How to wipe the memory of a bricked Android tablet?

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Linuxluver

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#1530285 11-Apr-2016 21:56

Kookoo: After 4 great years my Acer Iconia A501 has finally decided it has had enough. The poor Android is lying down with the red triangle, and I can't boot into recovery mode or boot it from sd card using an update.zip. So, it's time for us to part ways, BUT. I am pretty sure that I unless it's a hardware fault, it can be resurrected. So how do I ensure that if someone manages to resurrect this tablet, they can't access the information stored on it?

Bonfire.

Job done. (Be aware of exploding Lithium battery potential)

_____________________________________________________________________

I've been on Geekzone over 16 years..... Time flies....

d3Xt3r

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#1530286 11-Apr-2016 21:58

Kookoo:
d3Xt3r:

Have you read my earlier post? I posted a legit solution on how you could wipe the data. Disappointed that you accepted the sarcastic "use a brick" suggestion as the answer to your post. :/

Yes I have read it. No, I can't get to fastboot menu. If I could I would be asking for help with recovery, not with wiping data. :) Not sure who marked the post as an answer - it sure wasn't me.

Have you tried the method listed here? Apparently it can take several tries to get into it correctly.

Also, it would help if you can provide some info on how the tablet ended up in this situation. Was it a bad OTA or were you trying to flash a firmware or something, or did it just randomly die one day on its own?

Kookoo

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#1530316 11-Apr-2016 22:30

d3Xt3r: Have you tried the method listed here? Apparently it can take several tries to get into it correctly.

Also, it would help if you can provide some info on how the tablet ended up in this situation. Was it a bad OTA or were you trying to flash a firmware or something, or did it just randomly die one day on its own?

Success! You're right, I gave up trying too soon. I tried the Volume Up + Power method again, and on 15th attempt or so I got to "Erasing Userdata" and "Erasing cache". Still couldn't reboot it or get to fastboot menu, but at least the data is gone (or as gone as it can be gone with hardware reset).

How it happened - it just did. It's been misbehaving a bit lately, being very slow. Then on boot up it started trying to open non-existent USB storage with ES File Explorer. Until one day it just refused to boot up, and any attempt at recovery ended up with the dead android logo. Emotional time for our family - this was the kids' favourite tablet to run Intellijoy games. :)

Hello, Ground!

d3Xt3r

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#1530352 11-Apr-2016 23:38

Kookoo:
Success! You're right, I gave up trying too soon. I tried the Volume Up + Power method again, and on 15th attempt or so I got to "Erasing Userdata" and "Erasing cache". Still couldn't reboot it or get to fastboot menu, but at least the data is gone (or as gone as it can be gone with hardware reset).[...]

Congrats! I'm glad you didn't have to resort to using a brick or a flamethrower...

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