Linux Users, Coby 1042, Root, Recovery, Update, All Without Livesuite,

You don't need to use the boot.img or custom rom, unless you want to, they are provided as is. the main thing is to install the recovery and use it to backup your tablet before making any other changes.

Also note I have no way to test anything I have made, I simply used the dump provided on this forum, if your 1042 is different the version I used, this custom rom might not work correctly for you.

Don't ask how to setup adb in this thread,no help will be provided for that.

Read through entire thread before trying this or before asking questions, I have limited time and wont answer questioned that have already been covered on this forum

What I will be covering in this thread is how to root, install recovery, install a modified boot.img, install a custom rom. all without using "livesuite"

you will need adb setup and working, I am a Linux user, don't want to use windows to modify my tablets.

Anyway lets begin.

download 1042_root_recovery.zip

1042_root_recovery.zip


extract to your desktop you should have a folder called data, and a text file root_recovery, it contains the following commands. type one command at a time allow each command to finish before typing next command.

The first command is simply coping the contents of the data folder to your tablet, the second command is asking for shell, third and fourth commands are setting permissions, fifth command is sending exploit, sixth command is asking for root permission, seventh command is installing recovery, eight command is booting into recovery.

open a terminal

adb push data /data/local/tmp/

adb shell

chmod 0777 /data/local/tmp/mempodroid

chmod 0777 /data/local/tmp/install-recovery.sh

/data/local/tmp/mempodroid 0xd7cc 0xad27 sh /data/local/tmp/root.sh

su "Note at this point you can backup your system, recovery and boot.img, you don't have to but you might want to, see note 1 below."

/data/local/tmp/install-recovery.sh

/system/bin/reboot-recovery

once in recovery

volume up and down to navigate power to execute. silver button is back.

at this time you should make a backup.

download 1042_boot.zip

1042_boot.zip

adb push 1042_boot.zip /sdcard

then use recovery to select install zip from sdcard and install it.

reboot

download 1042_update.zip

REMOVED.

place on sdcard

adb shell reboot-recovery

select install zip from sdcard and install it.

credits

steev

saurik

fun

If there is anyone that I left out of the credits, please let me know so I can give you credit for any work that I might have borrowed.


Note 1 if you want to backup your recovery, boot.img and system before making changes run commands below.
adb shell
su
mkdir /sdcard/dump
cat /dev/block/nandc > /sdcard/dump/boot.img
cat /dev/block/nandg > /sdcard/dump/recovery.img
busybox tar -cvf /sdcard/dump/1042_system.tar /system

then use either adb pull to put them on your pc, or mount the tablet with the pc.


after recovery is installed

to get into recovery from normal mode download terminal from market

su

reboot-recovery

or from adb shell

reboot-recovery.

Latest recovery, below can be flashed from stock recovery.

http://www.mediafire.com/?83arcr2t1a7y6ub

 

thank you so much, your great. It worked well. just a few things i got an error while doing a backup with ext sdcard inserted it said error backing up /system and it doesnt seem usbstorage mounts from cwm. But i dont care.(; thanks

 

edit: I flashed the rom and now I can not boot up. It goes to the bootanimation and never ends. please help. I cant seem to get fastboot or adb working on it. Please help. I made a backup but I cant access recovery. please help.

Another edit. Thankfully I found a combo of buttons that put me to recovery. Sorry for spamming thread. Thanks for the tutorial and all. Its great.

 

You should have stopped when cwm backup failed. there is no guaranty that the dump will work on your setup.

did you make the Manuel backup?

Note 1 if you want to backup your recovery, boot.img and system before making changes run commands below.
adb shell
su
mkdir /sdcard/dump
cat /dev/block/nandc > /sdcard/dump/boot.img
cat /dev/block/nandg > /sdcard/dump/recovery.img
busybox tar -cvf /sdcard/dump/1042_system.tar /system

do you have any backups?

you should be able to shutdown the tablet press and hold volume up or down plus menu press power to reboot as soon as you coby screen release power.

 

I got it to work. Like i said in the post before, i got it into recovery. And i got a backup before i installed. It only failed making a backup when I had an sdcard mounted. But when i took out the sdcard it worked. Thankfully I was able to recover it. Thanks for all your hard work. Keep it up

 

Glad it all worked out.

 

With my Coby 1042 installation of Root_Recovery worked very well. I rooted it already before but with your package also the reboot-recovery command works now. Great work Vampirefo!

Unfortunately the 1042_update didn't work. 1042_boot was fine, but after this update package it got to a loop in the Android logo screen. Fortunately I had a recent backup and was able to restore it via CWM-based Recovery. Now I've used Goo.im Downloads - Downloading gapps-ics-20120429-signed.zip package for GApps and this works fine. Sync with GoogleCalendar was most important and works perfectly, but also Google Play works well. Some apps are according to Google Play not compatible (e.g. Everest, Springpad), but if you know what exactly you are searching for you will always find a direct download as alternative.

What is very interesting with my model is the different behavior. Some guides for xx42 Cobys did not work. Recovery does not start by pressing Vol-/Home/Power, but by Home/Power only - this took me some time and nerves to figure out... It seems, that not 'just' some hardware is variant (e.g. touch screen) in different lots but also the reaction to these keys. It is a pity that they are changing the hardware within one model at Coby but otherwise it would be boring. For some effort with trying and playing around the value for money is extremely good. I wouldn't pay for a Samsung or iPad...

Vampirefo, one question: Is there some documentation available for your Recovery tool? A short description of the various functions would be great!

 

Hi , I got the same problem. Could you please share the combo of buttons for recovery? I tried Vol+/Power, Vol-=-/Power.

Thanks.

Update: Just tried Home/Power as cb1 suggested, it works. Thanks.

 

Hi,

I can enter recovery mode, and try to recover. But now I am stuck at COBY logo screen. I have dump file too, if I tried to restore from the dump, it will only restore boot.img, and then can not find system.img ( it is system.tgz). After that, tried to reload, it still stuck at COBY logo. Is there a way to recover? I am using 1042.

 

This is the first time my Tab has had a working CWM recovery that actually works had a bit of trouble with the reboot-recovery setup have to do it manualy didnt want to transfer the files no biggy still works now to get the screen lined up and we are good to go Thanks

Seems I may have jumped the gun here after the update I am stuck in the android loading screen it did the same thing the first go round with the reboot on 1042_boot.zip install after reinstall it worked fine am gonna reinstall update again see if I get the same outcome .
And all of it was done on a win 7 X64 machine in cmd box with adb shell magic .

 

I am gonna have to learn this ICS 4.0.3. from the inside I need some advice and guidance to start I have recently installed oracle VM virtual box I intend to run linux in its own environment as this seems to be the language of developers and I would ask which version type or style of Linux is most compatible as I own an ancient copy of mandrake Linux 8.2 to work with.
My my patient is a Coby Mid1042 w/Allwinner A10 10.1 capacitive screen ( which by the way is where my trouble starts) 1 GHz C4024CA 24G1 numbers off the cpu internal I purchased about 2 months ago for entirely to much as this is my first Tablet I had no clue, any advice or direction is greatly appreciated.
"I don't wanna go to school" LOL

 

Worked ever so flawlessly. Thanks a lot

 

When you say "Home" which button are you referring to?

 

well, bad news, I got the boot loop issue as well. It never gets past the "Android" boot ani. What do I do now to fix this?