This is my first attempt into breathing life back into my tf300t I've had for almost 3 years. Hardly used it do to the continuing blog down that always occurred and the lack of updates by Asus eventually led me to unlocking/custom rom/rooting and then soon thereafter to here. Knowing nothing about the process and procedures, although somewhat computer literate (I started on a TRS-80 in the early 80s), I did the cursory research for the uneducated I decided to try the lollipop variant of Kisskat 5.1.1. I used TWRP to make a recovery back up and then wiped/flashed/booted. Fooled around with it some but discovered a few quirks. For one, the zone closest to the Asus logo was rather warm to almost hot even if you throttle back the performance. But more importantly after installing my apps via the play store I began to notice some media issues. For one, the video was a bit choppy (I use VLC player) and my mp3s seem to be inoperable on almost any app. (I typically use Fusion and EZ Folder Player but nothing seemed to work). I kept getting issues that seemed to be related to the recognition of folders of file types. Often telling me an mp3 file was not a recognized folder or that the file type was not recognized or in some cases (EZ Folder Player) I simply could not change directories to access files. Any help in these areas may put me back in the KissKat Camp... at least until the thing catches on fire... then we can roast marshmallows and have a camp sing along.
Before jumping on the forum I thought I'd try a more simple fix - try another rom. Tried OmniRom and while not as zippy (or hot) it seemed stable enough to go with for a while. Did the Gapps recommended for the latest pop rom and the superSU file. Loaded my apps from the play store. Then decided that perhaps I should back up all my apps after having went though applying all the correct passwords and what not. Read the Titanium Backup was a the best option. Made an initial internal mem backup of all apps then read that I could create a zip of the apps to use as a recovery method off of an SD Card which sounded the better option for me (seems far more secure). Then I felt that I was at a juncture where I should test my backups before moving on the custom folders and docs and so forth only to find out a problem was in the works when the time came at an inopportune moment down the road. Well I discovered a problem. I booted into TWRP and wiped then used my recovery to bring it back to the last known state before my first flash of a custom rom (not sure if this is even a necessary step but it seemed like it certainly couldn't hurt). Then boot/re-boot to TWRP, and having read a full/complete wipe was necessary I wiped everything (Full data format - then wiped all options in the advanced wipe section other than my SD Card where I was holding my files for flashing). Then flashed (1)OminiRom 5.1.1 (2)Recommended Gapps package (3) SuperSU, and - this is where I may have had a bad moment - the Zip file generated by Titanium Backup Pro - Is this even where I can flash install this file???Was kinda lost there. Well... I think I then tapped the TWRP button for wiping/clearing the Cache / Dalvik Cache having read (although also having read to the contrary) that this was necessary to avoid a bootloop. Then I rebooted and arrived shortly thereafter at the OmniRom Boot animation of the droid bot blinking eyes and wiggling his antennae which is as far as this Rom, which once loaded and operated fine, will now go.
I have since tried several times to reload the rom only to the same end. I have even tried the latest nightly on the rom. Same result. Tried the latest version of TWRP (2 updates since the 2.8.5.0 I initially installed with) and both updated TWRPS were riddled with problems for me - Most importantly they would not reboot - had to force close via the power button only to have TWRP reboot to itself and the process start again. As well, TWRP would not do anything as no partitions were mounted nor could I mount them - just red error messages on the console screen when I attempted to do even a simple wipe. Obviously I was getting deeper into the omniRom twlight zone.
KEEP IN MIND - this is the weird part - I COULD and still can (1) Boot to TWRP and recovery to my initial recovery file I made of JB 4.2.1 stock from Asus (if it didn't suck with lag I would have stayed there to begin with) and (2) I COULD ALSO FLASH THE KISSKAT CUSTOM ROM but as I said I had issues with it which led me to try OmniRom which I thought was a good choice until the problems.
At this point, as I sit here - I have used fastboot to reinstall the TWRP 2.8.5.0 (since it was what worked initially) and I have TWRPed to the recovery JB 4.2.1 and then wiped everything using TWRP - Data Format and all advanced wipe options less my own SD Card. Another issue - I tried the latest release of KissKat #26 and this time, in addition to the problems noted earlier, I cannot seem to mount the SD Card as it is now unrecognized by the TF300t (although it worked fine in the #25 build).
I am at an impasse and any help with any of these problems would be greatly appreciated. I just want to get a decent functioning custom rom on this tablet to get some more life out of it.
Thanks in advance,
Dog.... from somewhere near the outer limits of the realm of... the twlightRom
