First Notion Ink Adam Pre-Orders Arrive, OTA Update Bricks it Immediately

xaueious

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Staff member
Jul 9, 2010
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Let's hope this will be the last we hear of any Notion Ink Adam tablet issues. We still recall the disastrous sneaky pre-order time policy tactics, and other contradictions of the Indian company. It is difficult to share the same enthusiasm as some of the top tech blogs on the net such as Engadget, as some glaring issues are starting to pile up.

As a result of issues with the over-the-air update, users will immediate brick their tablet upon performing the update. Strangely enough, the Notion Ink blog isn't reporting this problem. However, Notion Ink has issued email statements affected users, as posted on Notion Ink Fan, asking users to hold off on the update for the time being. It is only a matter of time before the news gets out, so Notion Ink's squelch over this serious matter is a puzzling one for a company already doubted for its integrity. Talk about a rough start.

Luckily, only a few people have actually been affected by this update, as only a limited number of pre-orders have actually shipped. Notion Ink has been somewhat liberal on the changing of shipping dates. With Chinese new year just looming, we can't expect many more users to actually receive their tablets with factory workers taking their annual holidays.

Besides the bad news, first impressions of the unboxings look good so far. The hardware itself shows good promise, but the software is not necessarily up to par yet. There is not even an app store on the device. At least you can sideload apps just fine. The tablet looks like it is running smoothly overall. Check this written review for some more details.

Notion Ink has issued instructions to remedy the issue. We have mirrored it here in case anyone runs into a similar issue, since Notion Ink hasn't exactly made this public:
How to flash your Adam and get it working again

WARNING
This fix is recommended only if your Adam has stopped booting up after installing the over-theair
system update on 24 January. Please don't use the method indicated to flash your Adam
with any ROM not from Notion Ink, as it would probably damage your Adam irreparably.

Please read this whole document before proceeding.

PRE-REQUISITES
You need to have the following items
1. A Windows or Linux PC
2. The Notion Ink Adam you wish to flash
3. A mini-USB to USB cable for connecting the two
(It's not included in the Adam package, but you
might have one lying around. If not, it's readily
available in any electronics shop)
4. The appropriate Adam Recovery Kit which you
can download from the URLs below. (About
80MB)

DOWNLOADS
1. Windows PC, LCD Adam http://api.notionink.com/fix/windows/LCD.zip
2. Windows PC, Pixel Qi Adam http://api.notionink.com/fix/windows/PixelQi.zip
3. Linux PC, LCD Adam http://api.notionink.com/fix/linux/LCD.zip
4. Linux PC, Pixel Qi Adam http://api.notionink.com/fix/linux/PixelQi.zip

OVERVIEW
Here's a summary of what you'll be doing:
1. On your PC, extract the Adam Recovery Kit.
2. Restart your Adam in “Force Recovery” mode and connect it to the PC.
3. If you're on Windows, install the USB drivers from the Recovery Kit.
4. Run the ROM flash utility from your PC, and wait for it to complete.

1. EXTRACT
Using your favourite ZIP extraction tool, uncompress all the files in the Adam Recovery Kit to
any folder on the hard drive of your computer.

2. RECOVERY MODE
Before proceeding, ensure that your Adam has at least 50% battery charge or is connected to
power and charging. Also make sure that your computer will not turn off during the flashing
process.
Turn off your Adam and enter force recovery mode by pressing and holding both the Volume
Down (-) and Power buttons for two seconds. The orange (charge) and red (CPU) indicators on
the right side of your device will light up, indicating that your Adam is in force recovery mode.
Release both buttons, and connect the mini-USB port on your Adam to any free USB port on the
PC using your cable.

3. INSTALL DRIVERS (Windows only)
Your Windows PC will show a notification that a device “APX” has been detected. If you get a
“Found new hardware” dialog box asking where to install drivers from - choose “list or specific
location”. If you don't get this dialog, open the Device Manager via System in the Control
Panel, find and double-click the “APX” device, and click the update driver button.
Select the “usbpcdriver” folder inside the extracted Adam Recovery Kit as the driver location.
You may receive a warning that the driver is not certified or signed by Windows – choose to
install it anyway.

4. FLASH
You're now ready to flash your Adam. Make sure that the USB cable is connected securely. To
begin the process under Windows, run the “download.bat” batch file from the folder where you
extracted the Recovery Kit. If you're using Linux, open a console window at the folder
containing the extracted Recovery Kit, and run ./download.sh. Your device screen will show that
it is being updated, and the console window will show the progress.

IMPORTANT: Do not close the console window or stop the update before it is complete. If the
update is interrupted mid-way, your Adam will be damaged irreparably.

Hopefully all goes well, and in a couple of minutes your Adam will boot up with the new
software. Congratulations! If at any point you find that things aren't going according to plan,
please send an email to [email protected] rightaway.

Thanks for your continued support
Team Notion Ink
Via Androidcentral
 

Nobby

Member
Jan 14, 2011
8
0
Dang i wish i was around when i got the email for the first shipment :( i got the welcome to the family email the day after i left for a weekend trip and when i came back the ship had sailed. I have applied for the second shipment but nothing saying it will go though :( why cant they just sell like a normal company?
 

sopranosv

Member
Nov 22, 2010
180
7
So...you get your tablet, you update it and then you have to solve a problem that shouldn't happen? Nice for an unboxing video
 

Comacine

Member
Aug 23, 2010
69
0
Man, oh man... That's some serious business operations trouble. I kind of feel for them, but at the same time they are making a lot of poor decisions. Wow.
 
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