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Tutorial: how-to fix a A10 Livesuite rom

61K views 28 replies 19 participants last post by  -Heroes- 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
Seems it can be useful to sum a little how-to in order to fix a Livesuite rom. Many times the tablet goes belly up and you don't have the original firmware, so there's no way to fix it unless you want to do some homework.
This comes from 6 months of experience, dealing with Anonymous A10 tablets; corrections and improvements are welcomed, however i don't think i can say something more that isn't already expressed here.

Basically 90% of the Allwinner A10 rom + Mali GPU are "universal", so these can customized to other tablets.
The problem lies in a 15%: the 10% missing from above, and a 5% due to the configuration of the board.

First of all, the most important thing is to find out a rom that can boot OK and the screen is working. If the touchscreen isn't working, use a mouse plugged on the usb port. Check out what works and what doesnt.
Second, some other rom in which something else does works and some doesn't.
We need to pick the specific settings of a working ROM device in order to make it work on another ROM.
It can be quite boring, however - unless you want to phisically open your tablet and take note of the specific ICs that are inside - we do not have other way that "trial and error" in order to identify the hardware inside, so it's important taking note each time you load a rom of what works and what doesn't.

Useful Hint 1: sometimes the configuration file doesn't show ALL the .ko modules available on this specific rom; it is ALWAYS useful, when loading a new ROM for cherrypicking informations, to take note not only of the specific kernel builds and vermagic but also of what .ko modules are available in the /vendor/modules folder. Better, save it somewhere along with the fex configuration file. It may happen that you need not the module (already present!) but only the missing correct configuration in the fex file.

Useful Hint 2: if a vendor does offer a bunck of upgrades at the same time, it is very likely that all these roms are compiled from the same source and builds, thus it'ìs easy these can be compatibles; in the desperate case you need a module that isn't on you best_until_now rom (the 10% of above), having other roms from the same manufacturer to open and see IF the drivers you're looking for is present is a must.

LCD-RELATED PROBLEMS (screen shifted)
These are due to unsupported settings; if the rom you're flashing is from a tablet of the same size it should work.
However, if you need to change the lcd settings, check out the [lcd0_para] from the rom that is working and make it same on the rom you're trying to modify. This is true also if you're modifying a rom which is set for a different screen size (= a rom originally set for 1024x600 CAN be modded to work on a 800x480 IF YOU do the correct modification to the [lcd0_para]).

WIFI-RELATED PROBLEMS
This can depend by two things:
a) wrong USB port configuration
missing drivers

The first point is crucial: check out the [usbcX_para] (X= from 0 to 3) and see if some of them is not active (usb_used=0); if it is so, put 1 instead of 0.
If the wifi again doesn't work, you need to check out on another rom (=flash it and test it) which are the correct drivers for it.

CAMERA-RELATED PROBLEMS
Camera not working usually depend from settings. The section concerning the camera is the [csiX_para], usually there are two drivers, gc0308 and gt2005; try to activate them one at the time (csi_used=1) and eventually fix the inverted image with the hflip/vflip settings.

G-SENSOR-RELATED PROBLEMS
The spefific area is the [gsensor_para], there are four g-sensor IC that i know, and the one always present is the bma250. The rarest suppoerted one is the dmard06. A rom may have entires for one to four g-sensor, check out what is supported and try it.

TOUCHSCREEN-RELATED PROBLEMS
This is the most problematic area, since there are many touchscreen controllers and not all drivers are present in a rom.
We can divide the touchscreen controllers in three branch: a) Focaltech (ft5x_ts); b: Goodix; c) Others.
a) the ft5x_ts does need to load a specific firmware into the touchscreen rom, so it can be dangerous to use a different sized rom. I have no experience on the ft5x_ts, so don't blame me for something i can't test. The positive thing is that the ft5x_ts is always present in a rom.
Goodix: there are many different chips, each one need a specific driver: goodix_touch_801, goodix_touch_811 (and variants), goodix_touch_818, goodix_touch_82x. Not always found in roms, especially the 811.
c) new controllers now presents are: ssd253x-ts, novatek-ts, zet622x-ts.
It is very important that the size screen is reported correctly in this secion: if you have a lcd screen at 800x80, the ctp_screen_max_X and Y must match.

OK I WANT TO DO SOMETHING, HOW CAN I DO IT?
I take this part from some previous posts here with a bit of reorganization.

You need:
a working Windows pc;
LiveSuite 1.09
Some other tools described in the text
USB mouse, for tablet navigation
a Livesuite image

Step n.1: Software needed
Download and install (extract into a folder) ImageSuite
http://www.slatedroid.com/topic/28942-50-to-the-first-person-to-figure-this-out/page__view__findpost__p__310449

Download and install MagicIso
http://www.magiciso.com

Download and install (extract into a folder) UnScript
http://tabletrepublic.com/forum/cortex-a8-allwinner-a10/%5Bdev%5D-reversing-compiled-scripts-410.html#post6396

Download and install Notepad++
http://notepad-plus-plus.org/

Step n.2: unpacking the image

Copy inside the Imagesuite folder the IMG firmware file you need to modify (in this example MYTAB.IMG)
open a command prompt and run
EXTRACT_IMG MYTAB.IMG

Let it work for some minute and get a coffee.

When the program is over, you will have a new folder called IMAGE.IMG.DUMP which is the firmware dissected in its parts.

Step n.3: Unscripting the Fex

With MagicIso open the file RFSFAT16_BOOTLOADER_00000 present in the IMAGE.IMG.DUMP above; now you can see what's inside.
Place the bottom windows of MagicIso on the Unscript folder and drag there the SCRIPT.BIN and SCRIPT0.BIN files.
Don't close MagicIso.
Open a command prompt and run UNSCRIPT SCRIPT.BIN it will decode the script.bin file into a sys_config1.fex
Open the sys_config1.fex file with Notepad++

Step n.4: opening the COMMON

Open the file COMMON _SYS_CONFIG100000 present in the IMAGE.IMG.DUMP above with Notepad++.

Step n.5:

Now you have the configuration files at your hands: do the modification you need ON BOTH FILES (the modification MUST MATCH), then save and close the files.
EDIT: CHECK OUT CAREFULLY, AT THE END OF BOTH FILES, THAT THE [recovery_key] VALUES MATCH THE ONES OF THE ROM YOU HAVE THAT IS PARTIALLY WORKING.

Step 6: Scripting the Fex and saving the mods.

First, encode the modded sys_config1.fex file with the command SCRIPT SYS_CONFIG1.FEX
This creates a sys_config1.bin; let's rename the old script.bin into old_script.bin and rename the sys_config1.bin into script.bin.
Copy script.bin script0.bin
Now you do have the newly modded script.bin and script0.bin; on MagicIso, select the two files and drag them into the upper window, which is the disk image we have opened before; MagicIo will ask for confirmation in order to replace the files, say yes twice.
Now save the ISO image and close MagicIso.

Step 7: creation of a Livesuite image file

*SUGGESTION: edit the repack_ics.bat and remove,or comment, the last line
if exist image.img.dump rd /q /s image.img.dump
because if something on the step goes wrong... well, you can imagine it.*

From the command prompt of step 2 run REPACK_ICS.BAT IMAGE.IMG.DUMP and let it work; time for a beer.
At the end of the process (and the beer!) you will have a new file IMAGE.IMG ready to flash with Livesuite.

HEY... HOW CAN I IDENTIFY SOMETHING THAT IS WORKING?

If these do works, you can see what modules are installed and in use:
a) if you have ADB installed, using the commands
adb shell
lsmod

installing a Terminal Emulator on your tablet, opening a command prompt and issuing the command
lsmod

so you can see what drivers are loaded.
Take note and check on the FEX file where the modules are in a specific section, so you can identify one by one what it does and (more important) the exact hardware you have in your tablet. Little by little and with some luck you can get the full hardware specifications of your device.

AND WHAT ABOUT THE MODULES PRESENT IN THE ROM?
At present time i don't know any method to see what's inside the VENDOR/MODULES folder on Windows without flashing the image (if someone knows how to do it on a Windows machine i'm all ear!); a nice tool for this purpose is the rootexplorer.apk that allows you to dig into the system folders and take note of what's inside.

WELL, THIS SEEMS A ROAD TO HELL...
It's a bit annoying but no one else can do the work other than you, since you have the tablet that need a rom and we can't know what's inside.
 
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#7 ·
hi all..
it is possible to use this for JB ROM..?

i have T02a and try to use another Firmware from LY-F1 JB 4.1.1
when i flash the firmware everything work fine and smooth except the G-Sensor

so, i try to follow this Tutorial, step 1 to 7 i did well..
what i do in step 5 is do the modification part in [gsensor_para] change the sensor to "mxc622x".. finish all the step and i have flashable image.img

success with flashing it to the tablet, but i find that the G-Sensor still not working

when i go the /system with root explorer i find that init.sun4i.rc become empty


am i do it wrong ? and please tell or show me which part i have to edit to make the Sensor working..

thanks and respect
 
#10 ·
hi all..
it is possible to use this for JB ROM..?
i have T02a and try to use another Firmware from LY-F1 JB 4.1.1
when i flash the firmware everything work fine and smooth except the G-Sensor
so, i try to follow this Tutorial, step 1 to 7 i did well..
what i do in step 5 is do the modification part in [gsensor_para] change the sensor to "mxc622x".. finish all the step and i have flashable image.img
success with flashing it to the tablet, but i find that the G-Sensor still not working

when i go the /system with root explorer i find that init.sun4i.rc become empty

am i do it wrong ? and please tell or show me which part i have to edit to make the Sensor working..
In order to make it work it is needed to insert several things on the init.sun4i.rc *present in the boot image* - so you need a Win machine with cygwin or a linux machine in order to unpack the ramdisk present in the boot image and repack it.
What to insert:

1) two insmod references for loading the g-sensor drivers
2) setting the variables specific for the g-sensor.

If you download and analyze this rom

http://www.androidiani.com/forum/mediacom-smartpad-711i/266185-rom-custom-aokp-4-1-2-jelly-bean-per-mediacom-711i.html

you can find out the right lines and settings for the g-sensor.
 
#16 ·
Hi, i have a mid tabler model HBD-Mid-708G like that http://marcopolocompany.fucsio.com/e...oducts/MC-708G . This is a Boxchip a10 with 11 partitions, i get this info throw ADB.
My problem was try to install CWM getting the error Can´t Mount / Read!!!!!
I have been used this roms:
F1-4.1.1-20130319.2.0.6-A721_v4.2
pdf_android4.0.10_ctp7_public_en_0319
Q7_512M+flash+Gmail
rom_woo_comet_404_291112_0cd4d
RSH-A10-C2
speed.1.1.1
sun4i_crane_t01a-linsay-20120411

and only rom_woo_comet where some Ok! .
Solved this CWM problem flashing a rom_woo_comet using LiveSuit but the result is an screen resolution problem: (the image attach) .
So please any can say me a correct rom?
Thanks
 

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#22 ·
I found this thread very useful, but I need clarifications on a couple of things.
Before starting, I explain my situation: I flashed a new .img file on my tablet and it works well except the wifi that seems dead (and obviously I didn't make a backup of the rom). My tablet is a Majestic TAB-192 and it should be a A13 (M901) (I know this isn't the right section, but I hope it's ok as it's not strictly CPU-related).

Now I can ask questions.
WIFI-RELATED PROBLEMS
This can depend by two things:
a) wrong USB port configuration
missing drivers

The first point is crucial: check out the [usbcX_para] (X= from 0 to 3) and see if some of them is not active (usb_used=0); if it is so, put 1 instead of 0.
If the wifi again doesn't work, you need to check out on another rom (=flash it and test it) which are the correct drivers for it.
Where can I find those usb_used parameters? They can be found only by doing the procedure described in the first post? Or could they be changed somewhere in some configuration file without reflashing?
In case of missing drivers, there is something like a modules collection without the need to flash other roms (I tried two other roms but none of them had wifi working).

I like linux OSes but Android under-the-hood system looks not friendly at all to me, it's very different from a standard linux system (I cannot even do a lspci to know some hardware info, wtf?).

Thank you.
 
#24 · (Edited by Moderator)
Just curious do you have the kernel modules in /lib/modules and/or /vendor/modules?
There is no /lib directory.

In /vendor/modules/ there are many modules, including some wifi related like
8188eu.ko
8192cu.ko
bcm4330.ko
rt5370sta.ko
rt18150.ko
(these are the ones I recognize as wifi modules).

lsmod tells me that:
rt18150 10305 0 - Live 0xbf0f3000

If you need I can post the whole output of the commands (I didn't do it because adb doesn't seem to recognize my tablet).
Thanks.

EDIT: primarily I need to know where to change those usb_used parameters.
 
#29 ·
Can someone help me? I have an "good rom" for my tablet Allview Alldro Speed S EU - Allwinner A10 with Mali -400 800x480 screen resolution the only problem I found is with the touch screen - is not working.

This is the page of the tablet: http://allview.ro/produse/arhiva/tablete/alldro-speed-s-eu.html

I try to download this http://tabletrepublic.com/forum/cortex-a8-allwinner-a10/%5Bdev%5D-reversing-compiled-scripts-410.html#post6396 from the begining of the post and is not working.

I need the software from this link to be able to try the steps on this post.

Please help me with this files if is possible or with something else to solve the touch screen problem.

Thnak you.
 
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