What Happened to Drivers for Connecting Older Iconias to PCs, e.g., A200/210

WJB-2

For older Iconia tablets, has ACER removed from its Internet support site the drivers necessary to connect to a PC?  The User Manual provides a specific location under www.ACER.com, but the links are outdated and there are no such drivers listed for my A210.  So I connected my bricked A210 to a Windows 10 ACER Aspire in hopes Windows would identify the device and locate the drivers in cyberspace.  But with the non-booting tablet stuck on "Starting USB fastboot protocol," Windows identified the device as "Fastboot" with the note, "Driver Unavailable."
Months ago the general consensus on this site was to discard my aging A210.  But because I've yet to get to a recycling center I decided to take another swing at repair.  I've tried putting Android 4.1.1 O.S. from the ACER site on MicroSD and on a FAT32 recovery USB flash drive.  But no matter what combination of recommended buttons and toggles I try, the result is the same:

Entering boot menu mode
Booting failed
Bootloader vjB-3fb8d45: Starting Fastboot USB download protocol

As one of our ACE's conjectured in May, the device appears to be looking for a "USB" tool.  I was thinking hooking up to one of my Aspires might lead me to such a tool.  But I need the drivers.  Sites such as http://phoneusbdrivers.com/acer-iconia-tab-a210/ claim to offer the correct driver, but I don't as a rule download from such unknown sources, at least one of which pretends to be an ACER site but obviously is not.  So if ACER no longer offers the necessary drivers, might anyone know of a reputable and trustworthy ACER partner that would still offer drivers for connecting older Iconias to PCs?

"CHEAPSKATE" DISCLAIMER: While my Liquid Z410 has temporarily filled the void, I definitely plan to get a new Iconia.  But in the interim I'm taking the bricked A210 as a challenge.  I feel if I could just get into the bootloader ....

IronFly

yes, it's the same, even if i suspect that a full OS image will be a little bigger than 251MB.

 

the issue on your A210 seems to be a broke recovery partition, so it's not able to boot; the good thing is that fastboot is still alive and maybe (with the help of XDA) you can try to flash the recovery.img contained on the downloaded zip file.

 

for sure there was some packages available to flash your tablet from PC and they are called EUU(numbers).zip or exe but honestly i don't know where find them...since they were available to service centers only.

IronFly

as far as i know, Acer never offered fasboot or ADB drivers, since they are part of google android tools, so you need to download them from android sdk website or from this thread (smaller package):

https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2588979

 

since your A210 claim to have JB bootloader, you can't use the available OS updates, since they are only...updates and not full images.

 

so the only way to find a full image to flash it via SDcard, is doing a search on XDA community.

WJB-2

An interesting, informative reply, ACE Iron-Fly; your previous referral to XDA Developers brought this:

 

"I think you can download the stock firmware and rename it update.zip then just put it in the tablet and hold the volume up button while it is booting."

 

So XDA's "stock firmware" reference is your "full images," correct?  My previous update file still on MicroSD is ACER's  "OS_Acer_Acer.AV051.A210.RV07RC02.PA.CUS1_A41J_A" downloaded as "OS of A210 with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean Upgrade SOP."  I interpreted "O.S." as "stock firmware" rather than "updates and not full images."  In any event, fastboot or ADB drivers may be a final option.  Because when I insert the MicrosSD with the ACER-provided "O.S." and follow the button sequence directions, I don't get  “Booting recovery kernel image" as I should and did when I successfully updated.  And without that kernel image I can't select "apply update from external storage" or anything else.  So would it not be correct to say having an appropriate file on the MicroSD is irrelevant when every ACER and Android recommended button sequence brings only one response:

Entering boot menu mode
Booting failed
Bootloader vjB-3fb8d45: Starting Fastboot USB download protocol

And then the unit just hangs. No access to any function whatsoever.

 

IronFly

yes, it's the same, even if i suspect that a full OS image will be a little bigger than 251MB.

 

the issue on your A210 seems to be a broke recovery partition, so it's not able to boot; the good thing is that fastboot is still alive and maybe (with the help of XDA) you can try to flash the recovery.img contained on the downloaded zip file.

 

for sure there was some packages available to flash your tablet from PC and they are called EUU(numbers).zip or exe but honestly i don't know where find them...since they were available to service centers only.

WJB-2

Okay, just to be clear, the ACER "update" file I have on a MicroSD is equal to having the "stock firmware," i.e., full image, correct?  Meaning I need not look for a full version via XDA community.

 

I will check with the XDA folks for any fastboot ideas to reach the recovery image you describe.  Will also inquire about those EUU files.  A difficult chore.  But I've marked your prior reply "Solution" because it advances understanding plus potential repair guidance for a frequently reported Android crash that is often unresolved.

 

 

IronFly

that Acer "update" = stock firmware 

not sure if it's really a full image, i don't have a full image to compare, by the way the old A701 has around 270MB full image; so probably 251MB is the correct size for the A210.

 

about the issue unsolved, in the past i saw many A2x0, A50x and  A70x with similar issues and not be able to recover, sometimes suspected culprit was a corrupted ROM chip and this is a very bad hardware issue.