ClockworkMod Recovery at Wolfgang AT-AS45IPS / Amoi N821 using MS Windows virtual machine

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MediaTek ICIn this tutorial you will learn how to install ClockworkMod Recovery on a MediaTek based Android device. The special part in this tutorial is the usage of an MS Windows  virtual machine running on a Linux host.

The tutorial has been divided into 5 parts.  Namely: Linux host, Virtualbox, MS Windows 7,  SP Flash Tool and MediaTek based Android device. Each describing the steps you have to perform at that specific hard- / software. At the end of the article you will find some links for further reading and additional information. As gift there is a short tutorial how to root your device.

WARNING: You can damage (i.e. bricking) your Android device while performing the steps mentioned below. Proceed on own risk!

Needed

Before you continue with the steps below, make sure you have all the needed soft- and hardware.

  • Linux machine (i.e. Ubuntu 14.10)
  • Virtualbox (tested 4.3.18) with Windows 7 (32 bits) virtual machine
  • MediaTek PreLoader USB VCOM Port driver(1)
  • Smart Phone (SP) Flash Tool (tested v3.1224.01)(1)
  • Scatter file and images (1) / (2)
  • USB data cable
  • MediaTek based device (i.e. Wolfgang AT-AS45IPS / Amoi N821)
  • Optional for rooting: Android Debug Bridge (ADB)

(1): I can not give you the links to the binaries: copyrights. Don’t ask me to send you the files. Please search/Google for it. It is also possible that you will find links to the files via the link at the end of this article: “Dutch – [Wolfgang AT-AS45IPS]Custom ROMs en Firmware“.
(2): For every device the scatter file and images are different. You can create a file yourself using the hints from the article: “How To Make / Flash CWM Recovery Without Rooting | AndroidHow” see link below.

Linux host

On your Linux host, make sure you blacklist and unload the “USB Abstract Control Model driver for USB modems and ISDN adapters“-driver.

Add the line: “blacklist cdc_acm” (without quotes) to the file:
/etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-local.conf
and unload the driver by executing the command:
`sudo rmmod cdc_acm`

Virtualbox

Before starting the MS Windows virtual machine, make sure the MediaTek PreLoader will become available in the virtual machine.

  1. Ensure that the MS Windows 7 virtual machine is in shut down state (Powered Off)
  2. Select the Windows 7 virtual machine and press CTRL+S (Settings)
  3. Select USB
  4. Make sure ‘Enable USB Controller’ and ‘Enable USB 2.0 (EHCI) Controller’ are checked
  5. Clear the ‘USB Device Filters’ list
  6. Add new USB filter with all fields initially set to empty strings.
    Any device (so also the pre loader) will be available in the virtual machine.
  7. Click OK
  8. Start the ‘Windows 7’ virtual machine

MS Windows 7

In the MS Windows virtual machine, you will run the Smart Phone Flash Tool (SP Flash Tool) to flash the recovery image to the memory of your device. Before running the Flash Tool, you have to install the “MediaTek PreLoader USB VCOM Port“-driver.

To install the driver, perform these steps:

  1. Run Hardware Wizard: hdwwiz.exe
  2. Install the hardware that I manually select from a list (Advanced)
  3. Show All Devices
  4. Have Disk…
  5. Browse… to location of (unpacked) driver files
  6. usb2ser_Win7
  7. OK
  8. Select as Model: “MediaTek PreLoader USB VCOM Port”
  9. Next – Next
    Ignore error: “This device cannot start. (Code 10)
  10. Finish

Now you are ready to use the Smart Phone Flash Tool.

Smart Phone Flash Tool (SP Flash Tool)

  1. Start SP Flash Tool
  2. Click button ‘Scatter-loading’
  3. Select scatter-file

Make sure that PRELOADER, DSP_BL and RECOVERY are checked and referring to existing files.
In Options-menu, ensure that ‘USB Mode’ is checked.

  1. When connected, disconnect the USB-cable between computer and Android device
  2. Click Download-button

In status bar (bottom of screen), the text ‘Searching‘ will appear.

MediaTek based Android device

  1. Switch the device off
  2. Wait till completely switched off (keep the battery inside)
  3. Connect USB data cable from phone to computer

In the MS Windows virtual machine there will be activity in the SP Flash Tool: Selected files will be uploaded to the phone. Wait till the green circle appears (Download OK).

It has been also reported that you will enter the PreLoader-mode of your device while pressing the Volume-down button while powering up your connected (via USB cable) device. However this did not work for me.

Rooting your device

After installing ClockworkMod Recovery you are able to root your device using SuperSU by Chainfire.

  1. Simply download the ZIP-file from Chainfire’s site http://www.chainfire.eu/
  2. Push the ZIP-file (without unpacking) to your SD Card
    `adb push UPDATE-SuperSU-v2.16.zip /sdcard/`
  3. Restart your device in recovery mode
    `adb reboot recovery`

In ClockworkMod Recovery you can navigate using the Volume -up and -down buttons. Confirm a selection by pressing the power button.

  1. Select ‘install zip from sdcard’
  2. Select ‘choose zip from sdcard’
  3. Browse to the ZIP-file at the SD Card
  4. Select ‘Yes – Install ….’
  5. Select ‘+++++Go Back+++++’
  6. Select ‘reboot system now’

Type at your Linux host:
`adb shell su`

Check device and grant superuser rights. At the shell you have root-rights!

Further reading

Extra information

When connecting the USB-cable with the switched off Android device, you must see something like this after executing the `dmesg` at the Linux-host:

usb 2-1.1: new high-speed USB device number 53 using ehci-pci
usb 2-1.1: New USB device found, idVendor=0e8d, idProduct=2000
usb 2-1.1: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=0
usb 2-1.1: Product: MT65xx Preloader
usb 2-1.1: Manufacturer: MediaTek

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