Saturday, February 9, 2013

Upgrading the Lenovo IdeaPad K1 to Jellybean (K1_JB_AOSP) Newbie Guide with Pictures

Remember when the news came out that Lenovo decided to release a Ice Cream Sandwich stock Vanilla for the Lenovo Ideapad. Everybody was happy. Then they found out that the stock ICS did not have Google Play Store! They've also advised mainstream users (and those who aren't familiar with tinkering with their Android OS) to basically stay away from it.

Coincidentally, my Lenovo IdeaPad K1 dies out on me. I have not used it for more than a month because it didn't charge nor did it indicate any signs of life. So today, I just decided to give it a try and holy cow!

Before anything else, let me explain what I have in hand and what to expect...

1. My Lenovo IdeaPad K1 had the original Honeycomb OS...Android OS 3.1
2. I didn't have a microSD card (These first two reasons are why CWM's Jellybean version was out of the question).

Note: According to my understanding, CWM will only work if you have an external micro-SD card and you have the Clockwork Mod Recovery (a package included in Krook1's Android ROM).

3. I have an IdeaPad K1 tablet that's at least 70% charge.
4. Expect that all data will be wiped out, except for the one in your microSD card.
5. Expect that the signal strength for Wi-Fi is messed up. It doesn't show any signal even when you're already connected to a network

Issues I've come across while upgrading the IdeaPad K1 tablet to Jellybean...

1. I tried running NvFlash in Windows 7 by double-clicking the flash-win.bat (and even dragging the batch file to the command window and pressing enter), but nothing seems to happens!

Note: I already disabled my anti-virus and User Account Control (UAC) was off too.

2. I thought I got stuck during the "Formatting partition 12" but I waited a bit and it got to 13. Just in case you get stuck at "Formatting partition 12", just close it and repeat the process.

This is what I meant about getting stuck at Formattiing partition 12. No worries, all you have to do is close it and repeat IF you do get stuck.

3. Although my Lenovo IdeaPad K1 does not show itself in Windows XP, this was what I used to upgrade to Jellybean or Android OS 4.1.1

Once again, the reason why I am doing this is because I hope to help newbies like me.
Nvflash version
1. Download one of the packages above and extract it to a directory 
2. Power off device
3. Press and hold both the Vol + and Vol - buttons
4. While holding both Volume buttons power the tablet on
5. The screen should go black and the two front LED's should remain lit. You are now in APX mode
6. Connect your device to USB
7a) Windows: Install the APX drivers from the 'drivers' folder
Double click the 'flash-windows.bat' file
7b) Linux: run 'chmod +x flash-linux.sh && sudo ./flash-linux.sh' from the extracted directory
Credit goes to Khanning. These instructions were taken from the Lenovo Community Forum on the [ROM][JB][AOSP]
Just in case you run through issues not mentioned in this post, don't hesitate to visit the forum. There's 26 pages worth of discussions about the K1_JB_AOSP
Step 1. Downloading the package... The one I used was the NvFlash version since I didn't have an SD card or the Krook1's Clockwork Mod.


This is that same link used on the forum. It's approximately 198MB in size with an MD5 of f15609a8bd98d0a39f838b29f0c6df59. MD5 is an attribute (checksum) given to a file so that others will be able to verify whether it was tampered with or not.

Step 1.1: The K1_JB_AOSP.zip should be extracted out, preferably to the Desktop.

As you could see, I extracted mine in the Desktop. Ignore the red arrows for now.
Step 2. Pretty self-explanatory. Long press the power button and wait for the "Shut Down" or "Power Off" message and press OK.

Step 3 & 4. Now that it's off, press the Vol + and Vol - button. Don't let go. Press the power button and wait for the lights on your IdeaPad K1 (beside the menu button) to remain lit. Once it's on, give it 5-10 more seconds and let go of the Power Button.

Note: I made a mistake of letting the power button go so soon that it booted to start up.

Step 5: Checklist for the IdeaPad K1 to be on APX mode.

-Black Screen (Check)
-Tiny Lights on Both Sides of the Menu Button ON (Check)

Step 6. Picture Time!

This is what APX mode looks like. I already took the liberty of attaching the USB  for the next processes.
Step 7. Look for the folder where you extracted the K1_JB_AOSP.zip. Assuming you clicked on Desktop without typing in a folder for it to be extracted to, the contents of the zip will be on the desktop.

Step 7.1: Double-click on the flash-win.bat file in that folder.

Double-click the flash-win.bat file to run it.

Step 8. Sit back and relax. Let NvFlash do its job.

Installing drivers...
Done with installing the NVIDIA USB Boot-recovery driver for Mobile devices.
What you should expect to pop-out in the command window (the black window) while it is flashing your Lenovo IdeaPad K1.

This is how it will appear on your Lenovo IdeaPad K1.
Step 9: Once it is done, you should be seeing this in your screen.

A Shiny X Glowing with Rainbow Colors!
Success! The fruits of your labor has paid off!
Once you've finished the prompts (about primary language and setting up your Gmail), you're good to go.

Now, both of us are enjoying our K1 in Jellybean.

Note: Good news! I was already able to upgrade my Android tablet so that the Wi-Fi signal is visible. If you're interested, please visit my Upgrading Lenovo IdeaPad K1 to CM10.

18 comments:

  1. sir, i followed all your instructions., but when i run nvflash the cmd keeps on closing., hope you can help me., thanks in advance

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. What OS is your computer running in? Make sure po na you run flash-win.bat as administrator. Right-click the file and select "Run as Administrator".

      Try nyo na rin po sa ibang computer kasi baka yung anti-virus rin yung nag bblock.

      P.S. Ma'am po ako.

      Delete
  2. Bkt namatay lagi ung flare q sa gamings? Kht irepormat q ganun padin pa2long naman tnx

    ReplyDelete
  3. hi Ma'am my k1 din po stock lng sya entering nvflash recovery mode / nv3p server eto po pic http://imageshack.us/a/img90/2706/k4d1.jpg

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I know this scenario. My K1 got those results when it was bricked for 3X and was able to revive those 3 bricks. Were you able to solve your bricked K1?

      Delete
  4. its work for me and now my k1 has jb......thank u......(from indonesia)

    ReplyDelete
  5. it works for me but for some reason no sound on Winamp. all other apps are working fine.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Maybe it's a compatibility issue. You should try other players. You could also consider getting an earlier version

      Delete
  6. hello... glad i had this post. actually i already found other tutor on xda developer etc. but might be too difficult to follow. i have big problem with my lenovo k1. last i restart, it wont booting as usually is back to nvdia logo again and again. i also found that many people has same problem. the different is, i dont wanna wipe my entire data, coz there still some memory in it with my family. is there any way to survive my K1, without loosing any data. u can contact me @aris_widi_n or email aris4trading@yahoo.co.id. i really really really thank to you if there any solution. best regards. aris.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Aris. I think the best thing you could do is root your tablet first (if possible), try installing Titanium and back-up the files. Some people are still able to access the files even when they stuck with the nvidia logo screen... maybe you can still access it.

      I'm not sure if there's any way other than what I mentioned. You could try my phone explorer... or install LeTools and see if you can access them even though it couldn't successfully boot to its "desktop"

      Delete
  7. Hello! I was able to this before the early days when Khanning's JB AOSP was released. Since my K1 was bricked for 3X already. For the first 2 bricking I was attempting to upgrade to JB but got bricked 2x maybe it has something to do with the "sdram config strap: 1" the value should be 0 but I got 1.

    This method works for non-rooted HC 3.2.1 right?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sorry for the late reply. Yes. When I switched to JB, I was still running the original stock HC. Hindi sya rooted, hindi rin sya updated.

      Sa lahat ba ng computers na natry mo, same prob ba? Hindi kaya may problema yung cable mo? Sa akin kasi, paminsan misan, di gumagana yung cable.

      Also, ano pala OS mo. Sa akin kasi, nung ginawa ko sya, naka XP ako... pero yung CM10 ko, naka Windows 7 na ako.

      Delete
  8. try Using flash_old.bat file. it is Perfect.

    ReplyDelete
  9. hi. got an ICS ROM about a year ago. it bricked just recently. tried installing nvflash driver and it won't install. can anybody help?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi, Philip. Make sure you have SDK installed. You can download it here. http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html

      Once you've installed, try running flashwin.bat again. Good luck.

      Delete
  10. Hi. Are you still arround? I have issue with flashing mine. It gets stock when trying create partition.

    ReplyDelete
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    ReplyDelete

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