Root for the MOMO7

[Freeje]

We are developing a good team of ROM cookers here so this post is to let us know what Tab's have not been cooked (rooted) yet! Make your requests here...

We have a good amount of knowledge on RK28 and RK29 processor based tablets. So we should be able to cook these pretty easy. Now I am at least looking for new challenges!

So make your requests!
All I ask is that I can get a STOCK ROM from somewhere as I have to start with something.

Bob

Hi Bob!

I would like to request for info/steps on how to root my tablet device. Specs are below:

RK2918 Cortex A8 1.2 GHz
7" capacitive touchscreen 1024 X 600
512 RAM + 8GB flash memory
front and back camera
Android 2.3.1
Kernel version 2.6.32
wifi
3G capable (via USB dongle)

I have made a similar request from a different post (Momo 11) before I saw/read this post. I have downloaded the stock ROM for the device also from the same website where you presumably downloaded the one for Momo11. I can send the one that I have to save you from looking for it as the website is in Chinese.

As in my other post, I have said that I have tried all the "off-the-shelf" rooting apps like universalandroot, superoneclick and z4root without success. I have read the posts about how to root using adb and linux but it's a bit complicated for me and I am afraid of bricking my device. Just want to be able to back up data and without root it's a no go. Possibly to upgrade also to ICS but that's a big wish!

Cheers!

Freeje

[Finless]

Send me a link to the website where I can download the ROM. A direct link would be nice.
I am sure it is too large a file to Email me.

Then yes since I am done with 1.4 for the other tables I bet I can crack this one in no time!

Bob

[Finless]

Never mind, I am downloading the ROM now. It is a VERY SLOW download so I hope I get it all before it times out.

Stay tuned.

Bob

[Freeje]

FW download for Momo 7

Send me a link to the website where I can download the ROM. A direct link would be nice.
I am sure it is too large a file to Email me.

Then yes since I am done with 1.4 for the other tables I bet I can crack this one in no time!

Bob

Heck I'm excited already! Hope you can. Yes, the file is 138MB even when zipped. If you have problems downloading it then let me know how I can send it to you other than via email. I actually asked the manufacturer for the FW and the sales manager has uploaded it on their English website (http://en.ployer.cn/) but It's password protected and I still have to get the password.

[Finless]

It just finished downloading. I will have a look now.

Man that Momo11 looks nice!!!! drool
Love the 5 point and G glass for sure.

Bob

[Finless]

OK bad news. Something is wrong with this ROM.
I downloaded the MOMO11 ROM and no problem. It was already apart and uses the RK 1.29 flash tool.

However, I downloaded the momo7 ROM and it is a RAR file. I un RAR''ed it and got one file:
M0M07-SDK2.0-2918-20111115.img
The RAR file is good and not corrupted.

I assumed this file was either a "update.img" or a "backup.img". It is rather large too which makes me suspect! 251MB and most stock RK29 ROMs are under 200MB.

So first I tried to use AFPTool to unpack the img. I got a "bad file Error (-1)"
OK so then into Linux and tried to use rkunpack. Got an error "invalid signature".
I looked at the file in a hex editor and the header looks correct: RKFW
But none of the usual tools will unpack it. It cant be a good ROM in that RAR file.

I will try the one from the US site and see now.

Bob

[Finless]

OK so this is typical....

US site does not have the ROM for MOMO7.
So I went back to the China site using google translate.
I read the firmware manual for the momo7 and the instructions are for the RK29 flash tool 1.29. This assumes the ROM is in parts (system.img, recovery.img, boot.img, etc) like the Momo11 is.
This ROM is not in that setup!!! So the instructions do not even match the way the ROM is delivered!!!!!
There is that lovely China support

I am downloading the previous version dated 10-10-2011 and see what is in that.

Bob

[Finless]

OK so this is interesting. The IMG is in fact a update.img. I just used the RK29 BATCH flash tool and I was able to flash my Arnova with that IMG. So it does work! My Arnova doesnt handle the ROM well (screen etc does not work) but at least it booted. It looks like Honeycomb OS too.

Now I just need to figure out wht I cannot unpack it

What I might have to do now that my Arnova has booted with this ROM, is use ADB to dump it in it's pieces.

Stay tuned. This is not going as easy as usuall.

Bob

[Finless]

OK so got it unpacked..... What a pain! It was because the update.img format was in old RK28 crc!!!
What the heck? Never seen that before on a RK29 ROM!!!

Now the next problem. Kernel is part of boot.img with a ram disk. Again this is how RK28 ROMs were put together! So I am not sure if I take that apart I can make a ROM 1.4 with EXT4. I have to be able to inject kernel modules. So I have to see if I can make the kernel a IMG and take it out of boot.img.

I will have to spend more time on this for sure and it's not going to be easy.

Bob

[Finless]

Lots of progress made

System.img is already ext3 so no conversion there needed.
I am suprised z4root did not work on this tablet?
However system is getting mounted as read only but with SU you should be able to remount as rw

I got boot.img unpacked and now have to see if I can mod the init.rc and repack it.

But it is looking like I might be able to do this.

Bob

[Finless]

Success baby!

I took apart the old style boot.img and pulled out the kernel.bin. Then repacked the kernel.bin with rkcrc. Now I have a real separated kernel.img which is needed for the new architecture (like momo11).

Then I pulled out the boot file system from the ram disk. Then I moded init.rc with RW permissions and repacked into the new architecture boot.img (no kernel and ram disk). Now I can inject ext4 and other features of my 1.4 ROM. For now I only gave RW access though as a test.

I flashed all this to my Arnova and it boots! So I can at least tell it's not a BRICK ROM

OK stay tuned. I will have a test ROM for you.

Do you know how to use RKBatch tool to flash back to stock if you need to? Before I have you test you have to know how to do this just in case. If you do not already have the RKBatch tool and the RK drivers installed, I can make you a stock ROM kit. What windows system are you on?

Bob

[Finless]

One more question before I make the ROM.

I see it appears to have the Google Market of some kind?
Can you please check the version. Latest is 3.4.4 that I know of and has what I have been putting in my ROMs. I can inject that instead of the one that is there now?
The one built in seems to be missing a couple things like talk.apk, etc. Talk is used by other google apps so the fact that it is missing seesm odd.

Let me know,
Bob

[Finless]

This tablet is CRACKED baby! It was a TOTAL pain in the neck! The guys that made this ROM had busted symbolic links all over the place! I could not transfer all the /system files to a new file system without it boot looping. Finaly after hours I figured it out and fixed it.

Converted EXT3 to EXT4 for much faster boot times. My 1.4 ROM

Increase space in /system so apps that need to use it can! The current files system was very full so even had I just made it RW, you would have hardly any space for added stuff that can use /system. I added 80 megs of space.

Cleaned up some garbage sym links and dirty files they had in the OS and reblocked the file system for better perfoemance.

So now all I need to know is the question about the Market in the current ROM. Even though I can flash this to my Arnova and check for a brick, I can use the tablet so I can see what Market is in there? So please to finish up, let me know the Market version you have and what Google apps are missing (like talk).

Bob

[Freeje]

You're fantastic!

One more question before I make the ROM.

I see it appears to have the Google Market of some kind?
Can you please check the version. Latest is 3.4.4 that I know of and has what I have been putting in my ROMs. I can inject that instead of the one that is there now?
The one built in seems to be missing a couple things like talk.apk, etc. Talk is used by other google apps so the fact that it is missing seesm odd.

Let me know,
Bob

That was pretty fast! The ROM installed in my device is dated 20110913 and the one I downloaded from the Chinese website is this - MOMO7-M808-2918-0913update.img. I don't know where you got your files from but maybe they have updated the stock ROM since the device hangs every once in awhile. This is probably why they have pulled it out of the international version of their website.

I have tried flashing the image (stock ROM) using the RK29 batch tool (which is in Chinese) but had no success in getting my device recognized by Windows 7. I simply don't know if it has or not because it's not like an Android phone where the screen shows whether you are in download mode or recovery mode. I also tried using my other laptop with XP. I can't remember exactly if it was in XP or Win 7 when I used the software RKAndroidDM that I got the device recognized (it booted to the USB transfer/storage mode) but couldn't flash the image because I didn't have the loader files. I did ask support and as you know, I got nothing much. They just provided a link to the stock ROM which I haven't had the chance to download since they have not replied to my email request for the password. In short, I haven't had the chance to use any of the flash tools successfully. If you you don't mind showing me how to get one done properly then that will be great.

As for the market version, the latest one is fine. The devices here do not actually have the US version of the market app but a localized one. I still have to find out about your 1.4 version ROM.

Freeje

[Freeje]

This tablet is CRACKED baby! It was a TOTAL pain in the neck! The guys that made this ROM had busted symbolic links all over the place! I could not transfer all the /system files to a new file system without it boot looping. Finaly after hours I figured it out and fixed it.

Converted EXT3 to EXT4 for much faster boot times. My 1.4 ROM

Increase space in /system so apps that need to use it can! The current files system was very full so even had I just made it RW, you would have hardly any space for added stuff that can use /system. I added 80 megs of space.

Cleaned up some garbage sym links and dirty files they had in the OS and reblocked the file system for better perfoemance.

So now all I need to know is the question about the Market in the current ROM. Even though I can flash this to my Arnova and check for a brick, I can use the tablet so I can see what Market is in there? So please to finish up, let me know the Market version you have and what Google apps are missing (like talk).

Bob

Yey! As long as it's rooted, it's fine with me. I can't thank you enough for your time. It does seem to be a bit slow especially when booting so it's good that you have made it faster.

Freeje