Hudl 2 connects to wifi but Tesco update server not switched on

[Guest Anna65]

18 minutes ago, MikeProbs2 said:

Unfortunately, I don't have the copy of the Guardian myself, I read it in the local library. I did find a link, however :

https://www.pressreader.com . Check it out.

Thanks for looking for it MikeProbs2, however unfortunately I can't find anything using that link either... Edit: ah, found it now, however it's all greyed out so I can't read it, tried to sign up, but even after that it's still greyed out and insists I pay to read... If you've signed up can you take a screenshot and upload?

Edited March 24, 2019 by Anna65

[Guest MikeProbs2]

Hi Anna65,

Check back on my post, I have updated the link.

[Guest Rpt3fois]

On 3/21/2019 at 4:50 PM, Anna65 said:

But looks like Tesco may have paid heed to (sorry I forget your handle)'s post detailing the exact response the server should be giving and that they didn't lie to The Guardian! Please let us know how the rest of you get on with your hudls!

First, so many thanks and a big "well done" to you, Anna, for bringing a shinier light to this. As of this morning I have a working Hudl1 and hope to set it up properly this evening.

As for Tesco, perhaps "economical with the truth" is a generous explanation for what can only be an about turn. I guess it takes a newspaper to turn "end of life, bye" into, "we're working on a fix".

[Guest Dave the bus]

I rang their head office about 10 days ago and told them I would take legal advice on compensation for my 2 hudl 2,s.. It was a week later they both miraculously connected... Also told them about this forum... People power wins the day

 

[Guest Rpt3fois]

On 3/21/2019 at 5:24 PM, BellAlistair said:

(Needless to say I haven't heard anything back from Tesco in response to my technical email...)

You're only a customer seeking - and offering - a fix for a product you bought from them, not a newspaper with an audience showing them in a less-than-flattering light. The courtesy of a reply is for others!

The brass neck of that response to the Guardian is quite something.

Thanks for your efforts, Alistair.

[Guest grocer]

I have heard back from ComputerActive who tell me that they have been in touch with Tesco and were told -" they are doing their best to fix it and are still supporting the  Hudl 1. "

I think that Tesco underestimated the extent of this problem on receipt of the original complaints but the increasing number of complaints from this forum and the interest from major organisations seem to have forced a U turn . I think it will now be very difficult for Tesco to remove support for the Hudl for some time to come.

[Guest Anna65]

The Guardian article is now online:

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2019/mar/25/tesco-hudl-tablet-support-kill-fix

It was indeed my letter, although quite a bit shortened. That'll be this stay-at-home mum's claim to fame from here on - "I've been published".  

The reason for the inclusion of the link above is not to brag about my fame but there are actually quite a lot of interesting comments from people who have seen the article. In case anyone is interested. Now we just need to somehow let everyone know Tesco has fixed the problem... I've started doing reverse communications on eBay - previously I would warn people selling their hudls as working, now I'm contacting those who are selling theirs as faulty to let them know that it works again! No rest for the wicked...  

Thank you SO much to everyone on this thread - to the techies who identified the problem and explained it to Tesco, and to the rest of us who together managed to put enough pressure on Tesco to get them to reverse their decision! What a result! I'm one happy bunny (appropriate with Easter coming up and everything).

[Guest Viv01]

45 minutes ago, Anna65 said:

The Guardian article is now online:

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2019/mar/25/tesco-hudl-tablet-support-kill-fix

It was indeed my letter, although quite a bit shortened. That'll be this stay-at-home mum's claim to fame from here on - "I've been published".  

The reason for the inclusion of the link above is not to brag about my fame but there are actually quite a lot of interesting comments from people who have seen the article. In case anyone is interested. Now we just need to somehow let everyone know Tesco has fixed the problem... I've started doing reverse communications on eBay - previously I would warn people selling their hudls as working, now I'm contacting those who are selling theirs as faulty to let them know that it works again! No rest for the wicked...  

Thank you SO much to everyone on this thread - to the techies who identified the problem and explained it to Tesco, and to the rest of us who together managed to put enough pressure on Tesco to get them to reverse their decision! What a result! I'm one happy bunny (appropriate with Easter coming up and everything).

One word of caution, though - do we really trust Tesco enough to assume this is a permanent fix ? I'd like to think it is, but given their recent performance, I think we could be forgiven for taking a 'wait and see' approach.

I'd also like to add my thanks for everyone's efforts in challenging Tesco sufficiently to make them think again....perhaps we should volunteer our services to help HMGov sort themselves out as our next project...

 

[Guest stoicalm]

Although the hudl lets us past the update stage it does not update to lollipop so a lot of the stuff in play store is not compatible with it

[Guest Anna65]

17 minutes ago, stoicalm said:

Although the hudl lets us past the update stage it does not update to lollipop so a lot of the stuff in play store is not compatible with it

Yes, that is the downside with this solution and a real shame. I too would have preferred for Tesco to have restored everything to exactly how it was before the outage, really don't know why that wasn't possible. I have asked Tesco if it would be possible for them to provide a downloadable version of the Lollipop update, from a link on their support pages, so that one could at least apply the update from external storage - there's an option to do that in the Android recovery menu. But I haven't heard anything about that. Guess it's time to query it again. At least the hudls are working on KitKat now, as far as that's possible, and not bricked, so that's something, although not the ideal outcome. 

[Guest LV426]

Just thought I'd let you know I got my Hudls up & running again - thanks for all the information here!

I thought I'd share this detail as well for reference:

Model number: Hudl HT753

Android version: 4.2.2

Kernel version: 3.0.36+ [email protected]#1 Thu Apr 24 15:38:48 BST 2014

Build number: JDQ39.20140424.153851

I guess 5 years is a long time in the world of IT, however I'm happy I now have usable devices for the kids on car journeys now!

Hopefully there will be a way to ensure future functionality should I need to factory reset them again!

Edited March 27, 2019 by LV426
Add additional detail

[Guest Viv01]

On 3/26/2019 at 5:37 PM, Anna65 said:

Yes, that is the downside with this solution and a real shame. I too would have preferred for Tesco to have restored everything to exactly how it was before the outage, really don't know why that wasn't possible. I have asked Tesco if it would be possible for them to provide a downloadable version of the Lollipop update, from a link on their support pages, so that one could at least apply the update from external storage - there's an option to do that in the Android recovery menu. But I haven't heard anything about that. Guess it's time to query it again. At least the hudls are working on KitKat now, as far as that's possible, and not bricked, so that's something, although not the ideal outcome. 

Although it would be nice to think Tesco were in 'supportive mode' again, I suspect they won't go out of their way to help with follow-up problems. Higher management will have placed strict limits on available resource, so I would predict any assistance would be slow and patchy.

It would be really great to free our HUDLs from Tesco's clutches completely - although I'm no expert on the inner workings of Android, I'm sure there must be a way of amending the bootup process post-reset such that it bypasses the commands pointing at Tesco's servers. Now that we have full access to our tablets again (for now, anyway), I wonder if our local experts have any ideas on how to do this....

Given the longevity of these tablets and their continued popularity, it's quite likely we might be in a position in a couple of years time whereby Tesco pull server support again and we go back to square one. Nice to have a get-out clause in case that happens so we can avoid a repeat of all that angst....

[Guest Aislingeanbeag]

Does anyone on here have any contacts or connection to Open Reply IT who I believe were the company that  worked for Tesco ???
The answer to most of our problems may be with them if Tesco would consent to release
 

Tesco chose Open Reply as a strategic development partner to work on a number of areas:

• To customise Hudl’s Android Operating System and adapt it to work on the tablet and deliver the brand message
• Create the ‘Over The Air’ update distribution system
• Create the ‘Getting Started App’ which covers everything for the new user from hardware to software and how to customise internet safety settings

[Guest Bill_Door]

On 3/21/2019 at 5:24 PM, BellAlistair said:

Excellent news, I see Tesco have now changed the response of their servers to return the Null identified by ChrisEvilGenius as a suitable response and which my earlier instructions were based around.

Well done!  

I was happy with the workaround I posted on Page 5 but I this tablet will be used by a number of people so a fresh working install would be better.

 

THE SERVER IS BACK!

Mine is the earlier generation Hudl2 that was not fixed by Tesco's initial attempt.  I can now confirm a fresh factory reset today - the setup completed all the way through no problem. So it seems the servers have been re-instated to give the right response.

Nice one BellAlistair for providing them with the code to respond with, even though they don't seem to have acknowledged your effort - the rest of us appreciate it!

 

 

 

 

[Guest Davey Brown]

Hi folks

I've recently got my hands on a Hudl 2. Its a great piece of hardware but the OS is still on Kitkat so its pretty far behind in that respect. I tried the software update check but no joy. Does anyone know where Lollipop for the Hudl 2 may be found.  Thanks. 

[Guest Jinjur]

Anyond have any info about the lollipop update?

Some apps are no longer working on kitkat so was hoping to update them but there seem to be no updates anymore?

Did we snag a copy of the lollipop update that we can side load?

[Guest karldonteljames]

Hi, My hudl 1 last week booted to the bootloader Android system Recovery <e3> (recovery system V4.2.41) and now doesn't seem to be able to anything. Looking through this thread, it looks like if it was booting and connected to the internet it wouldn't be a problem, but it isn't getting that far. I've since tried to wipe data/factory reset and wipe cache partition, but still unable to get this to boot. I have tired to sideload the stockrom, but that fails. Any ideas on how I can get around this issue?

Thanks

[Guest Kp1980]

Anyone got any info on updating the hudl 2 to lollipop yet please. I now have apps that wont update as saying not compatible with my device. Thanks

[Guest Viv01]

Hi All,

I have a distinct feeling of deja vu ....I've just received a heads up from someone on eBay who reports several occurrences of the same HUDL setup problem we saw in early 2019. I've checked the Tesco server address from back then and it does seem to be down at present (https://device.mobile.tesco.com).

Anyone else picked up on this ? 

Whatever  the cause, it does seem to be a recent problem, and may just be a temporary outage, although  it may not be a coincidence that we have just passed the mid-year 30th June watershed when 3rd party contracts tend to come up for renewal. I suspect Tesco may have turned off their servers again in the hope they can quietly rid themselves of the HUDL 'curse'  while folks are distracted by the pandemic....let's hope the problem is only temporary and we don't need another media campaign. ...

[Guest Viv01]

Hi All,

Just a brief update - since the server still appears to be down, and more and more HUDLs are appearing on eBay as 'Parts Only' with tales of woe about failures to complete setup, I think we can safely say there is a problem to be solved.

I have therefore emailed Lewis Gorrie, who was the primary Tesco contact when this happened last year. I've reported the server outage, with a request that he check on the cause with Tesco's 3rd party IT supplier, and ask for it to be remedied asap.

Amazingly, I did get a reply within minutes from the CEOs office to the effect that my request had been received.

Let's see what, if anything,  happens....

Viv 

[Guest Traceybmth]

I have the same problem. I have a hudl 1 which was my grandfather's. As he has recently passed away we thought we would try to reset the hudl for my kids to use. Factory rest and now it won't move past the cannot connect to the internet screen on set up. Very frustrating as was working perfectly prior to his death.

[Guest wardrin]

On 7/13/2020 at 9:15 AM, Viv01 said:

Hi All,

I have a distinct feeling of deja vu ....I've just received a heads up from someone on eBay who reports several occurrences of the same HUDL setup problem we saw in early 2019. I've checked the Tesco server address from back then and it does seem to be down at present (https://device.mobile.tesco.com).

Anyone else picked up on this ? 

Whatever  the cause, it does seem to be a recent problem, and may just be a temporary outage, although  it may not be a coincidence that we have just passed the mid-year 30th June watershed when 3rd party contracts tend to come up for renewal. I suspect Tesco may have turned off their servers again in the hope they can quietly rid themselves of the HUDL 'curse'  while folks are distracted by the pandemic....let's hope the problem is only temporary and we don't need another media campaign. ...

Hi everyone,

Yesterday I factory reset Hudl 2 that I've put together from two broken ones just to stumble upon the no internet issue during setup. Then I found this thread and read it whole (this took a while). It seems it's back to square one. Let's hope its just temporary.

[Guest Jangor]

I too have been stung by this. My wifes hudl 1 was running at snails pace. So being at IT guru . I did the factory reset now have to disappeared server issue.

This throw away society really pisses me off. Hardware that is perfectly good for purpose being deliberatly made obsolete, normally through SW updates.

In the good old days you would buy a TV or a HiFi or a fridge and it would just work for years.

With the advent of Microsoft and pc'a in the 80's people have just got used to the ohhh its old and slow just scrap it and buy a new one.

Is this not churning?

End of rant. So what can i do with an old mint HW fully working hudl 1?

BTW i studdied Computer System Engineering in the 80's, am a programmer and love technology. But I hate this waste of energy, time and our planets resources.

Do i really want to waste my time on this or just bin it, with the stack of laptops under the bed?

[Guest Anna65]

Hi all,

I've just looked into it too and I concur with Viv01 above - it is a recent occurrence. Once we as a group managed to get Tesco to put in a fix for it back in the early months of 2019, it now suddenly seems to have been reversed. It may well be contract renewal as Viv says. That was probably also the cause of the earlier outage back in January 2019. I suggest as many of us as possible write to Tesco and as them in no uncertain terms to put it back in! I'm going to do it now myself. Please can you help by also doing so - the more the better so we can get a swifter resolution to this than last year!

Anna

[Guest Anna65]

I've just emailed Dave Lewis. He'll be pleased this came back to bite him before he could hand over the reins! I've copied in all the other email addresses I communicated with in 2019. All should still work as far as I can tell.

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]