New to Android OS - in need of heeeeelp!!!!

[hingysaid]

hello all.... I apologise in advance if these questions have been asked and answered in previous posts, but i've had a trawl and couldnt find anything.

Firstly, ive only this week bought and received an acer a500 32gb tab... and i love it....... however...... i'm having real teething problems with a few aspects of the tab..... this is where i could use your help....

1. I cant get a usb flash drive to 'show' on the tab.... ive formatted the usb pen which is 16gb, made sure it is FAT32 and still nothing.... what is wrong?

2. wifi tethering..... am i right to say that i would need to 'root' my tab in order to connect it to the 3g service on my mobile phone?.... which leads to my final question.....

3. if i root my tab, is there a chance i can irrepairably mess up my tab.... and in fear of this, how can i back-up my system so that i can reset it if all goes wrong

Again.... sorry to ask what might be deemed as stupid questions, but ive been using windows mobile OS for years now, and am at a real loss when challenged with the complex setup of the android OS!!

Thanks for all and any help!

 

[Batchman]

2. wifi tethering..... am i right to say that i would need to 'root' my tab in order to connect it to the 3g service on my mobile phone?.... which leads to my final question.....

No need to root your tab for WiFi tethering. The tab sees the phone as just another router. Your phone could be a problem, though, depending on where you are and how your phone service provider feels about tethering. You may need to root your phone. WiFi tethering works for me with my stock LG Optimus 1 right out of the box here in Germany.

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[sharpe351]

hello all.... I apologise in advance if these questions have been asked and answered in previous posts, but i've had a trawl and couldnt find anything.

Firstly, ive only this week bought and received an acer a500 32gb tab... and i love it....... however...... i'm having real teething problems with a few aspects of the tab..... this is where i could use your help....

1. I cant get a usb flash drive to 'show' on the tab.... ive formatted the usb pen which is 16gb, made sure it is FAT32 and still nothing.... what is wrong?

2. wifi tethering..... am i right to say that i would need to 'root' my tab in order to connect it to the 3g service on my mobile phone?.... which leads to my final question.....

3. if i root my tab, is there a chance i can irrepairably mess up my tab.... and in fear of this, how can i back-up my system so that i can reset it if all goes wrong

Again.... sorry to ask what might be deemed as stupid questions, but ive been using windows mobile OS for years now, and am at a real loss when challenged with the complex setup of the android OS!!

Thanks for all and any help!

1) you need some sort of file explorer like Astro file manager from the market.

2) +1 no need to root. I use wifi tether on mine with or without root.

3) yes you can do plenty of damage by deleting files that your tablet needs to function. You can only do that with root for the most part.

*There is no such thing as a stupid question... just a lot of inquisitive idiots. (Not you, of course, your questions were legit.)

Sent from a SuperPAD via Tapatalk

 

[hingysaid]

thanks for info chaps.... re wifi thethering, ive read up a bit and some say that the android os wont recognise ADHOC wifi signals, which is what my htc phone generates... i assume? is there anyway round this as i dont think i can alter my phone settings?

i'm still not having any joy with connecting a usb stick to the tablet.... ive used 2 different file manager apps and neither can find the drive....do i need to install anything else?

Thanks again folks!

 

[magicalyak]

Where are you looking for usb drive, Are you looking under mnt/usb_storage?

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[hingysaid]

Hi... yes, I am using the file root. /mnt/usb_storage but no sign of change..... should the USB drive be formatted in a some specific fashion for it to be recognised, other than being fat32?

Thanks

Marc



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[LabShark]

Does it show up in Settings/Storage?
I use File Manager HD and created a shortcut within it for EZ access.

 

[HD87]

If you have an AD-HOC network on your phone then you need to ROOT your tablet to make changes by replacing the original WPA_Supplicant with this file View attachment $wpa_supplicant - ad-hoc patch.zip in directory: system/bin -- otherwise it wont detect the network. You can root your tablet by installing this apk View attachment $iconiaroot.zip then you need to install a program like 'root explorer' which will give you access to the folders needed to edit this file. Rename the original file and place in another folder & transfer it to your PC for safe keeping! Updates dont work with this patch on. Here are detailed instructions on how to.

1. Move the new wpa_supplicant to your Iconia either via sd card, dropbox or cable copy.
2. turn off your wifi
3. Navigated to system/bin
4. click mount R/W (top left) so it changes to Mount R/O)
5. Then long hold on the file and select rename put old on the end
6. Copy/cut and paste the existing wpa_supplicant file somewhere safe (backing up a copy to PC is best)
7. Then copy the new file from the extracted zip
8. Navigate back to system/bin
9. click mount R/W (top left) so it changes to Mount R/O)
10. Paste the new wpa file in
11. Then long hold on the file and select view permissions
12. check/tick all the boxes in the first two columns and the first 2 in the last column.
13. restart wifi

 

[hingysaid]

Hd87.... thanks for all the details... very much appreciated, i will need to work up the balls to root the device!!!!

As for the USB issue.... there is nothing showing up in the system/storage folder.... the USB pen is lighting up when it is placed into the tablet, but no data transfer. The USB pen works fine in my PC's. Are there reported cases of faulty USB ports on these tablets, or are there updated drivers that might sort this out... where would I get these, if so?

I'm also now having real issues with the system update function... the download get to nearly complete, then hangs and freezes. N

I'm bpnot doing very well am I ?!?!?!

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[HD87]

Hd87.... thanks for all the details... very much appreciated, i will need to work up the balls to root the device!!!!

As for the USB issue.... there is nothing showing up in the system/storage folder.... the USB pen is lighting up when it is placed into the tablet, but no data transfer. The USB pen works fine in my PC's. Are there reported cases of faulty USB ports on these tablets, or are there updated drivers that might sort this out... where would I get these, if so?

I'm also now having real issues with the system update function... the download get to nearly complete, then hangs and freezes. N

I'm bpnot doing very well am I ?!?!?!

Sent from my A500 using Android Tablet Forum

I copy/paste'd this from a previous thread. Rooting your tablet isn't a big deal.. it can be unrooted with the click of a button. aslong as you follow instructions and don't do anything else, it'll be okay.

 

[ahclem]

As for the USB issue.... there is nothing showing up in the system/storage folder.... the USB pen is lighting up when it is placed into the tablet, but no data transfer. The USB pen works fine in my PC's.

My A500 does the same thing. Any USB drive ceases to be recognized, at random. I tested my 500GB external hard drive before a trip to be sure it worked. It was completely invisible to the tablet the entire trip. And it's fine now that I'm back (and I've done 2 system updates since). On my USB thumbdrives, sometimes the file names are shown, but the some of the files can't be accessed. I've really not had the time nor inclination to figure out what's going on.But it seems like a reset or at least a power off/on can wake up the USB drive feature.

 

[hingysaid]

Yeah, I'm glad that I'm not alone .... have stuck the girlfriends 4gb USB stick into the tablet and it works fine.... I can't understand why both my 250gb drive and 16gb USB stick don't work.... any ideas or suggestions VERY welcome!

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[sharpe351]

Yeah, I'm glad that I'm not alone .... have stuck the girlfriends 4gb USB stick into the tablet and it works fine.... I can't understand why both my 250gb drive and 16gb USB stick don't work.... any ideas or suggestions VERY welcome!

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The 250 wont work without a partition. It is too big. The 16g is probably one of those odd ball ones like I have. They only work in my PC and nothing else.

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[hingysaid]

The 250 wont work without a partition. It is too big. The 16g is probably one of those odd ball ones like I have. They only work in my PC and nothing else.

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What is the maximum partition size... do you know?

Thanks


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[sharpe351]

What is the maximum partition size... do you know?

Thanks


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I think its 125. But you need a special program to partition and format to fat32. I can't remember the name off hand, but if I remember I will post it.

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