[How To] Dual-Boot via Lenovo A2109

[vampirefo.]

NOTE AS WITH ANY MODIFICATION, THERE IS A RISK YOU CAN MESS UP YOUR TABLET, YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR OWN ACTIONS.

How to dual-boot via Lenovo A2109

Yes this method can be used by any android.

You must have a micro sdcard to do this, I recommend using a class 10, you can use any micro sdcard you want.

I have been asked what are the advantages of dual booting?

You can test any OS, rom, tweak, without losing or touching your installed OS. no fear of not being able to revert back to previous OS.

You will always have access to an OS, If you screw one up boot into the other. Ever wonder if one app runs better on a particular OS? a simple reboot and you can find out.

This guide will be dual booting ICS and JellyBean, you can use any OS you want as long as your tablet supports it.

first thing is to setup micro sdcard.

I use only Linux so will provide only Linux support, Windows users can do exact same thing, they can use Linux partitioning tools, or use some type of windows partitioning tool

I am using a 8GB micro sdcard, yes I am going to get a bigger micro sdcard later, hehe.

if there is anything on your micro sdcard you want to keep transfer it to your desktop.

Insert the micro sdcard into your sdcard reader, "not the tablet" start Gparted.

Find the micro sdcard, unmount it, and format it.

create 3 partitions, all primary size up to you, depends on your micro sdcard size.



1st partition fat32 "This is your regular sdcard2 up to you how big"

2nd partition ext4 "This should be around 1GB this will be your system"

3rd partition ext4 "This is your data, the larger you make this partition the more games and apps you can install"

Note use a little common sense please, if you have make a 25GB data partition you can't back that up on a 4GB sdcard.

once your micro sdcard is partitioned, remove from card reader and insert into tablet.

Download mcl630's modified rom from link below, I modified the rom to install on sdcard.

modifications I made were to META-INF folder and replaced boot.img

md5checksum

0094c2cd5c0437b6fc9f27b8c872012a /home/vampirefo/Desktop/Lenovo/A2109A_MCL0201.zip

A2109A_MCL0201 - Download - 4shared

place A2109A_MCL0201.zip on /sdcard2 "the new fat32 partition you just created"

download dual-boot - Download - 4shared extract to desktop

md5checksum

c682393458c2f05942dd2593aaac0393 /home/vampirefo/Desktop/Lenovo/dual-boot/dual-boot.zip

create a folder on your /sdcard2 called dual_boot, now place the four files in that folder "reboot-ics,reboot-jb,ics_boot.img,jb_boot.img"

reboot into cw recovery and install A2109A_MCL0201.zip "you must already have cw recovery installed" "I use quickboot for all my booting needs" https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.siriusapplications.quickboot&hl=en

reboot and you should after a few minutes be in jellybean, it's slow at first and I had a playstore problem, was easily fixed," see link below" on second reboot all was well, and every boot since.

Error retrieving information from server.[RPC:S-5:AEC-0] - Android Forums at AndroidCentral.com

now using adb or file manager with root permission copy reboot-ics,reboot-jb to system bin and set permissions

adb shell

su

mount -o remount,rw /system

busybox cp /sdcard2/dual_boot/reboot-ics /system/bin/reboot-ics

busybox cp /sdcard2/dual_boot/reboot-jb /system/bin/reboot-jb

chmod 755 /system/bin/reboot-jb

chmod 755 /system/bin/reboot-ics

at this point you can reboot into either OS,

once you get into ics you will need to add busybox if you don't have one

then repeat steps for the ics OS

now using adb or file manager with root permission copy reboot-ics,reboot-jb to system bin and set permissions

adb shell

su

mount -o remount,rw /system

busybox cp /sdcard2/dual_boot/reboot-ics /system/bin/reboot-ics

busybox cp /sdcard2/dual_boot/reboot-jb /system/bin/reboot-jb

chmod 755 /system/bin/reboot-jb

chmod 755 /system/bin/reboot-ics

now the only step left is to boot into bootloader and switch cw recovery, if you aren't already using the jellybean version.

fastboot -i 0x17ef flash recovery A2109_CWMrecovery-6.0.1.9d.img

Note recovery is going to only backup and restore what ever OS is installed on tablet, cw recovery version is based on what blob ie bootloader we are using in this case we are using jellybean.





Below are CM10 kernels and boot scripts.
http://d-h.st/Kdt

 

[xdrc45]

Excellent work vampirefo! I love that Android has dual boot capabilities! Who doesn't like to be able to boot into another custom rom, rom version or my favorite, another Os's environment and hardware lol!
For a Windows PC partitioning program I would recommend EaseUS Partitioning Manager. It's a free program, powerful and user friendly.
Just curious.... With the SD rom, have you in your experience noticed any improvement in the OS's performance or stability when increasing the size of the "System' partition to like 1.5gb or 2gb of space?

 

[mcl630]

I don't see any reason making the system partition any bigger would affect performance... it really just has to be big enough to hold the ROM.

 

[vampirefo.]

I don't see any reason making the system partition any bigger would affect performance... it really just has to be big enough to hold the ROM.

My guess you haven't used a tablet with a small system, example my coby tablets system are 252MB unable to handle cm1O which with gapps is over 300MB So I just adjust system to a size I want, much larger than needed. You don't have to use the same size I use, this is a guide one can make their system any size they like same with data.

 

[vampirefo.]

Excellent work vampirefo! I love that Android has dual boot capabilities! Who doesn't like to be able to boot into another custom rom, rom version or my favorite, another Os's environment and hardware lol!
For a Windows PC partitioning program I would recommend EaseUS Partitioning Manager. It's a free program, powerful and user friendly.
Just curious.... With the SD rom, have you in your experience noticed any improvement in the OS's performance or stability when increasing the size of the "System' partition to like 1.5gb or 2gb of space?

I just adjust the system size to a size I want, On this tablet sd rom runs about the same as installed rom, This tablet internal sdcard is a class 10, same as the sdcard I am using. I see performace and speed increases on my coby tablets, they are single core and internal sdcard is class4.

Our internal sdcard gets split into sdcard, system, cache ,data So running a test on our internal sdcard shows what class or speed our system and data is running on. class 10 is much faster than class 4 so I see a noticeable speed increase and stability, no lag plus unlimited /data well limited only by the size of the sdcard.

Alot of tablets only provide 1GB or so of space for data with this method one can have a data partition as large as you want, and one doesn't have to do the Apps2SD or what ever it's called, I don't do that cause I always run from sdcard so I have as much data as I want no need to move apps to sdcard.

 

[xdrc45]

I just adjust the system size to a size I want, On this tablet sd rom runs about the same as installed rom, This tablet internal sdcard is a class 10, same as the sdcard I am using. I see performace and speed increases on my coby tablets, they are single core and internal sdcard is class4.

Our internal sdcard gets split into sdcard, system, cache ,data So running a test on our internal sdcard shows what class or speed our system and data is running on. class 10 is much faster than class 4 so I see a noticeable speed increase and stability, no lag plus unlimited /data well limited only by the size of the sdcard.

Alot of tablets only provide 1GB or so of space for data with this method one can have a data partition as large as you want, and one doesn't have to do the Apps2SD or what ever it's called, I don't do that cause I always run from sdcard so I have as much data as I want no need to move apps to sdcard.

Thanks for the information.
I was figuring that the A2109 would be able to handle and perform the SD rom very well. It is a pretty powerful devices.
I was experiencing the same sort of outcome. It seems that on some devices (usually lower end devices) if you don't allow much space for the "System/ Data" partition and you match that with a device that doesn't have much RAM... I found that the OS tends to run slow and is less stable. They seem to run smoother and more stable when giving the larger "System/Data" partition.

Currently I have a PNY 32gb class 4 micro SDHC SD card installed. It works great, has good Read/Write speeds and I'm sure it would run the SD rom just fine.... but I might wait to set up dual boot until I get my 64gb class 10 micro SDXC SD card in.

Now if we can get CM 10 and MCL rom to dual boot between!

 

[vampirefo.]

Once cm10 is released won't be a problem dual booting the two roms.

 

[Gumby68]

Question regarding the /dev/sdc2 partition. Should that be set up as primary partition or extended?

 

[vampirefo.]

Question regarding the /dev/sdc2 partition. Should that be set up as primary partition or extended?

all partitions need to be primary.

 

[doomboss]

How come when im trying to create different partition with the same software on Ubuntu, my SD card is locked which i don't have any option to choose
This is not really a question regarding to the dual boot, but hopefully i can figure out why.

 

[vampirefo.]

How come when im trying to create different partition with the same software on Ubuntu, my SD card is locked which i don't have any option to choose
This is not really a question regarding to the dual boot, but hopefully i can figure out why.

I don't know, you should be able to to make all at one time.

 

[doomboss]

I don't know, you should be able to to make all at one time.

Never mind, i can see the option now... thats so weird but anyway i can make different partition again now

 

[vampirefo.]

Added cm10 kernel and boot scripts to first page.

http://d-h.st/Kdt

 

[tasinofan]

Hi vampirefo

Is it correct to say one needs to sign up to download?

There are so many "download now" "start using" "you need this or that" buttons flashing that I hesitated and pushed a random one...

it said something like "wait 20 seconds" but I waited forever and pushed another button which asks to "sign up/in"

Thanks

 

[tasinofan]

@vampirefo

...this is clearly cool stuff

I would like to dual boot (own adapted) stock A2110 with (own built) CM-10.2

I see you copy to LNX for switching between tablet and SD situation.

May I ask: what is the magic to make boot believe /system and /data are relocated?

Thanks