CKO from the inscrutable East baffles dozy gweilo

[Happychris]

I have a rather elegant white el cheapo no-name 7" tablet, sold on **** as 'Cortex A9 Amlogic 512MB TAblet Android 2.3 MID PC WIFI'. Not very punchy,but that's the only name it has... The distributor is very probably in China and seems to be distributing through a logistics firm in Portsmouth, UK. This setup has not left me in the lurch when the tab bricked itself on a bad OEM-supplied firmware. A new item arrived in good time.

But...

Language probs, make it pointless to ask further from the supplier whether this device can be rooted, and how. I have been mollycoddled by previously having branded phones to explore... Is there any way to explore safe ways to root the tablet without killing it? Any pointers? Hardware specs? Installed software? I can live without mods (I guess) but rooting makes many things so much easier...

Anyone there? Any bright ideas? Experience with these doodads?

[Finless]

Give me link to the manufacturer, the tablet, etc...

I may be able to fix you!

Please don't make me go search just give me whatever links you have.

Bob

[Happychris]

Sorry I'm late...

Many thanks for the offer, Finless. This kit has NO details! When asked, the agent replied "this is Cortex A9", which was no advance as it was billed in **** as
"Cortex A9 Amlogic 512MB Tablet Android 2.3 MID PC WIFI HDMI 1080P White" which says it all (more or less).asi_system_infos-20120229-235154.txt
Above is a shot of its back. The front is white and has nowt but a Android logo on bottom right (when vertical) where, on better specced kit, a hardware button would be. Attached is, I hope a dump from 'Android System Info' app which just may help a bit. If it would really help, I'll unscrew it (2 tiny cross-heads) and report on its insides.It's a *bit* like the pic of an 'Ainol Novo 7'. The Power and the rocker switch - which stands in for Esc and Menu - are tiny and feel of dubious longevity. Also a little Reset button North of Power, which seems to be for when one would otherwise need to pull the battery.Ever seen one like it before? Ever rooted one? (Say 'yes'!)Thanks in advance,

[Creativeguy]

Newsmy K97....am I *****ed?

I bought a Newsmy K97 tablet from www.sourcinggate.com. Looked like exactly what I wanted, But of course there are issues. The main problem is that contact application does not work. It shows it listed in the app manager, but will not run. It is bascially a tablet made for Chinese market that all they did was set the language to english. I did a hard reset to see if that woul fix the contact app, but all it did was reset it to Chinese and I have to get it back to English. I would love to wipe it, reinstall the os, and start fresh, but not a clue if it can be done. I know it would be issues with the firmware, etc..

any idea?
here are the specs:
Newsmy K97 Android 4.0 Tablet PC Highlights:

OS: Android 4.0 with Flash 11.0 support
CPU: Samsung S5PV210 (ARM Cortex TM-A8) 1.2GHz 512KB L2 Cache
GPU：Vivante GC800
Screen: 9.7〞ultrathin IPS Capacitive Touchscreen, 1024X768 resolution Audio
Memory: 1G DDR3 RAM, 16GB Nandflash built in, extend memory up to 32GB via micro sd card
Support: WMA, MP3, WAV, AACVideo: 3D Graphic Engine: 3D Games
Support (SGX540 OpenGL-ES 1.1 and 2.0 and OpenVG 1.0) 1080p MPEG H.263/H.264, WMV/Divx/Xvid 1080p@30fps
Language: Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Spanish, French, Italy, Norwegian, Polish, Portugues, Swedish, Turkish, Greek, Russian, Korean, Chinese, Japanese, Germany
Model:Newsmy K97
CPU ROCKCHIP 2918ARM Cortex-A8
Frequency: 1.2GHZ
LCD 9.7〞ultrathin IPS
Flash built-in(ROM) 16G
RAM DDR3-1GB
OS Google Android OS 4.0
Graphic processor 2D/3D accelerating
Touchscreen Capacitive
System Requirements
Hardware with USB connector
System supporting Windows2000/XP/Win 7/Vista/MAC OS10.4
Image format BMP, JPEG, PNG, GIF
Audio output MP3, WMA, AAC, FLAC, WAV, OGG, APE
Recording features Support MP3, WAV format
Acoustic effect Unique virtual sound field, mutil EQ acoustic mode
HDMI 1080P
Video playing format Support AVI,WMV,MP4,MKV,RM, RMVB, FLV, MOV,3GP
TV OUT PAL, NTSC
Connetors DC(2.5mm)
HDMI(mini 19pin)
USB 2.0
SD card (max 32G supported)
Earphone (3.5 standard connector)
Device Application Features
Office software Editing TXT, Word, Excel software; Browing PowerPoint/PDF file; Operating duplication, affixation, deletion of the files
Editing the images: zoom in, zoom out, rotate; Setting wallpaper
Network applications Support video and audio play, Flash player, check emails
Support MSN
Support online Flash (Flash11.0)
Connecting to the Internet WiFi (802.11 g/b)/3G
3G(EVDO, WCDMA)
Screen Information
Material TFT
Color 26
Size 9.7 inch
Resolution 1024*768 Pixels
Tools Google, G-mail, G-map, Google Market, Documents Managing, Process Managing
Clock, Alarm clock, Caculator, Recorder
Languages English, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Japanese, French, German, Danish, Portuguese, Czechish
Other Features
OTG Yes
External sound Yes
E-books Yes
G-sensor Yes
Handwriting Yes
Flash games Yes
Typewriting Yes
Audio Yes
APK installation Yes
LRC Yes
3D games Yes

[Finless]

Because the Google market is not on these chinese tablets, they also do not have all the contacts and sync stuff available either! However when I root a ROM I give you all that.

So here is the deal. If you have a link to the manufacturer web site to download the stock firmware for this tablet, I can make a ROM. If they do not have a download then the only other way is for someone with this tablet to semi root it (using ginger root) and use ADB to dump the ROM from the tablet. Or in Linux you use the linux RKdump tools. to dump the ROM.

WIthout a stock ROM image, I cannot root the tablet, add the market, etc.

Bob

[Creativeguy]

K97

Finless,

It looks like the actual chip is a ROCKCHIP RK2918, ARM Cortex-A8, clocked at 1.2GHz, L2 cache 512K.
I had done a copy and paste from another site that was selling the same tablet, sorry, didn't see the double list of chips.
I went to google, searched www.newsmy.com then hit translate page. I got to the k97 and found the specs off their site. As far as the firmware, I have been trying to get it...if that is even possible...and will it all be in Chinese? I emailed Newsmy...told them that the contacts app wasn't working...they asked for the serial number...and that is where it stands. If the firmware is on the website, I can't find it. Google translates a lot of the text, but not not images that have text in them.

They have an english site, but very stripped. My product doesn't even come up. I have tried to enter my s/n mulitple times where it asks for it and it doesn't work.

The tablet says running android 4.0.3.. Kernel..if that helps is 3.0.2. Does say RK2918.

My main issue is the contacts won't work. It shows under the app manger, but not as a running app. I try to put a shortcut on the home sreen...but then doesn't list it when I try to do that. I did a sync to my gmail account. Seemed like it was syncing, but then nothing.

As far as the google Market, it is there. I have used it.. downloaded apps, etc.. It does have two icons for the Market. I assume one is the chinese app market, but I just have never hit. They look very similar, but I just used the one that I know is the icon I am used to.

I am busting my butt to figure this out. I want to make this thing work. Not only the fact that I will probably never hear from the place that I bought it from, but I am pretty good with computers (windows), and I want to learn more about the android OS. I have a HTC Evo....been real happy with it.

At this point in time, bricking it would suck, cause I would be out the money, but I guess my desire to learn is driving me to make this thing work.

You advice is already appreciated. The more you can come up with the better. I can't...I hope...not ever be the only one that will come across this situation. Not that I want anyone to have to deal with it, but maybe my persistence will pay off and help someone else.

Thanks

Creativeguy

[Finless]

Go to the Market (Google Play) and search for Anycut. Install it.
Then run it and select "new shortcut". Then select "activity". Now scroll through the list and you will see one or several "Accounts and sync settings" listed. You will need to try them all. Most of them will error or force close but one of them should work and give you full accounts and sync settings. For me the first one in the list worked.

Bob

[Creativeguy]

Newsmy K97

Bob,

I tried it and it worked!. Pretty simple fix. I had serched on line forever to find a way to do something and never found a thing.

my contacts app with launch and it did a sync with my gmail account.

I am still going to be on the search for the firmware. I want to explore working on this thing. I am not going to load it all done until I am settled with the idea that i can't do much more.


Thanks for the tip.

Creativeguy

[Finless]

If you find the firmware I will make you a ROM that will make that tablet smokin FAST! Like all the tablets I have rooted so far. You wont believe it when I am done. BUT.... I need a stock ROM dump!

If you have linux, I can give you links on how to dump it.

Bob

[Creativeguy]

k97...possible firmware?

Bob,

I have been able to navigate the chinese webiste and might have found a possible firmware.

link:

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=zh-CN&u=http://www.newsmy.com/&ei=18xgT-LOL8i0hAeQoKy8Bw&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=1&sqi=2&ved=0CDEQ7gEwAA&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dwww.newsmy.com%26hl%3Den%26biw%3D1024%26bih%3D601%26prmd%3Dimvns

yet again, most of the language is chinese, but 2 lines under where is says 185089 , that line can be highlitged and it will start to down load.
I have just done other searchs for it and have found it other places
20111216K97android4.0tiyanban.rar is the file

Not sure really what it is, but figured I would mention it. I have downloaded it , but still need to expand it. Is there a particular file name/s that I am looking for to see if I even have close to what I am looking for?

Creativeguy

[Finless]

Yep that looks like it maybe a ROM file. I am downloading it now.

edit: Eeee Gads.... 6 hrs to download? It is taking forever. That web site is SLOW... Lets hope I get it all.

Bob

[Creativeguy]

k97 firmware

I have it, it's 149 mb

[Finless]

I am at 31% so it is still going. If it fails I will let you know and we will figure out a way to get it to me.

Bob

[Creativeguy]

k97

The one I had listed here is not one I found ....I tried the link that I had posted and it took me to the newsmy site, but not to the direct link.


the file that is listed there is 20111128K97ruanjian.rar ....The name of the file that I listed earlier is a little different.

[Finless]

I went into the support area and this is what I am downloading. It is listed as "firmware" for the K97.

It's still downloading but almost done.

Bob