Re-stall Windows & Android on Vpad10

[benzizbit]

Again - Dleite & Beeper thx for the help.
About the butons - try to install - Button Savior

 

[benzizbit]

Simply put, you can re-install windows on the viewtab. It is simply another x86 device.

For Android, install the .iso or .img from here; Android-x86 Nightly - Index of: home/viewpad10/

The nightly build is the most recent. You can install Android 2.2 over-top of 1.6, however, I'd rather get rid of Android and put Ubuntu on the dual boot, but I won't do that until I upgrade the SSD. (I will also upgrade the RAM but i haven't looked for parts yet. I did open the viewtab and wrote the part numbers, I just need to order form ncix.com or something like that.)

the 16GB SSD is not nearly enough for the Windows 7 OS and programs. I opened my viewtab and found a 16GB half SATA SSD from SANDISK. I found on the internet 32 and 64 GB half SATA but they are a bit pricey and hard to find. I found a Chinese manufacturer that will sell me direct from the plant.

If by chance you do re-install Windows 7, just install to the existing NTFS partition. If you overwrite the ext3 Android partition, use gParted live CD with a USB CD drive or bootable USB with a keyboard to resize and repartition you drive.

If you think you are about to or already have messed something up, just type it in google. There's tons of info on GRUB and gParted to help you.

dleite - after working with windows I see that you are absolutely right about the SSD size. Im thinking about opening up the VPAD and replacing the SSD.
Can you please give me a few tips about how to open up the VAPD? (I'm afraid from braking it in the process).

Thx in advance

 

[GSbiker]

The rear cover is easy to remove. Take a small flat screw driver and pry out the eight rubber plugs. Take out the eight screws under the plugs and gently pry off the rear cover with your fingernails or a small flat screw driver. Here is a pic of what the insides look like. I see the SSD but have not been able to find a larger one that looks like it.

Has anyone else had success in replacing the SSD?



Edit: I dug a little deeper tonight. Here is a pic of the SSD.

I also ordered a 64gb SSD. My wish it to install Windows 7 on the whole drive and leave off Android.

Anybody know if this is possible?

 

[tonybaileyuk]

The rear cover is easy to remove. Take a small flat screw driver and pry out the eight rubber plugs. Take out the eight screws under the plugs and gently pry off the rear cover with your fingernails or a small flat screw driver. Here is a pic of what the insides look like. I see the SSD but have not been able to find a larger one that looks like it.

Has anyone else had success in replacing the SSD?

View attachment 2389

Edit: I dug a little deeper tonight. Here is a pic of the SSD.

I also ordered a 64gb SSD. My wish it to install Windows 7 on the whole drive and leave off Android.

Anybody know if this is possible?

Yes I installed Windows 7 pro with service pack 1 on the viewpad and it leaves me 4 gb of space left

Tried the upgrade of android from 1.6 to 2.2 from the download on viewsonics web site but to be honest not impressed with Android
Every time I tried to install an app it would fail
browsing the Internet is a pain keeps returning to the last page you viewed instead of the home page

plug a external dvd drive in and use the custom upgrade of windows to install, you get the option to delete the partions including the one with Android on
once you have fully installed all your programs right click on the C drive and tick the box to compress the drive (it takes a while)

If you have a Micro sd card installed use the ready boost option to help with the memory I set mine to use 1 gb

If anyone knows where to get a bigger hard drive in the UK for the Viewpad I would love to know

 

[GSbiker]

Great....thanks for the information. Can't wait till the new SSD gets here.

 

[dleite]

Watch out! I read somewhere you may only be able to upgrade to 32GB. Good luck.

 

[GSbiker]

Maybe two 32gb partitions? I will find out.

 

[RckyBobby]

Watch out! I read somewhere you may only be able to upgrade to 32GB. Good luck.

I think it only supports up to 32GB micro sd card, you should be able use any size ssd and it should be able to read it no problem.

 

[GSbiker]

Well, the 64gb SSD came in the mail yesterday. It seems to be dead out of the box though. Sending it back to the seller. While I had the vpad 10 apart I hooked a SATA jumper from the tablet to a 120gb laptop drive. I put the Viewsonic Windows disk in a USB CD drive and installed windows to the 120gb drive. It worked great and the tablet saw the 120gb drive as 120gb. It appears there is no size restriction to the hard drive.

 

[tonybaileyuk]

After being quoted 151 euros or about 130 quid for a 64 gbhard drive from Tega in Australia who claim the hard drive is unique to themViewpad 10 I started to explore other options, first off new memory 2gb fromebay £14.99, (2GB PC3-10600 Micron Laptop Memory RamDDR3-1333) while fittingthis I remembered I had a 30 gb 2.5" Kingston SSD (£55 from http://www.misco.co.uk or £82.99 for a 64gb and £160 for a128) which I had tested in my laptop to see if it was worth fitting a SSD to.

So while I had the case open I removed the hard drive from myViewpad, then I removed the four screws holding the Kingston drive together,once I had done that there was three small screws holding the board to thecase, after putting both drives side by side they looked the same

So put new drive in and installed Windows 7 pro, not botheredabout Android but may try Honeycomb if someone sorts it out to work on theViewpad

Now I have a Windows 7 (with service pack 1) tablet with 2gbram a 30 gb hard drive with 10.9 gb free (compress the hard drive you get aboutan extra 2gb) after installing word/Excel/powerpoint 2010, Autoroute 2010symantec endpoint protection plus flash player, adobe reader etc
Oh by the way I use a Belkin Bluetooth mouse (9.99 from play.com) but I amtrying out Thinix Touch as well www.thinix.com
Just need a cheep way to install a gps/3g modem Tega quoted 176 euros + 16 euros for antenna

 

[VPAD10 Hacker]

1 - no it will not do anything to your NTFS partition unless you select the option to delete all partitions first... when you get to the install screen select sda1 - Linux (ext3).
2 - GRUB will automatically be updated if you select Yes. There's an option to write a new GRUB, then it will pop up that an NTFS partition was found asking if you want to include this. Select Yes.
3 - I don't know how you can backup and restore the original Android (1.6) system without either using something like Acronis via the Windows 7 partition (here Backup software for data backup and disaster recovery in Windows and Linux - Acronis) or use a USB CD/DVD with a bootable Acronis CD). I didn't backup my original 1.6 installation until it was too late, but maybe the 1.6 on Tega's site will be the same (here TEGA v2 | Tegatech - Home of Mobile Computing on the GO!)

Hello all, hope someone can help me. I have a vpad10, upgraded 1.6 to 2.2 and rooted it with lots of success using ubuntu on my desktop. I got tired of having to make mods on ubuntu on my desktop and then have to format and upload them to my vapd10 via usb stciks. So I installed ubuntu 11.04 on my vpad10 on a new partition I made by making the win7 partition smaller. That went all ok, so now I have boot capabilities into ubuntu & win7. My problem is that the ubuntu installed & replaced the grub loader that viewsonic uses with ubuntus version and now I have lost access to select and boot into my 2.2 partiton (it's still there, just not on the grub boot options list). I have looked at the grub.cfg file on the vpad10 but the boot option entry lines of code look completely different than the one that viewsonics grub uses. I would love to know how to add the 2.2 partition as a third boot option. I have been thinking of reinstalling the 2.2 image from usb again by reformatting sda1/ext3 and allowing the grub to be installed so I can get into 2.2 & win7 as I have been doing (until I installed ubuntu)... but I afraid that I will loose the option to select ubuntu. Can you give me any advice??? Thanks!

​

 

[GSbiker]

Update--------My replacement 64 gb SSD came in the mail today. I installed it and installed Windows 7 enterprise edition. No problems. All the drivers are on the CD's that came with the Vpad. I then installed Office, MapPoint and the Verizon 4G modem utility. Everything is working great.

 

[VPAD10 Hacker]

UPDATE!!

hello fellow vpad10 owners. with a ton of help from rckybobby, not only have I got my 2.2 running full access to market but I have also found a way to install ubuntu 11.04 to the win7/2.2 boot options. now I can hack and test on my tablet with a simple reboot. full details if you are interested, just ask. thanks!​

 

[VPAD10 Hacker]

After being quoted 151 euros or about 130 quid for a 64 gbhard drive from Tega in Australia who claim the hard drive is unique to themViewpad 10 I started to explore other options, first off new memory 2gb fromebay £14.99, (2GB PC3-10600 Micron Laptop Memory RamDDR3-1333) while fittingthis I remembered I had a 30 gb 2.5" Kingston SSD (£55 from http://www.misco.co.uk or £82.99 for a 64gb and £160 for a128) which I had tested in my laptop to see if it was worth fitting a SSD to.

So while I had the case open I removed the hard drive from myViewpad, then I removed the four screws holding the Kingston drive together,once I had done that there was three small screws holding the board to thecase, after putting both drives side by side they looked the same

So put new drive in and installed Windows 7 pro, not botheredabout Android but may try Honeycomb if someone sorts it out to work on theViewpad

Now I have a Windows 7 (with service pack 1) tablet with 2gbram a 30 gb hard drive with 10.9 gb free (compress the hard drive you get aboutan extra 2gb) after installing word/Excel/powerpoint 2010, Autoroute 2010symantec endpoint protection plus flash player, adobe reader etc
Oh by the way I use a Belkin Bluetooth mouse (9.99 from play.com) but I amtrying out Thinix Touch as well www.thinix.com
Just need a cheep way to install a gps/3g modem Tega quoted 176 euros + 16 euros for antenna
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Hello TonyBaileyUK, Thanks for the teardown as it has motivated me to do research on my own to find a larger ssd for my vapd10. My research led me to buy, for only $120USD on ebay a Toshiba SSD 128 GB SATA 3 THNS128GG4BAAA which, when taken apart contains a Toshiba THNSNB128GMSJ half slim 128GB ssd module, the same exact form factor as the original 32GB sandisk that ships with the unit. My question for you (considering its had to tell from your one picture) is, is there anything plugged into the mini pci-e card slot on a factory vpad10??? if it is empty, I am considering a module from option.com - GTM671/679 combo module - it gives you 3G(HSPA or HSAP/EV-DO), GPS (standalone & A-GPS), Voice and Wi-Fi option versions. I did not want to open my unit until I receive my 128GB drive but wanted to move forward in procuring the above mini PCI-E module - thanks in advance, cheers!

 

[johnoc]

Hey Hacker, let us know how the Toshiba 128 GB SSD works out? How easy is it to take the unit apart to pull the SSD??