HELP--keep getting message "Firmware File is Bad"

[AndroidFanNM]

I just received my Le Pan, and have spent too much time trying to install the firmware update. I think I've backed up everything onto the SD card, copied the Firmware files to the SD card, but when I get to the screen after pressing volume- and power, it tells me the file is bad. What am I doing wrong??? I had wanted to do this before I install all my apps, but I'm getting ready to throw the tablet out the window instead. HELP!

 

[Johna2u]

I think they address that issue on the lepantab.com site. remove and reinsert your card. then try again. some people say the le pan will only boot from a 2 gig card for updates. try putting the files on a 2 gig card. also make sure you unzipped the download and are installi
ng the 3 files to the root of the sd card. meaning not in a folder.

 

[Johna2u]

also just to be clear. the update on the le pan site is for the tc970. not the le pan II.

 

[Spaceboy62]

However, if you have the TC979 (aka Le Pan II) and the tablet is trying to do an update, Le pan says don't bother with this one for now.

 

[yann2]

AndroiFanNM,

Johna2u is right on the money - I had the same awful experience with flashing new firmware, and can feel your pain.

Th most likely cause of the error message is that you are using a larger SDcard. I could not get it to work with my new 16 GB card, yet it worked fine when I copied the same firmware to the LePan-provided, 2 GB card.

chinabull (a developer at XDA Forums, who's working in LePan custom tools and firmware development) has said the reason for the error is the LePan's firmware boot loader not being able to use anything other than FAT16 partitions. Any partition or card larger than 2 GB will be formatted in FAT32 (a brand new, store bought card for example). And the system is unable to read the file properly, giving you that error message.

Some people said it worked for them from larger cards; that was NOT my experience.

The help on this issue in the LePan Tech Support area is very poor ('try re-seating the SDcard'). I wish they would recognize this issue, clarify and add a note specifically for it.

Other possible reasons for failure are explained and covered there (ie, the files having to be in the root directory of the SDcard for it to work); but not a word about the partition size issue, which imo is the deal breaker here.

Good luck!

 

[AndroidFanNM]

Thanks for your replies--I thought of the SD card thing, and moved everything over to the 2g SD card that came with it. I'm confused about the root thing--how do I copy the files to the root?

 

[Johna2u]

The root just means put the files on the sd but not in a folder on the sd card. Example lets say your sd card shows up as drive G: Put the files in G:\\ not in G:\\folder\

You should have
griffin.ifw
iboot.ism
MLO

 

[GnatGoSplat]

It may be obvious to most, but one thing that caused me to see that error is not unzipping the files first! Every other Android device I had installs the firmware from a .zip file, but the Le Pan is different.

 

[brandonnichols360]

Go watch this, i put up a video of cm7 on my le pan tablet

Sent from my TC970 (Wi-Fi) using Android Tablet Forum

 

[yann2]

chinabull (a developer at XDA Forums, who's working in LePan custom tools and firmware development) has said the reason for the error is the LePan's firmware boot loader not being able to use anything other than FAT16 partitions. Any partition or card larger than 2 GB will be formatted in FAT32 (a brand new, store bought card for example). And the system is unable to read the file properly, giving you that error message.

Well, you live and learn.

Chinabull had said he thought the bootloader would not work on a partition larger than 2 GB. The 'FAT32' not supported was my own conclusion, since FAT16 only would go up to 2 GB max.

However, my own 2 GB le pan-provided SD card is now formatted with FAT32, and it worked for loading ClockWorkMod (CWM) to install the Beat 1 of Gingerbread for the Le Pan 1.

I think the 'does't work, file is bad' problem might be related to card quality or something else. The 2 GB card is Sandisk, and not rated in the package; but benchmarks as a Class 6 more or less. My othr card, a Patriot LX Class 10 does not work for the firmware install, and is not performing at Class 10 speeds either. BTW - Do NOT buy Patriot cards, they seem to be exaggerating/false advertising the speed of their products.

 

[AndroidFanNM]

Got it done--thanks everyone for your help! Le Pan working great now!