Pain with Windows Continues

I admit that I seriously lack in-depth knowledge of Microsoft Windows, but this one still looks ridiculous never-the-less.

I am trying to hook up a ViewSonic gTablet to a Windows XP machine to load a ROM. Upon plug in the USB cable, Windows recognized the new device and popped up the Found New Hardware Wizard. All seems smooth sailing, until the wizard seems to stuck at copying a file.

Of course, when I check the destination folder, the file is there. The copying is already done but the Wizard just sits there twiddling its thumb, forever and ever. I can't even cancel it as the buttons are all greyed out. It only goes away and declares that it has finished installing the software for the device when I unplug the USB cable or power off the device.

Yet, when I plug the device back in, it is not functioning properly as an APX device. The properties dialog box in the Windows Device Manager says that "No drivers are installed for this device."

So the next thing I try is to remove the device from the Device Manager. Windows stuck again:

I guess I am going to try Linux.

[Edit 2012-11-25] -- I thought if Linux was to help, I would write another post titled "Linux to the Rescue" or something. But Linux made it so easy which made me question myself as why I started with Windows in the first place -- Possibly because most of the how-to type articles mention Windows. Well, anyway, I found this article on SlateDroid.com and followed its instructions to nvflash the tablet, which is basically, plug in the device using a mini USB cable, download nvflash, download the device image you want to install on the device and run the nvflash script -- not worth writing another post.

Rooting Gone Bad + Road to Recovery (I Hope)

Received on 3/31 my ViewSonic gTablet from the Woot sale. Immediately started researching rooting it and modifying it. To tell the truth, being able to run things on a tablet the way I want it is half the whole reason I want Android.

So I found the XDA Developers forum, registered and started my research. Perhaps being a Linux user, or perhaps the fact that rooting and installing the ClockworkMod Recovery was easy and smooth, made me feel a bit too brave than I should have. Anyway, I ended up following this simple set of instructions rather than dig deeper on the forum. I installed VEGAn-7-03082011-Experimental, rather than VEGAn 6 stable version, since many have reported that the VEGAn 7 experimental releases are stable enough for daily use.

Well, the gtablet ended up in a state where it powers up, displays the ViewSonic 3-bird image, and stops there. That was last night.

But all is not lost. Far from it, since I can hold volume up and start the gTablet in to the ClockworkMod Recovery mode.

At this point, I think I still have an option to repartition the tablet's inner storage (also an SD card?) before nvflash it.

References

• Install ClockworkMod, a ROM, Flash Player, and the Market Fix
• nvflash FULL restore, using bekit's original image (Instructions)
• G-Tablet Full Restore your Gtablet using nvflash - refresh to factory
• [FIX] Full market (improved market fix) on G Tablet (YouTube video)
• [FAQ] Viewsonic G-Tablet ROMs Frequently Asked Questions (READ THIS FIRST)

[Edit] -- Problem solved! The install guide listed first in the references above really made it easy. I guess the problem I had was caused either by missing a step (although I am pretty sure I followed the instructions to the letter) somewhere, or by the fact that the VEGAn 7 build is not for my particular gTablet.

Anyway, I redid the mod using the stable release of VEGAn v5.1 beta release. My tablet is back. Now I need to get Android Market working so I can get my apps.

[Resolved]