Rooting Measy A5A Android Player

[Finless]

OK, cant do it tonight but I will be giving you my next release tomorrow which will make /system EXT3 and writable. So if your around be ready to test.

Do you want me to pre-inject the CIFS module? This way you dont have to worry about doing it yourself using Mount Manager APK from the market (but that is a COOL tool for manging CIFS anyway).

I should have it done in the morning (Pacific Standard Time) roughly.

Bob

[swisscheese]

Fantastic!!!

I will be waiting with bated breath. The CIFS module would be appreciated.

Regards,
SC

[Finless]

CIFS is in. ROM is uploading now.

Bob

[Finless]

OK new ROM. This has
1) Root and SU like 1.1
2) System is now EXT3 and mounted as RW
3) CIFS.ko has been insmod into the kernel. Using mount manager APP from the market it should give you the OK that CIFS is there.

Realize this is now a major change to the ROM structure! You must Erase IDB and click the loader box in the flash tool If you do not do this and erase the Image Definition Block, it can do screwy things!

Also since I cannot test this there is always a possibility this is a brick ROM. I hope not so I will be on pins and needles hoping it works

Here is the ROM download.

ROM -> A5A Player Finless ROM TEST 1.3 (175 megs)

Bob

[swisscheese]

Good news and bad news

Massssster, It does not live......

Happy day, the ROM loaded perfectly and seems stable running my most common apps. The CIFS story is still killing me, same error as before. Where is the .ko you injected? I couldnt find it under /sustem/lib/modules (where CIFS Manager looks by default).

I also just spotted the post about your dad. Hope he is OK.

Regards,
SC

[Finless]

So all works except CIFS?

I use a insmod command in init.rc. If you open init.rc you should see it about 1/3rd the way down after the line "on fs"
inmod /drvrs/cifs.ko

All the ko modules I use are in /drvrs

This has always worked for me with other insmod modules like ext4, ntfs, etc.
However I think I can make boot.img use the folder /lib/modules/ but since the ko module is inject at boot, it should not matter?

Try using mount manager from the market and see what it says.

Bob

[swisscheese]

CIFS

I used CIFS Manager and Mount Manager from the market. With CIFS Manager, it allows you to specify a module. I will attempt to poit it to yours. Will let you know shortly

[swisscheese]

nope

sadly i cant get it working

[Finless]

OK so try this.

Here is the cifs.ko module I have. There was another guy very successful at using mount manager and this CIFS.ko module on this tablet:

http://video.freaktab.com/?subpath=finless/mods&filename=cifs.zip

Here is the post where he talks about success.

http://www.freaktab.com/showthread.php?610-Arnova-9G2-Finless-Custom-ROM-Version-1-5

Start at post #11

If needed I can make you a new boot.img with the insmod command removed. You cannot edit init.rc yourself as every reboot, boot.img will replace it.

Bob

[swisscheese]

The eagle has landed

Happy day!!!!!

the extra modules worked in mount manager (http://video.freaktab.com/?subpath=f...ename=cifs.zip).

I put all three modules in /system/lib/modules:
1. nls_utf.ko
2. slow-work.ko
3. cifs.ko

Also specified that they load in that order and ticked all the checkboxes in Mount Manager. Had to reboot.

Watching an episode of House in HD720p as i type.

I dont know if you think the rom needs tweaking, but i am really happy. The only finishing touch to make it better would be to preload mount manager and add the modules to the rom.

If you are in search of a project, the GBOX rom ships with a really nice GUI and apps, it looks really professional. I loaded the ROM on my Measy and it works, but there is no sound or video acceleration. I am not sure how you would approach this. My attempt involved copying the apk from the rooted rom and running it. It FC's often and sometimes tells me I don't have permission to use the software. unless of course, you can suggest a decent media player GUI.

Anyway, many thanks for your help so far.

Regards,
SC

[alf1har]

Thank You Finless

Hi

I have been following the progress here as well, and I am keen to root my A5A as well, thank you guys for all the effort put in especially Finles.

Would you say that the new ROM is performing better than the original one as well?

Thank You

Alfi

[Finless]

I did this ROM without being able to test it as I do not havew the device. So only users of the A5A player can answer. I think your user #2

Remember you can always flash back to stock, so maybe try it and let everyone know!

Bob

[alf1har]

Will do

I'll probably be flashing it this weekend, although, I had a lot of trouble flashing it last time, do you have any more clear instructions on using the Rockchip flasher etc, and where to find all the latest tools or just links to more info, since most of what I found last time was written in chinese! For some reason the versions that I have don't pick up my device properly for flashing, I even loaded XP on my machine again to make sure that it's not a driver issue!

Once Again
Thank you guys for all the hard work, especially since you were basically flying blind!

[Finless]

I wish I could help more sorry... I do not have this device even though I rooted the ROM. I have no way to test or anything. But in my ROM kit is the best instructions I have in the README.TXT.

Sorry I wish I could help more. Hopefully SwissCheese will update my README to be better.

Bob

[swisscheese]

Here you go....

As agreed with Finless, I would make a little "Readme" once the smoke cleared. Here it is, short and sweet. It would have been up earlier but the damn uploads took a while.

Quick summary of procedure to flash Measy A5A Android Player.
All credit for rooting the stock firmware goes to Finless. As he did not have one of these units, I was
the designated Crash test Dummy. The following worked for me:
1.) Download and extract https://rapidshare.com/files/3598010...M_Test_1.3.rar.

2.) Download and extract
https://rapidshare.com/files/2754048...ry_Mode_01.rar.

3.) Download and extract https://rapidshare.com/files/6126656...nt_manager.rar.

4.) Use the USB port near the SD Card port to connect to PC with device power disconnected as the other two ports dont seem to work in recovery mode.

5.) Hold in the Reset button and connect power. Release Reset after around 5-10 seconds.

6.) Install the RK29 drivers found in the Finless ROM or "Driver_-_Recovery_Mode_01.rar" (the ones I used) when prompted.

7.) Open "RK29update.exe" from "A5A Player Finless ROM Test 1.3"

8.) Click on EraseIDB and let it run a few seconds.

9.) Tick the "Loader" checkbox and click "Run".

10.) This will take a miunte or two and the device will reboot when done.

11.) Ready to go.....You should be ready to roll.

I originally wanted to root my A5A to mount Windows shares with Mount Manger, but the stock CIFS module did not work. Thanks to Finless again, I was able to get it working with "CIFS_modules_for_mount_manager.rar".

12.) Install Mount Manager from the Market or use the apk included.

13.) copy the three *.ko files to "/system/lib/modules" (ES File Explorer) and reboot.
14.) Open Mount Manager and go to Preferences.

15.) Tick "Load Modules" &"Load on boot"

16.) Click on "Manage Modules", then add the three modules, specifying the load order:
1> nls_utf.ko, 2> slow-work.ko, 3> cifs.ko

17.) For some reason it only worked for me after a reboot.

18.) Mount manager can be a bit iffy, this is what worked for me:

a) "Share Path" must look like this: //192.168.10.1/share
- shares are case sensitive and it doesn't like spaces in the share name.
- I created hidden lower case shares (movies$) while testing and they worked too.
- the "Browse" button for "Share Path" didn't work for me.
b) "Mount Point" must look like this /mnt/stor.....
- the "Browse" button for "Mount Point" works
c) "Options" are added using the cross on the right.
- fields for "user" and "password" were all i needed to add.
d) Save and mount

Hope this was helpful