As many of you probably already know, there is a huge download issue with the latest Notion Ink update that, when downloaded and installed, will essentially brick your device. Notion Ink has acknowledged the issue and has blocked the update on their end, but if you have received the OTA, be sure to not download it, or face a lengthy repair process (detailed below).

In an official Notion Ink Statement, if you have downloaded the update and face a bricked device, follow the instructions below to get your device working again. They are very lenghtly so let’s just hope you have not installed the update.

How to flash your Adam and get it working again

WARNING
This fix is recommended only if your Adam has stopped booting up after installing the over-the-air system update on 24 January. Please don’t use the method indicated to flash your Adam
with any ROM not from Notion Ink, as it would probably damage your Adam irreparably.

Please read this whole document before proceeding.

PRE-REQUISITES
You need to have the following items
1. A Windows or Linux PC
2. The Notion Ink Adam you wish to flash
3. A mini-USB to USB cable for connecting the two
(It’s not included in the Adam package, but you
might have one lying around. If not, it’s readily
available in any electronics shop)
4. The appropriate Adam Recovery Kit which you
can download from the URLs below. (About
80MB)

DOWNLOADS
1. Windows PC, LCD Adam http://api.notionink.com/fix/windows/LCD.zip
2. Windows PC, Pixel Qi Adam http://api.notionink.com/fix/windows/PixelQi.zip
3. Linux PC, LCD Adam http://api.notionink.com/fix/linux/LCD.zip
4. Linux PC, Pixel Qi Adam http://api.notionink.com/fix/linux/PixelQi.zip

OVERVIEW
Here’s a summary of what you’ll be doing:
1. On your PC, extract the Adam Recovery Kit.
2. Restart your Adam in “Force Recovery” mode and connect it to the PC.
3. If you’re on Windows, install the USB drivers from the Recovery Kit.
4. Run the ROM flash utility from your PC, and wait for it to complete.

1. EXTRACT
Using your favourite ZIP extraction tool, uncompress all the files in the Adam Recovery Kit to any folder on the hard drive of your computer.

2. RECOVERY MODE
Before proceeding, ensure that your Adam has at least 50% battery charge or is connected to power and charging. Also make sure that your computer will not turn off during the flashing process.
Turn off your Adam and enter force recovery mode by pressing and holding both the Volume Down (-) and Power buttons for two seconds. The orange (charge) and red (CPU) indicators on the right side of your device will light up, indicating that your Adam is in force recovery mode.
Release both buttons, and connect the mini-USB port on your Adam to any free USB port on the PC using your cable.

3. INSTALL DRIVERS (Windows only)
Your Windows PC will show a notification that a device “APX” has been detected. If you get a “Found new hardware” dialog box asking where to install drivers from – choose “list or specific location”. If you don’t get this dialog, open the Device Manager via System in the Control
Panel, find and double-click the “APX” device, and click the update driver button.
Select the “usbpcdriver” folder inside the extracted Adam Recovery Kit as the driver location.
You may receive a warning that the driver is not certified or signed by Windows – choose to install it anyway.

4. FLASH
You’re now ready to flash your Adam. Make sure that the USB cable is connected securely. To begin the process under Windows, run the “download.bat” batch file from the folder where you extracted the Recovery Kit. If you’re using Linux, open a console window at the folder containing the extracted Recovery Kit, and run ./download.sh. Your device screen will show that it is being updated, and the console window will show the progress.

IMPORTANT: Do not close the console window or stop the update before it is complete. If the update is interrupted mid-way, your Adam will be damaged irreparably.

Hopefully all goes well, and in a couple of minutes your Adam will boot up with the new
software. Congratulations! If at any point you find that things aren’t going according to plan, please send an email to support@notionink.com right away.

Thanks for your continued support
Team Notion Ink

[Via NotionInkFan]

3 COMMENTS

  1. First of all this is a startup trying to provide a device that is as open as possible and is this the reception u folks r giving to this crusader? It has given the source code, allowed root access, be responsive in customer service and doing everything less expensive for the most bang for the buck and this is what it gets in return. Well guess what only this proves that these folks here have set the bar higher than the so called fruity company and expect NIA to deliver on time, without fail all the time.Congrats NIA u r baptism by fire has been nothing but spectacular

  2. “or face a lengthy repair process (detailed below).”

    Are you joking? So, downloading a repair kit, installing the driver for the device from the kit, and then running the update file is ‘a lengthy repair process’? Get out of here!

    A lengthy repair process is sending your device back to the manufacturer and waiting several weeks for a return. This isn’t even a complicated repair process, and anyone who has even a small amount of Windows experience is used to installing a driver or running an install file from an unzipped download.

    Is this really the Android Community or some technophobe whiners club? I’m just gobsmacked at how quite people are to diss this product and the company. They had a fix out within 2 hours of the story hitting the web! That’s unheard of in terms of tech companies, who usually take a week or more to get a fix out to users.

  3. You can hardly call it bricking the device, if there is a way to restore it. Bricking the device should be reserved to a state from which you can’t recover at all. I think the warning is well justified to warn users, but it’s rather late in the game and I’d expect that since most users today are early adopters, they are already aware of this from NotionInk’s site.

    Still useful for those of us who are waiting to see early reactions. Not that there is a problem with the upgrade, but seeing how a new company reacts to adversities and Notion Ink so far seems to be doing very well. Looking forward to some good reviews so I can buy this on the next round.

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