Got mine today and tried to upgrade and add the clockwork mod. I've never done anything like that before however I am pretty technically adept. The step where you power up and "booting recovery image" is supposed to show up in the top left corner does not work. To activate that you are instructed to push the +volume key and power key at the same time.

When you do this the Viewsonic splash screen pops up for .25 seconds and goes blank.

It will however power up with just the power button.

Now I have the files downloaded to the gtablet but apparently no way to install them??

Kennydean2000 wrote:Got mine today and tried to upgrade and add the clockwork mod. I've never done anything like that before however I am pretty technically adept. The step where you power up and "booting recovery image" is supposed to show up in the top left corner does not work. To activate that you are instructed to push the +volume key and power key at the same time.

When you do this the Viewsonic splash screen pops up for .25 seconds and goes blank.

It will however power up with just the power button.

Oops, pony fan, mistake. I was pressing the - volume button as opposed to the + volume (I assumed it was setup the same as my Droid Incredible...

Now I have the files downloaded to the gtablet but apparently no way to install them??

@Kennydean2000

Same here, got it today, opened it and turned it on (after plugging it in for 20 minutes because the battery was 100% dead) and it went to the main screen (no boot up questions?!?!?!). Well it had clockworkMod and the update.zip already on the internal sdcard, along with a bunch of other files. Tried to install them anyways and when I press and hold the power and vol + buttons, the screens starts up then goes black. So it looks like this IS NOT A NEW UNIT, but one that someone has already messed with. Makes me wonder

I also noticed that the volume button is backwards, (+ lowers volume and - raises) so if you are trying to install clockworkmod, first reformat everything, xfer the clockworkmod files, then when you boot up, press volume down and power. Worked perfectly for me.

I got mine on Friday. FedEx trucks were a bit behind according to my phone call.

I charged mine up for about 90 min and booted up with no problem. There was an update on the viewsonic webpage, but I don't know how to install it. I'll be checking with a friend on that. I want to use VEGA-n as the reviews are most favorable for that over the other OS's but again, waaay over my technical ability.

Hope everyone gets theirs soon.

Update: On Viewsonic's website it talks about an Over the Air update, but it's dated from April 14, 2011. GPL KERNEL SOURCE CODE. This give you a zip file. I clicked on it and it did something rather quickly and that was that. Everything is working fine. I see no reason at this time to change OS's. It's a cool little machine just as it is.

I don't think mine is a refurbished one. It was sealed in plastic and I believe the Woot listing showed NEW...I may be mistaken here however.

OK, to help out those who have not flashed before, and new owners here.

1. Mine too came in what seems to be an already setup format. To remedy this, boot into the special mode (power and volume+) and reset it to factory. This will make it go through the new setup. Not sure why these were shipped this way. Mine even had files on it. Very odd for a refurb, but not unheard of.

2. To reflash an image from that XDA-Developers web site, you first need to flash the Clockwork mod. Without this, you can't flash any other mod. BUT! You also need to downgrade the OS that's on it. This is a big bummer because the OS that is on this version is quite nice. I ended up going back to it after messing with 1/2 baked XDA mods. Wasn't worth it to me. The only change I have now is the full Google market mod. nothing else and it's working 100%.

Kennydean2000 wrote:Now I have the files downloaded to the gtablet but apparently no way to install them??

You've soft-bricked it. I did that too. That happens when you don't downgrade first. Easy to fix though, read on XDA how to do it. You need to install special USB drivers on your PC, then use a special download that re-images it through the USB cable. Then, you'll get a vanilla machine, it works but not much on it. Then you can re-image it with what you want to.

Got mine a couple of days ago and monkeyed around with it. First installed Cyanogenmod 7.0, but found out that the USB-PC connection on that ROM doesn't work. Kind of annoying because I want to transfer files. Looked at the Honeycomb 3.0 ROMs but it looks like on every Honeycomb ROM the camera doesn't work.

I'm not going to "game" with it - I bought it to bring with me on trips instead of lugging around a laptop. What aftermarket ROM has both USB-PC and the camera functioning?

jsouthard007 wrote:Got mine a couple of days ago and monkeyed around with it. First installed Cyanogenmod 7.0, but found out that the USB-PC connection on that ROM doesn't work. Kind of annoying because I want to transfer files. Looked at the Honeycomb 3.0 ROMs but it looks like on every Honeycomb ROM the camera doesn't work.

I'm not going to "game" with it - I bought it to bring with me on trips instead of lugging around a laptop. What aftermarket ROM has both USB-PC and the camera functioning?

I'm not sure on the camera and USB capabilities but VEGA-n 7.1 seems to be the ROM of choice based on my research. Since you seem to have the know-how, I'm sure you'll be able to read up on XDA developers site and you'll be able to find something on that.

Also, try http://vegantab.gojimi.com/2011/08/26/vegan-tab-gingeredition-7-1-0-for-bootloaders-1-1-and-1-2

that seems to be the most updated. I'm sure you've already checked your 1.1 or 1.2 bootloader status as there are 2 different zip files for VEGA-n 7.1

After reading the info on the above link, it just came out on the 26th of this month. Some bugs for 1.2 bootloader are there. Stay tuned to that site for updates I'm sure.

Good luck

DennisWKam wrote:Just wanted to give everyone a heads up on the status. These have shipped out, but we're checking with FedEx to see why they haven't scanned them in yet. We'll provide further details once we hear back from them.

Until then, keep cool my babies.

did you ever figure out why they were "shipped" on wednesday, but not actually scanned and sent out by fedex until friday?

I tried this but couldn't make it work. Do you have 10 minutes to walk me through it?

Much, much regards,

johnnyandgir wrote:Oh wait, you were looking to do a custom rom?

Super easy business! I cracked my viewsonic when I bought it from Woot! the last time. The VeganTab crack is absolutely amazing! Here's the link:

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=874258

Be sure to read through it and do the marketplace fix that it talks about. And also, feel free to get a hold of me if you have any questions regarding cracking it.

have fun!

FedEx sucks!
why do they call it a tracking number if you cant use it to track.
it has said for the last 4 days:
Aug 27, 2011 8:07 AM Departed FedEx location HUTCHINS, TX

It should not take 4 days for them to get from Texas to California, where it would be unloaded and scanned again, right?

spilatro5 wrote:FedEx sucks!
why do they call it a tracking number if you cant use it to track.
it has said for the last 4 days:
Aug 27, 2011 8:07 AM Departed FedEx location HUTCHINS, TX

It should not take 4 days for them to get from Texas to California, where it would be unloaded and scanned again, right?

I agree, they're just as bad as usps, delivery date is tomorrow, hopefully they deliver.

My tablet has arrived! Of course everyone is right in terms of the stock rom being a load of crud. I can't load any of the apps I want. Sadly I am clueless on the rooting and installing roms front.

Anyone already get theirs and root it that could give me some advice?

Narg wrote:OK, to help out those who have not flashed before, and new owners here.

1. Mine too came in what seems to be an already setup format. To remedy this, boot into the special mode (power and volume+) and reset it to factory. This will make it go through the new setup. Not sure why these were shipped this way. Mine even had files on it. Very odd for a refurb, but not unheard of.

2. To reflash an image from that XDA-Developers web site, you first need to flash the Clockwork mod. Without this, you can't flash any other mod. BUT! You also need to downgrade the OS that's on it. This is a big bummer because the OS that is on this version is quite nice. I ended up going back to it after messing with 1/2 baked XDA mods. Wasn't worth it to me. The only change I have now is the full Google market mod. nothing else and it's working 100%.

Mine seems to be just fine out of the box. I haven't tried to add anything or change anything. Just getting used to it. So, with that in mind, should I go ahead and revert back to factory settings?? What is the benefit of doing so? Is this going to wipe out Pandora and Angry Birds that are already on here as well as other things?

I have gMarket on the main screen and have accessed it but haven't bought any other apps. I still need to get a gmail account according to a friend of mine. I'm going to be a light user and not any wham-bang stuff that so many rooters seem to do. Although I do have to admit it would be nice to see something like this maxed out with VEGA-n based on my reading. Some day maybe.

Thanks for your post.
Jim

Got mine. It was not new like listed on woot. Had old user still on it with his email address and pictures.

Battery would not charge to over 30%

I bought this as an Amazon Woot. I wish I could send it back. First let me say that the screen is beautiful and the touch screen very responsive. That is about all I have to say that is good about it.

My main complaint is that this is the slowest computer I have ever seen. It usually takes a full minute to download a web page, especially from Handango-the only Android app store that you can access on the gTablet. Although you can download the Amazon appstore without rooting your tablet and possibly bricking it you won’t have access to the Android App Store. Handango forces you to tell it which device you are using every time and since Viewsonic is at the end of a list of hundreds of devices it takes a couple minutes of scrolling to get to your device just so it can make recommendations for you, something that I personally didn’t want or need. Although it moves back and forth between applications pretty quickly, almost anything that you try to do with the gTablet takes forever. There is no way you could use a pad that works so slowly for ANY kind of business application and because access to applications is so limited and cumbersome you might not even be able to find the applications you were looking for and if you got used to using apps from the Android Market then you will have to start over from scratch finding totally new applications which you will have to pay for because Handango doesn’t seem to have free applications. Not having access to the Android Market severely diminishes the value of this tablet in my opinion.

Another huge fault is that the WiFi radio does not get near the signal that other wireless devices to do in my house so sometimes I have to go to the room where the wireless router is to get a connection then hope I don’t lose it when I walk to another room with the pad. I have had to enter the WPA wireless security password a number of times because it keeps forgetting it which is very annoying. Like everything else, it takes what seems like forever to reconnect to the network when it goes into power saving mode, often failing to connect and giving you a prompt to “push to try again” inside the wireless settings. Because the driver keeps losing the password keeping attached to my home network is difficult. If you require a network ready device that won’t need constant interventions to hook up to your preferred network then I would look at something other than a gTablet.

It makes an absolutely huge Kindle, one of the built in apps, but because of the weight I prefer my Amazon Kindle or Samsung Infuse 4G as a kindle because they are very easy to read and has all the features of the Android Kindle which is very easy to use. I didn't realize how heavy it was to hold a 1.8 pound pad in your hand but you can't hold this with just one hand and read with it. It actually would be easier to hold a laptop because it isn’t possible to hold 2 pounds of screen high enough to keep reading for any length of time and if you read in bed then forget it because the bottom of the screen will keep disappearing or you will have to pick up the pad to see the bottom of every screen because it is too heavy to hold up for any length of time. If you turn automatic screen rotation off then you can only read the screen horizontally. Because of that the one thing you can actually do well with the pad is a mediocre experience because reading, for me at least, looks better when pages are oriented normally.

I have only had this thing for about a day and am in shock that such a poorly functioning device was released to the public. I hope ViewSonic will release an alternative Android build that will remove all the things they put in this thing to make it dysfunctional. On paper this was a very good tablet because it has some awesome hardware. The reality is that the software engineers screwed this pooch so bad that it is almost dead out of the box.

Had mine for quite a while and been through several roms. I highly recommend roebeets "Brilliant Corners" both usb transfer and camera are working as well as netflix and hulu.
I knew ZERO about modding in the beginning but with the great help on Slatedroid and XDA you learn quickly. Jump on in the waters fine!

jiggersgreen wrote:Had mine for quite a while and been through several roms. I highly recommend roebeets "Brilliant Corners" both usb transfer and camera are working as well as netflix and hulu.
I knew ZERO about modding in the beginning but with the great help on Slatedroid and XDA you learn quickly. Jump on in the waters fine!

I got brilliant corners also and love it. how do you get the usb transfer and hulu working?
I would appreciate if you help out thanks

First off - when you look up "pony fan" in the dictionary....yeah; that really is my picture there. So if I was able to take my G-Tab as far towards bricked as I did ( black screen of death ) and still bring it completely back to working outstanding, then it really must be just that good of a device ( actually, the wonderful folks out there with the incredibly big brains that know how to write the new ROMS for it are the true heroes in Android Land ). I tried Brilliant Corners, and LOVE-LOVE-LOVE the look and feel of it - it's amazingly easy to navigate.....however.....
I found that I couldn't access all the apps that I had purchased with it, and that it still force-closed on me way too often. I have ended up with the latest version of Vegan Gingertab 7.0, which seems able to handle anything at all that I throw at it. The camera works, all the apps I have tried work, and via Clockwork I am able to access the USB mount to the computer. I used the original ROM since my tablet's purchase in April here, so Vegan is a learning curve for me, but so far it completely rocks the house! Ditto what Jiggersgreen said - if I did it, then anybody can do it......don't be afraid to give it a try - mine quite easily came back quite literally from the Android grave I sent it to.....just do it!

HA! Somebody please tell my why WOOT's filters replace N.O.O.B. with P.O.N.Y.-.B.O.Y. ???

TOO FUNNY!