[Guide] Downgrade To Gingerbread

[Elitewolf135]

Alright, so you want to downgrade from honeycomb to gingerbread. Let's do this!

I recommend having 2 microSD cards in case something goes wrong.

First step is obvious - Back up everything you want to another SD card. We will be installing gingerbread, and do a factory reset.

Now we get to the fun part.
Make sure the tablet is plugged in. Now turn it off. Hold down BOTH volume buttons at the same time and turn on the tablet, still holding the volume buttons down. You will see a cyan warning sign. Look! We have our buttons back! Tap the home button to bring up the menu. Stop here.

Grab your computer and secondary SD card now. If you're using the same one from your tablet, take it out. If you do not have a microSD slot, or a micro-to-standard adapter, use another device that has a microSD card slot and can act as mass storage. If you do NOT have this, then reboot the tablet and put it into storage mode when plugging it into your computer. Now, Download this file. Once downloaded, drag the zip file over to the card. DO NOT EXTRACT TO THE CARD, IT MUST REMAIN A ZIP FILE. Now put it back into your tablet. If you had to reboot, power down and power back on while holding volume buttons.

Excellent, now we move on. If you did not bring the menu up, tap the home button again. Now use your volume down button to select Update sdcard (It's something like that).

Tap your power button, but don't hold it down. Select Update.zip using the volume down button.

Tap the power button again. Leave it alone for 10 minutes. Once it reboots, go to Settings, and reset your tablet to factory erasing the internal storage. You must erase it so that the tablet does not install honeycomb again. Now wait for reboot and "update", and setup your tablet again.

Enjoy gingerbread! Ask any questions and I'll be sure to help.

*CANNOT ROOT YET*

(Now with some pictures!)
~Elitewolf135

 

[alucard9114]

Any one try this?
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

[probbiethe1]

This looks like great information The only thing that stands out to me is that last part that it cant be rooted yet. Wouldnt it be able to be rooted if you could get back to i think .4 it was that could be rooted? What version is this that you are reverting back too?

Either way great information.

 

[nikeconn]

It worked fine although it is .57 (cant root) vs .56 (can root) and you get repeated update notifications (if you don't connect to WiFi it can't download the update to install) that you can't stop. Unfortunately my 3 yr. old decided to upgrade it back to honeycomb for me (he likes pushing buttons that popup when playing angry birds) while I was at work. Until it's unlocked and or rooted it will be his game tablet.

 

[probbiethe1]

It worked fine although it is .57 (cant root) vs .56 (can root) and you get repeated update notifications (if you don't connect to WiFi it can't download the update to install) that you can't stop. Unfortunately my 3 yr. old decided to upgrade it back to honeycomb for me (he likes pushing buttons that popup when playing angry birds) while I was at work. Until it's unlocked and or rooted it will be his game tablet.

Thanks for letting us know it works. That would be cool if we could figure out how to downgrade it to .56 so we could root it and then freeze the update notification.

 

[nikeconn]

Thanks for letting us know it works. That would be cool if we could figure out how to downgrade it to .56 so we could root it and then freeze the update notification.

Agreed, even better vizio unlocking the tablet so it can be rooted with honeycomb.

Sent from my M886 using Tapatalk 2

 

[IndyOne]

Agreed, even better vizio unlocking the tablet so it can be rooted with honeycomb.

Sent from my M886 using Tapatalk 2

Which begs the question on my part - Why the heck won't Vizio unlock it?

 

[Elitewolf135]

Thanks for letting us know it works. That would be cool if we could figure out how to downgrade it to .56 so we could root it and then freeze the update notification.

Should someone (somehow) make a .56 update.zip, or if it DOES exist, then the procedure should most likely be the same.
I'm feeling withdrawal from my tablet, and vizio's warranty center refuses to respond to my request to fix my USB port

 

[lukeismighty]

So I managed to do this and its back on .57. I thought, great! However, I then read the bottom of the post and realized I still can't root it. Shame I didn't look at every single line before I started, shame on me. SHAME!

Aside from that, I can no longer update. I go to the Vizio Update Service and it says "Registrations disabled Do you want to try again?" I contacted Vizio to see what was going on, hoping they would just say something like "Oh, sorry, what is your serial? We'll unblock that for you, looks like you received the update once in the future but no harm done, try to download again now." What I received was, "Have you tried downloading the update from your neighbor's wifi? Or maybe down at the local Barnes and Nobles Store? Crazy as it sounds, I had this work for someone a couple days ago."

I tried it just for kicks from my local college as well as Barnes and Nobles. Does the exact same thing.

Any clues? Is there a more current update.zip or an older update.zip I can use to get around this? Assuming someone was able to grab a more current one somehow without the ability of root.

 

[nikeconn]

Mine did the same thing, eventually it connected and wanted to update. I resisted it unit my 3 yr old did it for me while I was at work. Its now his angry birds tablet.

Sent from my M886 using Tapatalk 2

 

[cu_]

Mine did the same thing, eventually it connected and wanted to update. I resisted it unit my 3 yr old did it for me while I was at work. Its now his angry birds tablet.

Sent from my M886 using Tapatalk 2

What do you say, is it worth the downgrade. I really would love to have the buttons back. Wondering if you had issues with reinstalling apps and such.

 

[nikeconn]

What do you say, is it worth the downgrade. I really would love to have the buttons back. Wondering if you had issues with reinstalling apps and such.

If you can deal with constan upgrade reminders so you can have the buttons then yes. that's why I downgraded but remember it can't be rooted so no way to stop update notification. As for reinstalling app, no issues. It was just going to be my kids game tablet until the usb charge port broke (it was glued down to the board as is the hdmi port) now its useless.

Sent from my M886 using Tapatalk 2

 

[mrpyle]

did the downgrade ... works fine ... but netflix no longer plays, even though i installed the latest netflix version ... when trying to play a movie it comes back and tells me the version is no longer supported, please update your netflix ... idk why though ... tried another factory reset with clearing data and then updated netflix again, same error

and im getting the "registrations disabled" that someone else mentioned in this thread, so cant update back to honeycomb

EDIT - contacted Vizio using their online chat support, they re-registered the tablet. I turned it off and then back on, and it gave me the update prompt right off the batt.

Hoping that this will fix my screen flip issue.

 

[Beall]

So is this still possible? I have been trying for hours now... but 4shared doesn't seem to give me the full download for some reason

 

[symotech]

Alright, so you want to downgrade from honeycomb to gingerbread. Let's do this!

I recommend having 2 microSD cards in case something goes wrong.

First step is obvious - Back up everything you want to another SD card. We will be installing gingerbread, and do a factory reset.

Now we get to the fun part.
Make sure the tablet is plugged in. Now turn it off. Hold down BOTH volume buttons at the same time and turn on the tablet, still holding the volume buttons down. You will see a cyan warning sign. Look! We have our buttons back! Tap the home button to bring up the menu. Stop here.

Grab your computer and secondary SD card now. If you're using the same one from your tablet, take it out. If you do not have a microSD slot, or a micro-to-standard adapter, use another device that has a microSD card slot and can act as mass storage. If you do NOT have this, then reboot the tablet and put it into storage mode when plugging it into your computer. Now, Download this file. Once downloaded, drag the zip file over to the card. DO NOT EXTRACT TO THE CARD, IT MUST REMAIN A ZIP FILE. Now put it back into your tablet. If you had to reboot, power down and power back on while holding volume buttons.

Excellent, now we move on. If you did not bring the menu up, tap the home button again. Now use your volume down button to select Update sdcard (It's something like that).
View attachment 8053
Tap your power button, but don't hold it down. Select Update.zip using the volume down button.
View attachment 8051
Tap the power button again. Leave it alone for 10 minutes. Once it reboots, go to Settings, and reset your tablet to factory erasing the internal storage. You must erase it so that the tablet does not install honeycomb again. Now wait for reboot and "update", and setup your tablet again.

Enjoy gingerbread! Ask any questions and I'll be sure to help.
View attachment 8052
*CANNOT ROOT YET*

(Now with some pictures!)
~Elitewolf135

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hi! every thing is ok, but when my tablet rebooted it asked for a pasword... I don(t kow what to do... help me please