On eBay I picked up one of those cheap Chinese 7" Quad-Core AllDayMall A88s tablets for $25, WiFi-only.
When it comes on all is fine unless you try to open the browser. Then things start popping up that are quite unsavory. So I did a factory reset but it seems all that junk is built in.
I sure hope the kid's version doesn't have this firmware. There are some things you simply cannot un-see. Perhaps the pink ones are different.
Going into settings, apps, I was able to identify and stop a lot of it. But as soon as I opened the browser it went nuts showing more.
I got the unit to tell me to sideload a file via the menu that comes up when you hold down-volume and power. Cool. Following somebody's advice I installed the Android SDK to do it. But then found out that all I needed was the ADB Platform Tools with adb.exe. (Don't need the SDK at all it turns out)
So I plugged it into my Win7 machine which installed an Alcatel driver for it. I could see it in device manager.
Typing
adb device -l
gave me a long number then the word sideload (instead of the name of the device)
Pushing on, I found out for positive certain that it needs Alldaymall-A88X-android 4.4.2-bsf.rar and thought I was on a roll.
All I had to do was download the file, unRAR it to get the ROM image, then refresh the ROM with the command it was asking for:
adb sideload Alldaymall-A888x-etc-etc
-- But no, the download link is to a dropbox account that says not found.
It can easily be set to receive a sideload. Driver installed and working. Daemon program installed and working on the PC to handle the work. Necessary file identified. Seemed like a slam dunk. But no. Not available. Dead End.
Switching gears, I used the Windows version of one-click KingoRoot which said it succeeded. Went to the play store to get Kingo SuperUser and a good file explorer so I can seek and destroy.
During the process of setting up for Play Store it wants to log in, so I let it connect to WiFi. Big mistake. I never even got to the part of credentials with Google. Pop-ups on every screen and unresponsive touch panel. OK, reboot.
I installed a mouse via an adapter into the USB port but it worked the same as the screen. Just fine. Until it didn't.
Rebooted; Shut off WiFi then with the stock file explorer I went into the DCIM directory and under Camera there were a bunch of porn photos and a video, which I successfully deleted.
I am not sure how to find the built-in junkware so I can remove it.
I made some headway but this has taken hours. So now I turn to Android Stack Exchange to get some expert opinions. You can see that I have done my homework before asking for help.
Last thing to do tonight is to uninstall the SDK.
The question is in the title: Now what?
Answer
After rooting it and getting most of the software stopped it settled down a lot.
Google browser came up without incident.
A couple of coupons came on screen which closed when I clicked on the little x in the corner.
But then, as soon as I tried to get logged into Play Store it froze up and put a white low-res band across the bottom that said EXIT on the left, with a large low-res X on the right. At first I just waited then tried again, but no mouse action would make it do anything.
When I hit the X on the bottom banner, it rebooted and restarted all the bloatware again...
After several rounds of this I tore it apart and removed the Lithium battery so I could just throw it in the trash.
Then, having learned about KingoRoot, I downloaded it into my good RCA Viking Pro, and rooted it successfully.
Downloaded the SuperUser browser which is nice, dual pane.
Then as I browsed around I wanted to see system text files so I downloaded QuickEdit for that. It works well.
Then I downloaded the Qute SU Console and it would handle simple commands like pwd and ls and such. It even included a bash editor which allowed simple scripts to work. There was no sudo command so I couldn't change most of the system from read-only to writeable. Maybe that is just the nature of ROM.
Manipulating things on the sd card is easy, of course.
Downloaded a VIM program which worked.
So this hasn't been a total waste. It was a learning experience.
Meanwhile, the answer to "what now?" has turned out to be to use Google and learn all I can - and throw the darn thing away. It is absolutely worthless. I suppose I got $25 worth of learning out of the experience so it isn't a total loss. Chin up and all that.
Now I need to figure out how to dispose of the 2200ma Lithium battery. I live out in the desert and am tempted to start a campfire and use it for fireworks, but perhaps the recycling center is better for the environment.
Thank you for the comments along the way.
Cheers!
No comments:
Post a Comment