Updating ASUS TF101 from stock to Android KitKat (4.4.2)
So I’ve had the ASUS EeePad Transformer TF101 for almost 2 years now, and have been pretty happy with it, but it has gotten quite laggy and the input is always delayed. It could be a cause of the number of apps installed over that period of time, or simply that I’m used to using ‘faster’ tablets (work etc;).
I decided then to liberate my ASUS TF101 from it’s stock locked (no longer supported by ASUS 4.0.3 ICS rom). Some googling quickly got me plenty confused, as the content is “ancient” (in technical terms) from 2010/2011/2012. But I happened to find a starting point for a one-click root/recovery flash:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1681155
I grabbed:
V0.42- TwrpyIndri Cutting Edge – 14.15MB
Version 0.42 — Recommended (TWRP 2.5.0.0)
And simply proceeded through the guide, plug in tablet, make sure USB debugging is enabled (had that already). Then just run the .bat file from the package under CMD in administrator mode (this is all for Windows 7).
The install is guided, and pretty much “one click”, you traverse their interactive menu by hitting Y/N as choice options. I was able to pull this off without any problems, and my heartrate didn’t even spike and there was no wringing or fingers.
Once that was done, I went ahead and reviewed the notes for the KitKat guide & downloaded the right roms:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2592890
It really went very smoothly, in this order:
- Download necessary Android ROMs + One-click root
- Download latest Gapps Package (for google play store and google apps)
- One-click the TF101, backup stock rom to microSD
- Using TWRP (from one-click) Factory Reset
- TWRP > Format
- Install zips (ROMs off microSD, including gapps after kitkat)
Hope it goes smoothly for you! If I can help with any questions, let me know. The ASUS TF101 KK 4.4.2 has been running beautifully since the flash. Much smoother and more responsive than what I got out of stock ICS 4.0.3.
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Update 02/09/2014
After running KitKat since the 02/02/2014, I can state that I’ve installed many of the apps I’ve used before on ICS and none have had crashes or issues. The tablet response is smooooooth and well worth the fuss to update from stock ASUS firmware. If you have a TF101, this will breathe new life into an ‘older’ device.
Update 03/11/2014
A few people seem to be confused about gapps and needing to install that rom. ALL 3rd party Android ROMs are without google apps, it is a licensing issue that prohibits combined distribution. So you need to install them yourself using the additional rom. It’s easy to do, just install the gapps rom after you install kitkat.