How to Install Ubuntu Touch on the Jingpad A1/C1

tsebastiani

@bilb Hi there, I'm having the same issue of @AAM42, I would like to make a clear recap of the steps needed to get back to the bootloader starting from "WARNING: LOCK FLAG IS: UNLOCK, SKIP VERIFY!!" please correct me if I'm wrong (just to clarify I'm still not able to get to the bootloader it's just a summary of what I collected from internet) :

press the power button, the Jingpad will vibrate and reboot, keep holding and it will shut off without vibrating, it should be off for good. (wait a while to see if it will power on again and in case repeat while it stays off)
press the power button, wait a second and (keeping the power button pressed) start pressing volume down. This should bring you back to the bootloader menu.

Unfortunately in my case doesn't work, it goes back to the warning so I guess there's something slightly wrong, please give me an hint.

Is it needed to keep the slate connected to the computer (with or without UBPorts running)?
After the reboot with the volume down, should the warning be presented again (this is what happens to me)?
How much time do I have to keep power button and volume down pressed in order to see the bootloader menu? Is it something immediate or requires some time holding the buttons?
Is there a moment in which the buttons must be released or should I keep them pressed until the menu is shown?
Is there any small detail that I'm missing in the procedure?

Thanks a lot.

tsebastiani

UPDATE: after a bit of hacking around and the with the hints of the Telegram group I did manage to get into the bootloader.
The procedure actually works, BUT the small (and most important) bit that was missing is the following:

After shutting off the device, turn the device on pressing and holding the power button, wait MORE or LESS one second (the trick suggested by a user in the telegram group was to say "one mississipi") press and hold the low volume button until the logo appears (will appear also the warning ignore it) then RELEASE all the buttons and WAIT! Wait kind of 20 seconds, after that the bootloader will appear. Waiting is the most important part because seems like nothing was happening instead the bootloader is actually loading. This procedure works 100%, once you understand it will be super-easy to do it again.
I hope this will help!

Cheers!

Patrick Hurd

Does anybody know what would be keeping my windows computer from being able to detect the Jingpad while using the unlocking tool?

ndsipa_pomu

@patrick-hurd - As I remember, you need to put the JingPad into FastBoot mode (e.g. from power-off, press and hold power whilst saying "one mississippi", then press and hold volume down until logo appears and release both keys and WAIT 20-30 seconds)

Patrick Hurd

@ndsipa_pomu Yeah, so I can use the command sudo reboot -f recovery. And that get's me into fast boot. But.. that unlock tool doesn't recognize my device.

KornClown7

@suoko it's got decent performance, I say about the same as a Pixel 4 phone so enough for basic stuff, not super powerful

KornClown7

@tsebastiani thanks for the help! I might of missed that part. Haha

KornClown7

@patrick-hurd

if anyone else is wondering another person found USB drivers for Windows 10 for the Jingpad, they were from here https://www.droidwin.com/download-install-unisoc-spreadtrum-usb-drivers/

Try install these then the device should be recognized

marioqqq

This post is deleted!

el_pinguino

Last night I installed Ubuntu Touch on the JingPad C1. Thanks for all of the posts here as this install took a lot of attempts.

A note: I unlocked the bootloader in Windows and ran the up-ports installer on Linux. I did not try to unlock the bootloader in Linux.

Thanks again for all of the pointers. Now, on to the donations page. The best way for individuals to support free and open source software.

KornClown7

@el_pinguino yes! Supporting it's the best way to help.

xircon

So glad I stumbled on this! I was about to junk the Jingpad as it is the worst thing I had ever bought

I didn't have a windows machine (I do now, I upgraded and left the windows alone for a change, to update the bios etc.) so all of the updates I couldn't do.

Will try to do this over the weekend.

euskolaks

I there!
I'm trying to install Ubuntu Touch on my JingPad (yeah, not done yet) and I'm getting this error:
Error: fastboot:flash: Error: Flashing failed. This error code means that the device is locked, but I would say it is (screenshot added)
And then error code 1
When starting de device, it says:
Lock Flag is: Unlock.
I don't have the lastest version of JingOS, if needed, how can I install it?
Any idea of what's happening? I'm using UBports Installer 0.95
Thanks!!!

seven_us

@aam42 said in How to Install Ubuntu Touch on the Jingpad A1/C1:

I have a problem!

I have the following message on the screen, and using the Power/VolDown reboot, I always come back to this message. I waited 5-6 hours last night with UBPorts installer running before eventually closing down.

INFO: LOCK FLAG IS : UNLOCK!!
WARNING: LOCK FLAG IS : UNLOCK, SKIP VERIFY!!!

Any help?

A

I have the same problem. My device starts with the unlock message and shows the jingpad logo, vibrates and turns off again. I cannot enter the recovery mode. I tried every combination, as well es the mississippi trick. If I disconnect it from the charger it tells me I have to charge and does nothing. Literally I can't do anything Does someone has a trick how I can charge the device? Thx

footer

@el_pinguino said in How to Install Ubuntu Touch on the Jingpad A1/C1:

Last night I installed Ubuntu Touch on the JingPad C1. Thanks for all of the posts here as this install took a lot of attempts.

A note: I unlocked the bootloader in Windows and ran the up-ports installer on Linux. I did not try to unlock the bootloader in Linux.

Thanks again for all of the pointers. Now, on to the donations page. The best way for individuals to support free and open source software.

Greetings @el_pinguino,

I would be SUPER INTERESTED in how you were able to install UT using Linux. I've tried numerous times with ZERO success.

Since this guide is for Windows, I might go attempt that as I do have a Windows machine which I used to a) flash the JingOS and b) unlock the bootloader with the Chrome tool. But, I'd LOVE to do the UT install with Linux! I was unsuccessful at unlocking the bootloader in Linux ... but I did try!

Thanks for any help you might be able to provide.

footer

When I connect the Jingpad to my Linux box, and fire up UBports, I get the attached. Going to try the Windows way next.

EDIT: Windows UBports reported the same thing.

el_pinguino

@footer Did you select the option to 'select device manually'?

Also, when you attach the JingPad to either computer can you see the device with adb in a terminal app?

I installed UT 6 or so months ago and my memory is quite foggy but I do remember it took me a couple of tries to get the combination of the tablet and the PC right to install.

It seems to me that the process that worked was to boot the JingPad to where adb could see it and then start the installer and the installer would automatically detect the tablet.

I used Windows to unlock the bootloader and Linux to install the OS.

miy

@tsebastiani @KornClown7
I managed well to unlock with subut and fastboot
(after generating my own unlock.bin and by saying
./fastboot_A1 flashing unlock_bootloader unlock.bin
in a linux terminal.)

After successfully unlocking:
Unfortunately, when I ran the UBPorts installer,
I put the JingPad into fastboot mode.
The installation process kind of started but stalled after a while
losing the USB connection.

After that I never again managed to get back to the bootloader menu,
even by closely following your instructions to overcome the loop

INFO: LOCK FLAG IS : UNLOCK!!
WARNING: LOCK FLAG IS : UNLOCK, SKIP VERIFY!!!

I did manage to occasionally start an adb shell and quickly say

reboot -f recovery

which, when the JingOS was still installed, would always safely bring me back to the bootloader menu.
Despite of not being able to enter the bootloader menu, I could even re-enter fastboot mode
by saying

reboot -f bootloader

in the adb shell.
From fastboot mode I could also boot into fastboot mode by saying

./fastboot_A1 reboot bootloader

I do not know, which other reboot options would have brought me into the bootloader menu,
but by now, the JingPad never ever even offers my a USB connection any more.
It just keeps cycling with the message

INFO: LOCK FLAG IS : UNLOCK!!
WARNING: LOCK FLAG IS : UNLOCK, SKIP VERIFY!!!

when USB-connected to power plug or to my Linux laptop,
or switches off after a few cycles when not connedted.

But now the JingPad always starts without vibrating!.
Before it always vibrated, when I pushed the power button,
while it did not vibrate when I pushed power + vol-down.

Did I now completely brick the device?

Will the battery be going down more and more?

Can I still charge it without an operating system installed?

Can/should I somehow re-flash the ROM?

What was exactly my mistake?

How can I fix it?

Did anyone take shots of the webpages like

https://forum.jingos.com/t/tutorial-how-to-unlock-bootloader-of-jingpad-a1/2718

before they took them offline?

Thanks for any replies or help.

el_pinguino

@miy I had the same problem as you and I believe I posted how I resolved the bootloop in the Jing forums. But they are gone now.

It seems to me that when you want to shutdown the JingPad when it is in this state you have to hold the power button in and wait for two things to happen. 1) the familiar buzz and 2) about 10 seconds or so later you'll see something flash across the screen. This is when you release the power button.

Wait a few minutes before trying to reboot into recovery. When you do boot to recovery I find pushing the power button + 1 second then volume down and wait for the Jingpad logo then release and wait 20 seconds or so. You should have a recovery menu.

It has been a while since I had to do this and I'm working from memory. I've pretty much given up on UT on the JingPad. Good luck!!!