14 replies to this topic

[becurious]

Hi there!

A friend of mine gave me her Liquid MT to help her regain access to the phone.
The phone is manufactured Oct. 2011 and still has stock GB. It's not rooted, no CWM, USB debugging is not switched on.

The phone halts on startup. The lockscreen is partially there but fails to load to completion. There's no pin verification, no reaction to any touch event and thus no access to the homescreen. Even the buttons don't work properly. For instance you can't power down the phone cause long-press-power-button doesn't work. It sits there totally unaccessible.

I can boot into recovery however. Wiping cache didn't help.
My friend is very reluctant to let me perform a hard reset, as having never made a backup or synced with Google Mail, she doesn't want to loose her contacts and messages.

Last resort is updating the fw through recovery "apply sdcard: update.zip".
I'm not familiar with updating ROMs and don't even know, if this is possible. If so, I guess this will only work with official ROMs.
I was looking for fw at ACER website and was offered "OS_Acer_4.000.13.EMEA.CUS7_A23G_A.zip".
I'm a little confused, because there is no mention of a CUS7 fw on this forum. Only GENs.
Updating this fw through recovery failed. I renamed it to update.zip and put it into root. Got "E: signature verification failed".
The package contains Windows files (*.msi, setup.exe, *.pdf, NetFramework). So I guess this isn't updateable through recovery anyway.

Can anyone
1.) confirm that I may update fw through recovery
2.) point me to right fw file (german)
3.) help me out in any other way

Thank you very much in advance!!

Edited by becurious, 23 May 2012 - 07:21 PM.

[chemicalbuz]

which recovery is installed? you can install any rom from recovery, without reinstall whole firmware...contacts are saved on google account if sync was been enabled at least one time, no hope for sms without a previous backup...
i think that fw is a branded one however , so if you want to install whole firmware just download SDs_Acer_LiquidMT_4.000.13_EMEA-GEN1_03.32.01, put it on sd card and restart in sd download mode...it will reinstall all automatically

Edited by chemicalbuz, 23 May 2012 - 07:48 PM.

[becurious]

Thx chemicalbuz

Android stock recovery is all there is.
Contacts were synced just once when the phone was set up. No sync but lots of new contacts since. SMS are a minor problem. I guess she can live without them.
FW is not branded.

I was led to believe a ROM is the same as firmware. What's the difference?
Will updating the firmware also wipe data (contacts)?

My guess is that some system files are corrupted. What would be the best way to repair them without losing the data?

[chemicalbuz]

firmware is whole system, recovery, rom, kernel etc. included, rom doesn't include recovery i.e...restore rom or firmware both delete everything on the phone, except sd card...i don't be sure but i think that you can't install rom from default recovery, so just download and put acer_ug folder on sd card, than restart in sd download mode...the phone will be completly reset

http://www.modaco.co...ug#entry1865279

Edited by chemicalbuz, 23 May 2012 - 08:30 PM.

[becurious]

chemicalbuz, on 23 May 2012 - 08:22 PM, said:

...restore rom or firmware both delete everything on the phone, except sd card...

That's bad. So there is no way to preserve contacts when updating through recovery.
Have to talk to my friend first. She'll be devastated.
I'll start with a hard reset. If this doesn't help, I'll apply a new fw.

Thx for your help chemicalbuz

[chemicalbuz]

she will learn that uncheck autosync is not a good idea
anyway, after restore, install also cwm so she could do a nandroid backup too next time

Edited by chemicalbuz, 23 May 2012 - 08:42 PM.

[becurious]

Yeah, learning the hard way is always the most effective way.
Hard Reset seems to have done the trick. She's setting up her phone right now.

[becurious]

Hard reset didn't help. Seems that the launcher is damaged.
Will install fw tomorrow.

[chemicalbuz]

ok follow the guide in the link above

[becurious]

I will. Downloaded the fw already.
Thx again.

[pranavpmanoj]

Is your phone okay now?

[becurious]

No!
Flashing fw didn't help. I didn't pay much attention before, but I get the "The application Launcher (process com.android.Launcher2) has stopped!" message. This error seems memory related.
My friend took the phone with her and won't return until next weekend. So there's nothing I can do til then.

[pranavpmanoj]

Just follow the steps below. I'm pretty sure it'll work.

1. Download this : http://vache-android...N1_03.32.01.zip

2. Download the Acer Download tool : http://gfan-acer.goo... Edit By Ma.rar

3. Turn on your phone and connect it to your computer.

4. Launch the Acer Download Tool and click on "Select File" corresponding to "Merged OS File" and navigate to the folder downloaded in the first step.Go to acer_ug, click on acer_xx and select Acer_LiquidMT_4.000.13_EMEA-GEN1_03.32.01_1CAB66AF9E9E451A66B80272FF0AA8B6

5. See if the Acer Download Tool has recognised your device (See if there is COMxx (xx = Number) next to OS Port on the Acer Download Tool). If OS Port is empty, reconnect your device to your PC. Remove the battery, reinsert it and turn your phone on.

6. Click start.

Edited by pranavpmanoj, 02 June 2012 - 07:29 AM.

[becurious]

pranavpmanoj, on 02 June 2012 - 07:22 AM, said:

Just follow the steps below. I'm pretty sure it'll work.

1. Download this : http://vache-android...N1_03.32.01.zip

2. Download the Acer Download tool : http://gfan-acer.goo... Edit By Ma.rar

3. Turn on your phone and connect it to your computer.

4. Launch the Acer Download Tool and click on "Select File" corresponding to "Merged OS File" and navigate to the folder downloaded in the first step.Go to acer_ug, click on acer_xx and select Acer_LiquidMT_4.000.13_EMEA-GEN1_03.32.01_1CAB66AF9E9E451A66B80272FF0AA8B6

5. See if the Acer Download Tool has recognised your device (See if there is COMxx (xx = Number) next to OS Port on the Acer Download Tool). If OS Port is empty, reconnect your device to your PC. Remove the battery, reinsert it and turn your phone on.

6. Click start.

I did that and it was a complete fail.
The tool was reporting success, but the device went into SD Download Mode and started to vibrate constantly. It's like a buzzing electric shaver now. It does this as soon as it's turned on, even when trying to boot into recovery. All it says is:

Quote

SD Download Mode
OSBL Version SSS=A4-03.08.04   #0  #0  #0  #0
SD Image Download Procedure...Failed! IMAGE_DIR_NOT_FOUND

Removing battery is the only way to switch it off.
I can't repeat the above mentioned procedure, as the device is no longer booting and thus can't be recognized.

Edited by becurious, 11 June 2012 - 08:08 PM.

[liquid metal newbie]

well hows the phone now ???
Did u take to acer service center??