How to Factory Reset A500 (What Acer Support Won't Tell You!)

HD87

Senior Member
May 14, 2011
222
49
1. Switch off
2. Press Vol-up + Power
3. If display goes on: Release power but hold vol-up
3. Toggle Lock switch (On>Off>On>Off)

Screen will display:

Erasing Userdata..
Erasing Cache..

if you can't go to Settings>Privacy>Personal data>Factory data reset.. ;)
 
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Icebike

Senior Member
Apr 28, 2011
1,523
186
Acer support tells a lot of people that. Where did you get the idea it was a secret?
 

FoFoJoe

Member
Jun 8, 2011
178
6
my Tablet is shot to hell.. long story short CWM will load but other than that it stays on the acer screen. i want to 100% wipe the sucker. when i try that ^ it opens CWM.. any advice?
 

OranL

Member
Dec 22, 2011
1
0
Acer support tells a lot of people that. Where did you get the idea it was a secret?
I only found this step after a good hour of searching online for a solution that didn't involve enabling USB debugging or plugging in a compatible USB keyboard. I, for one, am extremely glad that HD87 took the time to post this trick.
 

S_Gaskin

Member
Aug 9, 2012
8
0
I've tried doing a factory reset on my A500 and after displaying "Erasing Cache", the screen blacks out and it goes back to being stuck on the Acer screen again.
 

Douvie

Senior Member
Jun 10, 2011
1,030
71
I've tried doing a factory reset on my A500 and after displaying "Erasing Cache", the screen blacks out and it goes back to being stuck on the Acer screen again.
Reading your posts, it is apparent that your tablet was in the middle of a update - when you turned it off. Unfortunately, you may have to send it in. Or you could try wiping the sucker and sideloading a custom ROM. Allow it to boot up and then follow the instructions how to go back to stock ROM - maybe 3.01 for starters and work back up to ICS. The instructions are on the forum in one of the threads or you could go to xdeveloper forum.
 

shobi213

Member
Jul 16, 2013
1
0
As sugested above.
Enter cwm recovery
Go to wipe menus wipe all
Go to mounts/storage format all but SD
reboot go back to format format allnsgain.
Install your rom
reboot into recovery.(do not let system boot)
go back into wipe menus and wipe all. Then boot device.
Do not allow Google tobrestore your data and settings it backed up (unchecked the boxes when awed while setting upngoogle account) .
I has a issue withbthis causing the issues you are having.
Good luck.


Qmobile Noir A500

Chics can be geeky smart toolkit whoooweeee
 
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karbar32

Senior Member
Jul 9, 2012
21
0
Reading your posts, it is apparent that your tablet was in the middle of a update - when you turned it off. Unfortunately, you may have to send it in.
Or you could try wiping the sucker and sideloading a custom ROM. Allow it to boot up and then follow the instructions how to go back to stock ROM - maybe 3.01 for starters and work back up to ICS.
The instructions are on the forum in one of the threads or you could go to xdeveloper forum.
Hello, my Acer 500 just encountered this issue last night. It was working perfectly fine in the morning. I set it aside and pressed the power button to put it in standby mode. When I picked it up later that night, it responded by freezing on the Acer screen. I've read this thread before, so I was familiar with the initial 2 steps to try and get it working.
Pressing the reset button didn't work
Holding volume up while pressing power button/wait for vibration, then toggle lock button-didn't work. "Erasing Cache" appeared, but screen goes back to Acer startup and nothing.
I am unclear on how to proceed with this sideloading process. Sorry to be a bother, but could someone elaborate on just how that might be done (to someone very technically challenged)?

Edit--I went to the xadeveloper forum and searched for this Acer issue. Listed there were update files to reload system files. Now I've discovered that my desktop's SD reader isn't working, so I can't copy the file to an SD card to load in the tablet. Would it work if I copied to a USB drive and attempted to load from there?

Sigh, peaceful, cool Saturday morning blown on sifting thru mounds of info and data...
 
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Douvie

Senior Member
Jun 10, 2011
1,030
71
Just an update. My A500 has just come up and will not pass the ACER splash screen. So it appears that I will be forced to attempt to root my tablet to get it working. From what I've read on ACER SUPPORT COMMUNITY SITE, it maybe be a fault with the mobo - faulty NAND GATE. So I will attempt to load another rom and root the sucker - don't really want to do it. Hopefully get a few more years out of it.

Douvie

Update.

I downloaded one of those "update.zip" files. Loaded file on to a micro SD. Put the card into the A500 external SD slot. Then booted tablet holding down the VOLUME DOWN button in to begin recovery. And voila!! The A500 lives on. Now I have the great joy of setting the A500 up from scratch and retrieving all my apps. Pity about the data! Well it is a small price to pay I suppose.

So people it may not be a hardware issue. From what I could determine the OS, somehow, got corrupted.

Douvie
 
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Douvie

Senior Member
Jun 10, 2011
1,030
71
No. Can't use USB stick.
You probably find that the SD reader in your computer hasn't detected that the previous SD card has been removed. I had same problem. Had to disable and enable in DEVICE MANAGER and reboot PC.

Douvie
 
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