This procedure should help you to flash Arnova G2, Arnova G3 or any tablet based on a Rockchip RK29xx CPU (such as the RK2918) or Rockchip RK30xx (such as the RK3066) using RKBatchTool.exe Rockchip low level flashing tool. It is especially useful for bricked device that do not boot anymore and can't use the regular flashing method. If you have an Archos 7 Home Tablet, an Arnova first generation tablets or a device using the Rockchip RK2818 processor, please use the older Rockchip RK28xx flashing method.

1. Preliminary steps:

• Download and unpack the firmware you want to flash, please get the official firmware for your device if you want to restore the tablet as stock or use a custom firmware.
• Download and unpack Rockchip_Batch_Tool_v1.7.zip (latest Rockchip Flasher tool version 1.7)
• Shutdown the tablet, you may want to wait for a few seconds to make sure it does not restart
• Execute the flashing tool RKBatchTool.exe on your computer
  On Windows Vista or Windows Seven, you will have to Right Click on the program and select Run as Administrator
  

2. Entering /recovery flashing mode on the tablet

You need to put the device in flashing/recovery mode to transfer the firmware firmware to the tablet with Rockchip tool.
The general idea is to put a paper clip in the reset pinhole of the tablet, combined with a button press. You first need to push the reset, holding it for a few seconds then press the activation button (depends on the tablet model) while holding the reset for a few seconds, then release the activation button and the reset.

On the Arnova 10 G2, Arnova 10b G2, Arnova 10b G3:

push the Volume + button on your tablet and keep the button pressed while you insert a paperclip in the RESET pinhole. Keep the paperclip pushing the reset and the Volume + button pressed for about 15 seconds. The tablet screen should turn black.

On the Arnova 9 G2 :

insert a paperclip in the Reset pinhole of the tablet and press the Menu button

On the Arnova 9 G3 and ARCHOS 97 Carbon

insert a paperclip in the Reset pinhole of the tablet and press the Home button

On the Arnova 8 G2:

insert a paperclip in the Reset pinhole of the tablet and press the Power button

On the Arnova 7 G2:

put the Power switch to the right position (where a little lock is drown)

and insert a paperclip in the Reset pinhole on the back of the tablet.

On the Arnova 7b G2:

insert a paperclip in the Reset pinhole of the tablet and press the Power button

On the Arnova ChildPad:

insert a paperclip in the Reset pinhole of the tablet and press the Power button

On the Arnova 8c G3:

Switch the tablet off, press the volume- button, keep it pressed in and then connect the tablet with an usb cable to the computer.

3. Installing the drivers on the computer

Following the tablet entering in flashing mode, the computer should now show it has found a new USB device and prompt for a device driver. Select the appropriate driver in the driver directory from the Rockchip Flash Tool 1.4 package, then select the right folder that corresponds to your computer platform and operating systems.

There are 6 supported systems:
in drivers32bits folder you will find subdirectories for the following operating systems: (Windows 2000 drivers, Windows XP, Vista and Win7 in 32 bits).
in drivers64bits you have directories supporting (Windows Vista and Win7).

It will then install the driver for RK29 Device

The setup wizard will display this screen when the driver installing is complete:

4. Transfering the firmware to the tablet

The flashing tool should display a green square around the number 1 in the lower left area of the Windows application.
Select the firmware file to flash using the button in the top right area of the application. Select the update.img file that you have prepared in the first steps. Note, the file can be named differently, it will be flashed anyway.

Push the Upgrade button to transfer the selected firmware to the tablet.

It's usually safer to use the Restore button rather than Upgrade to make sure the tablet system is properly erased prior to flash.

The firmware will be copied to the tablet, a progression counter will go from 0% to 100% on this step, followed by a verification.

You are done, let the tablet reboot and update itself. It should take a few minutes for the flash process to finish.

This procedure has been successfully tested on Windows XP 32 bits and Windows 7 32 bits with Arnova 10 G2 and Arnova 8 G2 tablets.

Troubleshooting

If the device is not detected or if the driver does not install, here are a few things to check:
- make sure your tablet is connect directly to the USB port on the computer, not thru a USB hub
- make sure your USB cable is in good condition, if your cable looks defective, try with another cable
- try to change Windows 7 Device Installation Settings:
go to 'Control Panel' / 'View Advanced system Settings', on 'System Properties' window, select the 'Hardware' tab, click on 'Device Installation Settings' button.

On the "Device Installation Settings" window, choose 'No, let me choose what to do' and 'Never install driver software from Windows update'.
Press 'Save changes' button.
Reset your tablet, you should then be able to install the custom drivers.

When the drivers are installed, you can change Device Installation Settings back on Windows 7.

Device unknown issue

In some configurations, it can happen that your tablet isn't properly detected and you need to force the Rockchip driver install, here is how to proceed:

Step A. Click on your Windows "Start Button" in the bottom left of your screen, do a right click on the "Computer" entry, you should see the menu on the picture below, left click on Properties

Step B. Control Panel window will open, you'll first note the Windows Edition and System Type on the right side, you'll need these information later when choosing the driver type.
On the left side, you'll click on the Device Manager link.

Step C. Device Manager window will open, look in the "Other devices" section in the list and search of an "Unknown device" line

Step D. Do a right click on the Unknown Device line, select Update Driver Software

Step E. Click on the item named "Browse my computer for driver software"

Step F. Use the file browse to locate the directory where you unpacked the Rockchip Batch Tool and go inside the RockusbDriver directory. From there, locate the directory corresponding to your system architecture as you noted in the earlier Step B. On our computer, we are using a Windows 7 64 bits machine, so we select amd64win7 directory and we press the OK button. On our system the full selected path is the following: C:UsersarctabletDesktopRockchip_Batch_Tool_v1.5RockusbDriveramd64win7

Step G. After you have selected the right path, you can press Next button.

Step H. The following Windows Security dialog will open, you can safely click Install button to confirm the Rockchip driver installation.

Step I. The window below should confirm the success of the Rockchip driver installation: "Windows has successfully updated your driver software". If you don't get this screen but an error message, you will need to go back to the driver directory selection and try another architecture (see Step F.)

Other Rockchip flashing tools, not covered by this guide

• RK_Android_Tool_v1.37.zip (RKAndroidTool.exe)
• RK_Android_Tool_v1.35.zip (RKAndroidTool.exe)
• RK_Android_Tool_v1.29.zip older version (RK29update.exe)
• RKDeviceManage_v1.3.zip (RKDeviceManage.exe)

Feel free to leave a message our forum if you have difficulties running this procedure or if you have suggestions to improve it.