Tutorial: Flashing a custom ROM on TF700T

[vuralemre]

can u explain shrtly root technic .10 build number?
tf700t

 

[regierw]

Excellent step-by-step instructions berndlb. The only issue I ran into was that installing twrp.blob didn't work the first time. Tried it a second time and it worked. Really like the look, feel and ease-of-use of TWRP!! A two part question: 1) Is there any reason to install SuperSU as indicated in TWRP and 2) Is that all it takes to root my device?

Thanks in advance for your reply and thanks again for the well written instructions!!!

 

[berndlb]

Glad I could be of service

Question 1: Not really unless you plan keep running the stock rom - which would be beyond my comprehension

Question 2: Yes

A rooted stock rom gives some more flexibility to improve it's performance but that's nothing compared to running CROMi-X!

 

[berndlb]

can u explain shrtly root technic .10 build number?
tf700t

Aeehm - did you miss my edit in blue under "What about root" in the OP?
I have not tried the Kingo Root tool, but the steps are explained in the thread on XDA I linked to.

 

[Laureate]

Hi Berndlb,

Bear with me, I've tried my best, but have met with defeat... so far! As you can see, newbie here, but have owned my TF700 since Oct 12: one of the first to be available in the UK. Have now got to the stage where the lag makes me want to chuck it out of the window on a dialy basis. Rathe than do that, thought I'd go for a custom ROM, as per your excellent tutorial.

OK, ASUS now unlocked; I can happily get to the small bootloader writing; problem is that I cannot get fastboot to recognise that it is connected to my laptop. Connect it when stock rom is loaded and it recognises happily enough and allows for the full exchange of data between the two devices. Having dug around a bit on here (and on google), I wonder whether it is a problem with the instalation of fastboot on my main PC? If I go to device manager, it lists fastboot as a device, but with an overlaid exclamation mark claiming I do not have the correct driver?

Can I get fastboot anywhere else than via the link you placed in the tutorial?

 

[berndlb]

Driver hassle in Windows is unfortunately one of the most common stumbling blocks.
Search for the "Google Universal Naked Drivers", go to Device Manager, uninstall the driver present (if any).
Then use Device Manager to manually update the driver. Just point it to the extracted Naked Drivers folder. Hopefully that will solve it...
If you are on Win8 you may have to disable Window's driver verification.

Sent from my DROID4 using Tapatalk

 

[Superpug]

Thanks!, Thanks!, Thanks! Everything worked great now i have to decide what rom i want to install. I want to install CM11 but i dont know if the current bootloader is compatible with CM11.

 

[berndlb]

Thanks!, Thanks!, Thanks! Everything worked great now i have to decide what rom i want to install. I want to install CM11 but i dont know if the current bootloader is compatible with CM11.

10.6.1.14.4 or later is fine with CM11. But you need a recovery that works with KitKat. CWM 6.0.4.4 (I believe there is recent update to .6 out) and supposedly TWRP 2.6.3.2 also works. I haven't tried either.

Sent from my DROID4 using Tapatalk

 

[jagged78]

OMG, I wish ASUS would come out and say they aren't deploying 4.4 so I can mod this and be done with it!

 

[sparksd]

OMG, I wish ASUS would come out and say they aren't deploying 4.4 so I can mod this and be done with it!

I can't imagine an Asus 4.4 being better than CROMi-X on my TF700T - my guess is that it would be a large step back in performance and stability. I have 4.4.2 on my 2013 Nexus 7 and I'm thinking of unlocking it and putting a custom ROM on it just as I recently did with my 2012 version. I wish I had customized my TF700T months ago - I would have used it a lot more (like I do now).

 

[berndlb]

OMG, I wish ASUS would come out and say they aren't deploying 4.4 so I can mod this and be done with it!

I would not hold my breath.... I expect them to release 4.3 for the TF700 in the first half of 2014. But KitKat?
I seriously doubt it. According to a user on XDA who had his buddy, who works at Asus, check, they will support the TF700 until the end of 2014 with updates. So this tablet will get one - maybe two - probably inconsequential updates on stock....
I tried CM11 which emulates KitKat, on my TF700 and I'm not impressed.... The same is true for CM 10.2 stable btw....
IMHO there's nothing better for this tablet than CROMi-X. It runs flawlessly with everything I care to throw at it. Even if there was not a single update to CROMi-X in the future (which is unlikely since sbdags has been a releasing a better version every 3 weeks for the last year), I would be content running this tablet on CROMi-X 5.2.4 until it dies...

 

[chris corzine]

Hi! Thanks for putting all of this in one locale!
I'm very new to this. I managed to root my EVO 3D using the wire trick and that was super fun, but I don't know much about recovery and roms.
I'm having trouble understanding the steps here, I think.
After I put fastboot -i 0x05B0 flash recovery twrp.blob into the command line and press enter I get...
sending 'recovery' (0 KB)...
OKAY [ 0.061s]
writing 'recovery'...
OKAY [ 3.372s]
finished. total time: 3.435s

Is this right? The tablet doesn't reboot itself. Is it supposed to?
If I restart into the bootloader and select RCK it starts the system update and then gives an error(Mike lying on his back with red triangle).
I did not wipe my system before installing the bootloader and twrp.

Not sure what I did wrong. I followed the steps from start to finish (as best as I understand them). Any help is much appreciated.

Thanks.



EDIT: As soon as I enter "fastboot -i 0x05B0 flash recovery twrp.blob" it seems like the tablet freezes as the RCK logo stops blinking and does nothing (I've waiting for about half an hour).

EDIT: SOLVED: I used a different twrp.blob file from the site. Apparently the one I was using is "too new?"

Thanks so much again! I can't wait to use cromi. I've heard nothing but good things and I cannot stand the lag anymore!

 

[berndlb]

Hi! Thanks for putting all of this in one locale!
I'm very new to this. I managed to root my EVO 3D using the wire trick and that was super fun, but I don't know much about recovery and roms.
I'm having trouble understanding the steps here, I think.
After I put fastboot -i 0x05B0 flash recovery twrp.blob into the command line and press enter I get...
sending 'recovery' (0 KB)...
OKAY [ 0.061s]
writing 'recovery'...
OKAY [ 3.372s]
finished. total time: 3.435s

Is this right? The tablet doesn't reboot itself. Is it supposed to?
If I restart into the bootloader and select RCK it starts the system update and then gives an error(Mike lying on his back with red triangle).
I did not wipe my system before installing the bootloader and twrp.

Not sure what I did wrong. I followed the steps from start to finish (as best as I understand them). Any help is much appreciated.

Thanks.



EDIT: As soon as I enter "fastboot -i 0x05B0 flash recovery twrp.blob" it seems like the tablet freezes as the RCK logo stops blinking and does nothing (I've waiting for about half an hour).

EDIT: SOLVED: I used a different twrp.blob file from the site. Apparently the one I was using is "too new?"

Thanks so much again! I can't wait to use cromi. I've heard nothing but good things and I cannot stand the lag anymore!

Were you by any chance trying to flash TWRP 2.6.3.0? That version was just a little bit too large for the recovery partition on the TF700. Versions 2.6.1.0, 2.6.3.1 and 2.6.3.2 are fine.

 

[hubee]

Hi all....I am running CROMi-X 5.2.3 Now I see there is CROMi-X 5.2.4 If I want to update to the newer Rom can I just flash over the older Rom or do I have to do a wipe and then install the new rom and reload the apps?

 

[sparksd]

Hi all....I am running CROMi-X 5.2.3 Now I see there is CROMi-X 5.2.4 If I want to update to the newer Rom can I just flash over the older Rom or do I have to do a wipe and then install the new rom and reload the apps?

No need to do a wipe - just install over the earlier version. I did it a few days ago.

 

[Chris Stretten]

GREAT TUTORIAL!!! I just conducted my first custom rom install and what a difference!!! I love the performance, the fact that there's not a single BLOATWARE APP installed... I'll be sending a donation ASAP!!! Thanks!!!

 

[rhauer]

It is simply unuseable!!!! When I first got the 700 i thought it was the best choice avaialble. I was telling everybody I knew and trying to convince them to buy one. Keyboard, extended memory, etc. This is without question the worst device I have ever owned. It is worse then the worst Windows version.

I can sometime get 5 mins work out of 1/2 hour of time. Its literally unuseable I dont even know how to put it in words. It can take me 5-8 minns to open one web page. Every program crashes and I get the message that i can wait. It takes miniutes to open up the keyboard. Many times the screen isnt responsive at all. I can touch it 10 times. At least once a session I have to do a hard reset. Its is terrible, impossible to use. If I was rich I would love to break this thing in half and purchasee a good product.

I guess my only chance is to root or install a new ROM. I dont want to go through the process but Im not sure I have a choice. This thing sucks.

 

[foppies]

Hi
i've unlocked and rooted my tf700. i've had it for just over a year, the OTA only worked once or twice. it hasn't had an OTA update in a long time. For whatever reason, my tf700 is on the 10-4.4.25 build. so, i've been trying to do my homework. i've got twrp installed v2.6.3.1 installed and i can boot into it just fine. i went here:[ROM]★★[JB 4.2.1][CROMi-X 5.3][DATA2SD/ROM2SD | ODEX/DEODEX 10.6.1.27.5][JAN 18]★★ - xda-developers and i have the 10.6.1.14.10 US bootloader and TWRP file. i also have the CROMi-Xenogenesis 5.2.4 DEODEX file. both have been downloaded and have been moved to my external sd card. the install howtos says to install the bootloader as a normal rom. so... that means, i boot into twrp, backup, issue a wipe, then choose the new bootloader? do i then reboot to the new bootloader? has anyone else gone through these steps going from an older 10-4.4.25 build to the 10.6.1.14.10 build? i'm assuming this will work fine. if it does, i should be able to install CROMi-x 5.2.4 w/o any issues? any help is appreciated. just like everyone i want to make sure i do this correctly, using the correct versions... to reinterate, i guess my main question is, can i upgrade the bootloader on top of the older version? i havent seen many sites that indicate this. or perhaps i've missed it.

 

[berndlb]

Hi
i've unlocked and rooted my tf700. i've had it for just over a year, the OTA only worked once or twice. it hasn't had an OTA update in a long time. For whatever reason, my tf700 is on the 10-4.4.25 build. so, i've been trying to do my homework. i've got twrp installed v2.6.3.1 installed and i can boot into it just fine. i went here:[ROM]★★[JB 4.2.1][CROMi-X 5.3][DATA2SD/ROM2SD | ODEX/DEODEX 10.6.1.27.5][JAN 18]★★ - xda-developers and i have the 10.6.1.14.10 US bootloader and TWRP file. i also have the CROMi-Xenogenesis 5.2.4 DEODEX file. both have been downloaded and have been moved to my external sd card. the install howtos says to install the bootloader as a normal rom. so... that means, i boot into twrp, backup, issue a wipe, then choose the new bootloader? do i then reboot to the new bootloader? has anyone else gone through these steps going from an older 10-4.4.25 build to the 10.6.1.14.10 build? i'm assuming this will work fine. if it does, i should be able to install CROMi-x 5.2.4 w/o any issues? any help is appreciated. just like everyone i want to make sure i do this correctly, using the correct versions... to reinterate, i guess my main question is, can i upgrade the bootloader on top of the older version? i havent seen many sites that indicate this. or perhaps i've missed it.

I like how you roll!
You did your homework, you got all the right files in place and then you ask once more just to be absolutely sure! :thumbup:
That's exactly how to proceed folks! foppies is a shining example

To answer your question:
Yes, you are good to go, exactly how you described it.
Some background: When you flash the bootloader/TWRP file it will get written to the staging partition. When you reboot, you will see a blue bar under the Asus logo filling from left to right. That's the bootloader/TWRP getting flashed to their proper location. If there's anything in the staging partition it will be executed first before anything else happens.
That's also the reason you HAVE to reboot before you flash the rom. If you flash bootloader and rom in the same TWRP session the rom flash with overwrite the bootloader flash in the staging partition. They have to be done in separate TWRP sessions.
You can boot back to system or to the bootloader - doesn't really matter.
Even if you boot back to system and end up it in a bootloop (don't know how the .10 bootloader plays with an ICS stock rom) - it doesn't matter. The bootloader flash happened already and that is all you need at that point.
Just use Power and Volume Down to boot back to TWRP.
BTW - I assume you have everything on your tablet backed up anyway and you are prepared for a setup from scratch.
So I would use this chance to format data in TWRP at this point - before you flash CROMi-X.
JB 4.2 brought us a very different file structure than we had in ICS. The default selection under the 'Wipe' menu in TWRP will wipe your data partition, but not your /data/media folder (that's where personal data is stored).
I would format the entire data partition before moving to a JB based rom. Just select "Advanced" and then "Format Data".

BTW: After the bootloader/TWRP flash you will have TWRP 2.6.1 - an older version than you have right now. But that's totally ok. TWRP 2.6.1 is the most stable version of the recovery for this tablet with the .10 bootloader. That is why sbdags did not update that package.
Happy flashing

 

[foppies]

well, i pushed the big red button. thanks for the confirmation!! wiped, installed the new bootloader/twrp, rebooted, etc.. when i reboot back to my stock rom, my 'about tablet' still says JR.....10.4.4.25-20121228. i expected something different. I then powerdown, reboot, hit the power button + vol down, then i get in the upper left status of: "Key driver not found.. Booting 0S"
Android cardhu-user bootloader (1.00 e) released by "US_epad-10.6.1.14.1--20130801" A03. Is this right? it doesnt sound right to me, i expected to see 10.6.1.14 in the "settings > about tablet" section. if this is correct, then i should be able to wipe (again) and then install my new cromi rom?

- edit
even so, at first i thought there was an error in the zip file, so i went and downloaded it again from a different mirrored site. wipe/install,etc, and same exact results. i just checked again. twrp definitely downgraded to 2.6.1.0. soo... i must be on the new bootloader, and the 10.4.4.25 i see in the settings>about tablet is Asus' stock ROM version? i think im getting confused.