DISCUSSION - Development Index and Root Utility

[Sauromatum]

OK. I have tried the rooting and dumping via the utility two more times, and the result seems to be the same as the first time. Same error message, same 0 files in the dump directory.

I also tried running the commands manually:

D:\temp\kyrosroot>adb.exe shell chmod 0777 /data/local/tmp/mempodroid


D:\temp\kyrosroot>adb.exe shell /data/local/tmp/mempodroid 0xd7cc 0xad27 sh /data/local/tmp/root.sh
rooting...

D:\temp\kyrosroot>adb.exe reboot


D:\temp\kyrosroot>adb.exe push data/busybox /data/local/tmp/
2399 KB/s (1075144 bytes in 0.437s)


D:\temp\kyrosroot>adb.exe shell su -c "chmod 0755 /data/local/tmp/busybox"
/system/bin/sh: su: cannot execute - Permission denied


So, I share your observation that it is not rooted. Is it time to give up? Or, can you suggest an alternative method for getting gapps on this tablet without Livesuite?

 

[Traveller]

Why do you have the utility in D:\temp ? I'd recommend moving the utility into its own directory, e.g. D:\KyrosRoot.

Type the following for me into a command prompt and post the results:

adb shell
cat /proc/cpuinfo

Here is the output from my 9742, which uses the same processor as the 7042. If your results are identical, then the problem is in your ADB setup. If the results differ, then the processor in your 7042 is not an Allwinner Cortex A8 CPU.

F:\adb>adb shell
* daemon not running. starting it now on port 5037 *
* daemon started successfully *
shell@android:/ $ cat /proc/cpuinfo
cat /proc/cpuinfo
Processor       : ARMv7 Processor rev 2 (v7l)
BogoMIPS        : 1001.88
Features        : swp half thumb fastmult vfp edsp neon vfpv3
CPU implementer : 0x41
CPU architecture: 7
CPU variant     : 0x3
CPU part        : 0xc08
CPU revision    : 2

Hardware        : sun4i
Revision        : 0000
Serial          : 0000000000000000
shell@android:/ $

One last thing to mention: if you're attempting to use ADB on Windows 8, don't. ADB and Windows 8 currently do not play nice. Thus I recommend upgrading to Windows 7 as Windows 8 is a steaming pile of dog s***.

 

[Sauromatum]

Moved the utility to its own dir. Same result as earlier runs. No dump files.

Still get

D:\kyrosroot>adb.exe shell su -c
/system/bin/sh: su: cannot execute - Permission denied

Here is the result of the cat /proc/cpuinfo:

D:\kyrosroot>adb shell
shell@android:/ $ cat /proc/cpuinfo
cat /proc/cpuinfo
Processor : ARMv7 Processor rev 2 (v7l)
BogoMIPS : 954.17
Features : swp half thumb fastmult vfp edsp neon vfpv3
CPU implementer : 0x41
CPU architecture: 7
CPU variant : 0x3
CPU part : 0xc08
CPU revision : 2


Hardware : sun4i
Revision : 0000
Serial : 0000000000000000
shell@android:/ $

I'm using my beloved XP SP3 machine to do this work.

 

[Traveller]

Download the utility again. It's possible that the download was corrupted when you downloaded it. If that doesn't help, then the only other thing I can think of is the tablet being defective.

 

[Sauromatum]

Followed your suggestion. Same results. So, how do you conclude that the tablet is defective? It is completely functional, stable, reliable.
Can you suggest an alternative method for getting gapps on this tablet without using Livesuite?

 

[Traveller]

Well, I didn't want to insult you by saying it was user error, so I said the tablet must be defective.

I know the utility works as I and many others have used it successfully, thus we can eliminate the utility as the cause of the problem. If you downloaded the ADB drivers from the appropriate link, then again, you should have no issue there. Therefore, either the tablet is defective, the nand setup in the tablet has changed, or else you have something in your Windows XP installation that is screwing around with ADB. What the source of the issue could be I do not know, since I cannot see your setup.

The only other alternative is to use LiveSuite. If you do that however, there's a very good chance that your tablet will not function properly afterward since the users who created the LiveSuite ROMs have not updated them in quite a while.

 

[Shepard]

Busybox should already be installed since it's pushed with the other files using the root utility, but if you want to update your copy of Busybox afterward you can do that through Stericson's Busybox installer in the Play Store.

It was not installed with the root utility or CWM, and I can't seem to get it installed from the Google Play Store. I found it, and it looks like it will let me download and install it but then it simply never shows up anywhere on the tablet nor in Settings->Apps->All. Superuser is installed. Also, any app in the Google Play Store says "Unknown MID" in the send to dropdown, and the Sims Freeplay game install says that it "this item cannot be installed in your device's country". What am I missing here?

From there, if only to improve the experience, install one of my customized framework-res.apk files.

I absolutely want to enhance both the "experience" as well as the very poor stock performance of this Coby Kyros MID9742!

I actually have flashable zips available that flash both framework-res.apk and the tweaks at the same time to make it convenient.

Do you have a complete start to finish list of files (and their installation steps) anywhere?

Just be sure to have nandroid backups of the tablet before you apply the tweaks, in case something goes wrong.

You are NOT kidding there my friend!! I actually had to learn the hard way by stupidly using LiveSuit on another one of these which I never could get un-screwed...
As always, your time and assistance is GEATLY appreciated!

 

[Traveller]

Odd, since the first four commands in the dump portion of the utility specifically cover pushing busybox, changing its file permissions, mounting the system and then copying busybox to the correct location, before doing the dump.

adb.exe push data/busybox /data/local/tmp/ > NUL
adb.exe shell su -c "chmod 0755 /data/local/tmp/busybox" > NUL
adb.exe shell su -c "/data/local/tmp/busybox mount -o remount,rw /system" > NUL
adb.exe shell su -c "/data/local/tmp/busybox cp /data/local/tmp/busybox /system/bin/busybox" > NUL

Stericson's busybox updater is not included, and for making the dump isn't necessary. The binary included fully supports creating compressed .TAR files (.TGZ). For some unknown reason the busybox binary in the later Generation 3 units didn't have that support, so I added it to ensure the dumps completed properly.

Until the Play Store tweaks are applied, a LOT of stuff will not be compatible with the tablet. The build.prop changes the fingerprint to a Galaxy SII to aid in compatibility and also includes some XML files that aren't in the ROM that when installed will allow downloading of Facebook, Angry Birds, and Google Earth. There really isn't a start to finish list of files since you're likely downloading ONE file out of the group available when you click the link in my signature relating to Play Store tweaks. As to installing them, they are installed like a custom ROM, using the "update from zip" feature of ClockworkMod.

 

[Shepard]

Odd, since the first four commands in the dump portion of the utility specifically cover pushing busybox, changing its file permissions, mounting the system and then copying busybox to the correct location, before doing the dump.

adb.exe push data/busybox /data/local/tmp/ > NUL
adb.exe shell su -c "chmod 0755 /data/local/tmp/busybox" > NUL
adb.exe shell su -c "/data/local/tmp/busybox mount -o remount,rw /system" > NUL
adb.exe shell su -c "/data/local/tmp/busybox cp /data/local/tmp/busybox /system/bin/busybox" > NUL

Stericson's busybox updater is not included, and for making the dump isn't necessary. The binary included fully supports creating compressed .TAR files (.TGZ). For some unknown reason the busybox binary in the later Generation 3 units didn't have that support, so I added it to ensure the dumps completed properly.

Either I'm not following the same set of instructions that you think I am, or perhaps the root utility is not working for my device. I started with your post titled "READ FIRST: Development Index and Root Utility" and the first section titled "Rooting and Dump Utility for Windows". There is nothing about busybox all the way to the last part which directs me to "Create System dump". I do see the files that you're describing within the data directory and I also see the code you're describing within the "root_restore.bat" file.

Until the Play Store tweaks are applied, a LOT of stuff will not be compatible with the tablet. The build.prop changes the fingerprint to a Galaxy SII to aid in compatibility and also includes some XML files that aren't in the ROM that when installed will allow downloading of Facebook, Angry Birds, and Google Earth. There really isn't a start to finish list of files since you're likely downloading ONE file out of the group available when you click the link in my signature relating to Play Store tweaks. As to installing them, they are installed like a custom ROM, using the "update from zip" feature of ClockworkMod.

Please forgive my insecurity and worry, but as you know I REALLY don't want to permanently mess up again by guessing and interpreting things incorrectly. I completely understand that these things must be done in order and I'm being patient to get to the end where all my dreams for this tablet will be realized. I installed the "gapps-ics-20120429-signed" using cwm today (which mentioned that it could NOT be UNDONE). Am I correct in that you have made a clean 100% working dump of a 9742 which I could simlply install from a zip through cwm?

 

[Traveller]

There's nothing in the instructions regarding busybox because busybox is already on the tablet. The only reason a busybox binary is in the data directory of the utility is for those units that don't have a full busybox. Thus, it's nothing you need concern yourself with.

I've never had a version of the ROM available for flashing through ClockworkMod, but Vampirefo did. That version does not have Google apps in it. For that matter, neither does the nandroid backup I have available.

 

[Shepard]

Well then, something must be wrong and/or different with my tablet because everything seems to be working except for busybox and the play store (which is the thing that I really need to get working before the 15-day return policy expires on them). I've got to believe that my tablets can be fixed, I just can't seem to get there from the standard steps that everyone else have been successful with. Any idea as to what I can try next? Would it help if I upload my system dump somewhere for you to look at?

 

[Shepard]

How can I verify that busybox is in fact on my tablet? That could be the issue, since your posts say that it's an absolute requirement in order for gapps and your tweaks to work...

 

[Shepard]

The problem with using someone else's dump is that the hardware in their dump may differ from yours. This is because Coby frequently changed the innards of the tablets. For example, my 9742 has had at least three changes to the internal hardware in the year that it's been available.

How can I tell what my 9742 hardware (innards) version is and whether or not it matches someone else's tablet who can help me get mine working with the Google Play Store?

 

[Traveller]

Unfortunately, you can't. That's why we tell people to make a dump of their firmware before attempting to do anything.

It's possible that busybox was removed from your 9742, but extremely unlikely. In any event the moment you attempted to make the dump, assuming the root process itself was successful, busybox gets pushed to the tablet and overwrites the existing version. The fact that a version of busybox comes on the tablet is the reason I told you not to worry about it. You have busybox. You shouldn't have a gimped busybox but if you do, the utility is supposed to take care of that problem by pushing the version included with the utility to the tablet.

 

[Shepard]

I'm not sure if it was on there or is now, but since nothing else (mods) seems to work on my tablet and you mentioned that they rely on busybox being present then I would say no. It's just very frustrating reading all of the posts from everyone else saying that they easy got their 9742's working just fine. My tablets must be un-hackable. I was thinking about giving one of them to my daughter for Easter, but since I can't get the Play Store and therefore most games then I'm seriously considering losing the $50 re-stocking fee to return them.

I really do appreciate your efforts!