. We also need some things for a batch 3 comp zip for the Crystal Clear ROM, so that would be super helpful.
 
#27 ·
All you can do is wait for a solution unless you troubleshoot it yourself. We're trying to get someone to make a nandroid backup and send it to us but no one has responded yet.
 
#29 ·
Tigger-gg has an idea. I guess what you would need to do is extract the CWM (Clockwork Recovery) files to your external SD card, boot into CWM, make a nandroid backup, boot up the tablet, copy the nandroid backup to your computer, upload it somewhere and post a link to the file.
 
#31 ·
Hi there, I bought two Crystals, one for each of my sons and these arrived today.

Having managed to get CM10 working on my Fire ... I was unfortunately feeling way too clever and tried to do the same on one of my son's Crystals ... which is now bricked :-(

I am wondering (and please bear with me - while I am very computer literate, I am very new to this ...) if it is possible to do a backup from the working one and get it working on the bricked one?
Also ... can I get information from the going one that would be of use to anyone here?

The serial numbers on the two units are 20 numbers different so I would guess that they are both from that 3rd batch ...
Best give me really good instructions given what I have already managed to achieve today!


Fiona
 
#35 · (Edited by Moderator)
Hi friends
Yesterday I received two Ainol crystal with 1119 firmware of stock.
two worked well.

is a Batch 3 121208G16954

I wanted to put the ROM soulgem and the zip in sdcard.No remembered that at that had a firmware Ainol HERO in sdcard .put a sdcard in the crystal and to start with volume - and power appeared android robot, went out and I could not return to the boot anymore.Always Black screen !!!! on a PC does not recognize nothing . Im desperate and not to do.

The oter Ainol Crystal is originally with 1119 (work fine ,becasuse idont touch XD )

Help please!!!!!!

If i can help with any backup or something ..... i dont know how
 
#36 ·
hi,please help me am stuck at desperately,i have done this procedure 20x with no luck still stuck at 78%
My tablet details:
Device manager is M6-chip.
Number on the back is 121008G02907
i get this error message:
current pc version is: win7
-----importUpgradeFile-----filenameD:\Njogu Stuff\ainol\AML FLASH\AML FLASH\AMLFLASH.zip
[T 1][18:02:59]: load spl ...
[T 1][18:03:00]: Transfer Complete! total size is 18456 Bytes
[T 1][18:03:09]: load uboot ...
[T 1][18:03:10]: load uboot ...
[T 1][18:03:11]: load uboot ...
[T 1][18:03:12]: load uboot ...
[18:03:13]: ---------call System reinstall driver------------
[T 1][18:03:13]: load uboot ...
[T 1][18:03:14]: load uboot ...
[T 1][18:03:15]: load uboot ...
[T 1][18:03:16]: load uboot ...
[T 1][18:03:17]: load uboot ...
[T 1][18:03:19]: load uboot ...
[T 1][18:03:20]: load uboot ...
[T 1][18:03:21]: load uboot ...
[T 1][18:03:22]: load uboot ...
[T 1][18:03:23]: load uboot ...
[T 1][18:03:24]: load uboot ...
[T 1][18:03:25]: load uboot ...
[T 1][18:03:26]: load uboot ...
[T 1][18:03:27]: load uboot ...
[T 1][18:03:28]: load uboot ...
[T 1][18:03:29]: load uboot ...
[T 1][18:03:30]: load uboot ...
[T 1][18:03:30]: load uboot failed 15 times,maybe because the spl code run err
[T 1][18:03:32]: failed because no connected device ,current step is 1

[18:03:59]: ---------call System reinstall driver------------
[T 3][18:07:14]: load command: setenv recovery_command --usb_burning
[T 3][18:07:15]: command exec:cmd_in_mem 0x82000000
[T 3][18:07:16]: command exec:save
[T 3][18:07:17]: load uimage ...
[T 3][18:07:18]: Transfer Complete! total size is 4002649 Bytes
[T 3][18:07:24]: test command exec: crc 0x82000000 4002649 bd77e8c3
[T 3][18:07:24]: command exec: crc 0x82000000 4002649 bd77e8c3
[T 3][18:07:24]: sendCommandWithReply: crc 0x82000000 4002649 bd77e8c3 maxCount:30
[T 3][18:07:25]: command exec:bootm 0x82000000
[T 3][18:07:27]: boot uImage ...
[T 3][18:08:02]: cannot find disk!
[T 3][18:08:03]: failed because no connected device ,current step is 18

What am i doing wrong? Kindly but urgently help me i have attached the SCREEN SHOTS View attachment steps continued.pdf , View attachment steps continued.pdf
 

Attachments

#37 ·
Hi

GREAT TUTORIAL BTW very helpful


I have few ainol mars that are bricked....the only +ve is when i prepare a recovery card with usbit (USB IMAGE TOOL) the mars actually start flashing with that TF card inserted and power button pressed.
msg on flashing screen is

"upgrade step1!Do not Power off!"

this continues till battery dies (i guess)

I think it is the file structure and or commands in the "aml_autoscript" and the "factory_update_param.aml" i tried to change "factory_update_param.aml" with the commands in order of

--wipe_data
--wipe_cache
--wipe_media
--update_package=/sdcard/*****.zip

no luck as yet

Please help
 
#38 ·
What firmware are you trying to flash on your Mars? I took a peak over in your subforum and it doesn't look like there is any official firmware or recovery images posted there.
 
#39 ·
Updated the original post. More to come in the next few days/weeks.
 
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