Version 5.0 released!!! . . . . finally. 🎉

Update March 2021:

Fixed the download links at the bottom of the page. All versions can also be found here: Ainol NOVO8 Firmware links

02/10/2013 Update:

I have added a 'LITE' version with Google Earth & Play Services removed, this should drop the file size enough to fix any issues with installs locking up at 20% on certain units. Both these apps can be installed from the Play Store (Hangouts will request the Google Services anyway)

Original Post:

Yep, it's finally here, after months of waiting I have finally finished up this release. Judging by the amount of downloads and traffic my older releases still generate I reckon there a quite a few people still using the Novo 8, there's lots to talk about so lets get started. First up the most important change is that this release makes use of the Aroma installer, this allows you to customise the installation to a certain degree. Among those choices are the ability to change the boot image, boot animation, status bar size and certain optional apps. All the various apps are the latest as of the upload and have been checked that they all work so hopefully no duff apps this time round.

Some images to show what you can have:

  • Feature packed firmware

  • Smaller Statusbar with optional no Softkeys

Features:

There's an absolute shedload of stuff packed into the rom, I actually had to take a couple of minor bits out as it got to big for the installer to handle. A quick list of what's present.

  • All the regular Google apps updated the the latest where possible: Play Store, Gmail, Google+, YouTube, Maps, Earth, Play Books, Play Music, Currents, Play Games, Hangouts, Play Services, Translate.
  • Latest Firefox and Dolphin browsers
  • Optional Dropbox and Google Drive apps
  • Floating Toucher (free) for quick access to your favorite items
  • Titanium Backup, SD Maid and other small apps from previous releases
  • Latest Facebook, Facebook Messenger, Twitter, Skype
  • Adblock and Droidwall to help prevent unwanted ads and such
  • New Fonts, Smaller Status Bar (with no icon option)
  • New Chainfire SuperSU for handling root apps
  • And a few more updates and tweaks

Installing this rom is a little different than normal as you have to choose a few options on the way through but otherwise it's the same process as before of copying the contents of the zip to you card. It's a big firmware at over 300mb so the install will take a while and the first boot will take ages so go and have a cup of tea while it works everything out.

IMPORTANT ‼:

Once you have booted for the first time you will find it fairly slow, this is normal and it's just the Novo finishing up stuff. Please note the following:

  • ADW will give you two popups to welcome you to the launcher, either follow them through or dismiss them by pressing the HOME button
  • If installed AdBlock will ask for root access which you will need to grant for it to work
  • If installed Hangouts will complain about Google Services being needed, this is installed through a script during the first boot and needs the Novo to be rebooted to clear the message
  • Once everything has finished popping up reboot the tablet otherwise certain things like ES File Explorer and Titanium Backup's root abilities will not work

Downloads:

If you mirror the file please let me know so I can add it here.

Ainol Novo 8 2.3.4 UK Rom V5.0
Ainol Novo 8 2.3.4 UK Rom V5.0 (LITE)

Comments

  1. Hi Andy your links are downloading V4.0SE

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Fixed them, Blogger did not update the links correctly.

      Delete
  2. Downloading it right now. I don't know how it will work, however.... I LOVE YOU!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Finally, the wait is over, Thanks Andy! However the installation still stuck at 20% after 3 tries, any suggestion? BTW, what is hash value for update.zip?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hmm odd, the zip uploaded was the same as the last install on my unit. I did have that issue because the rom had become to large and I trimmed it down which cured it. I shall reinstall later from the uploaded copy when there's enough charge in mine to allow it.

      MD5 of update.zip is 7BE97FA4BD87943B3798E50A88AC7D53 which matches the last copy on my sdcard I installed from. I may have to make a lite version with a few of the less important bits trimmed out to bring the size down a touch more.

      Delete
    2. Hi Nel,

      Check out 'LITE' version just uploaded and let me know how it goes for you :)

      Delete
    3. Still no luck :( The installation for Lite go through but after reboot, it went back straight to recovery mode.... now use back 4.0se.

      Delete
  4. That is strange, I tested the LITE version before uploading and it went on fine for me. I could do with a few more people feeding back on their experiences with this rom but I guess a lot of people have moved onto newer tablets.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Ok. I couldn't find anyone else complaining about Google two-step verification sign-in process... I can't register my account. I have 2-step verification set up on my Google Account. Usualy, when I register my account in an Android device, the login proccess has to be completed in the browser, due the two-step verification proccess (I have to log in my account in the Google Account webpage and then enter the sms code I receive in my phone). However, this isn't happening with this ROM. It tries to log in the specific app to register accounts from Google. Is that a bug or am I doing something wrong?

    Sorry about my poor English.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Alex,

      I've never used the two step so I've not ran into that issue. Did it work correctly in the previous roms? Also can I ask which version you installed the normal one or the LITE version?

      Delete
  6. Hello! Andy thank you very much for making my "old" Ainol tablet will function as the first day. I have a problem and I have no root access. How to solve it?
    Thank you!

    _________________________________________
    Hola!!! Muchas gracias andy por hacer que mi "vieja" tablet Ainol siga funcionando como el primer día. Tengo un problema y es que no tengo acceso root. ¿como se puede solucionar?
    Gracias!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Qurof,

      Have you rebooted the tablet after the first boot? Before that root will not function, afterwards it should be just fine.

      Delete
    2. Gracias, ya pude hacerlo.
      ¿Tienes pensado hacer otra versión por última vez?

      Delete
    3. Hi Qurof,

      I'm not planning another release at present as I can't think of much else to really do with it. What I would love is to be able to build a Jellybean based rom from scratch but that needs Ainol to release to source code so it's unlikely to happen.

      Delete
    4. Someday when they release source, I'll be waiting.
      A greeting.

      Delete
  7. Hello
    Good morning
    I ' have a error message
    assert failed 1323849611
    Ahve you solution??

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Michel, does this happen with both versions of the download? Also are you trying to install the zip as downloaded or the update.zip inside the download?

      Also what version of the firmware do you currently have on your Novo one of mine or a stock / other custom firmware?

      Delete
  8. Hi, I have an Ainol novo 8 Advanced Mini. Does this rom is Ok to my device? its very difficult to find a rom to my tablet... i hope it work for me :D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Leandro,

      This rom is only for the older Novo 8 Advanced units, the Mini has different hardware/software so my firmware will not run. Having a quick look round there are no links for other roms beyond the updated official firmware.

      Delete
  9. Hi Andy
    I'm testing the Old Ainol Novo 8 with your last ROM version 5 but installing some apps I get an error saying it's necessary SDK version 14 and current installed is 10.

    Is there any workaround for avoding this problem?

    Thank you from Colombia, South America.

    Nelson

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Not come across that before, normally if you try to install something for a much later version of Android you get an invalid package error. What app(s) are you trying to install?

      Delete
    2. I was installing XBMC 13.1, next I tried XBMC 12.1 and got
      "Failure [INSTALL_PARSE_FAILED_NO_CERTIFICATES]"

      So I can't install XBMC anyway

      Nelson

      Delete
    3. I'm afraid that XBMC is a little out of reach for our devices, it's a shame as I use XBMC on my television room PC and it's a great bit of software but our devices are just a bit too old for the job. Further reading on hardware requirements can be found here http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=Android

      Delete
  10. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  11. UPDATE
    I got success installing XBMC 12 by using adb -r xbmc...apk

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Very late reply but that's cool to hear. Regarding your post below about HDMI output I don't there is a command line you could use for that. If I'm wrong and anyone knows otherwise please shout it out :)

      Delete
  12. Hi Andy
    Is there any way HdmiSwitch Apk start tv output -at a predefined resolution- when it detect HDMI cable connected?.
    My idea is to bypass the maual steps os click the app, selecting resolution and confirming OK when TV is showing image. SO I pretend to get TV image when I connect the cable.
    Is it possible?

    Thanks
    Nelson

    ReplyDelete
  13. hi Andy i have Ainol Novo 8 Discover quad core with actions atm7029 cpu can i use this rom

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi aneespk13, I'm afraid this rom is only for the now rather old Ainol Novo 8 Advance, pretty much every tablet Ainol make is vastly different (like every makers) so you cannot use the rom from one model to another.

      Having a quick look, head over to http://www.slatedroid.com/forum/415-actions-semi-atm7029-quad-core-arm-cpu-devices/ and check out the Cyanogenmods by ChristianTroy, they look like they might offer something new for your tablet.

      Delete
  14. ANDY!! hello
    Ur lonk does not work (ftp)

    Can U help me download ur release?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi, sorry about that my ftp host went and changed everything on me. For now please use this link from my dropbox account while I sort everything out.

      https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/55243539/Novo8-234UK-V50.zip

      Delete
  15. tnx, i download it..
    but-
    its stop intsall on
    EXCTRACT /system/app/hdmiswitch.apk 20%

    what can i do? ) what s can be wrong?

    do u have some of manual for install?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There was an issue with some units not being able to handle the full version of the rom, try my LITE edition on through this link.

      https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/55243539/Novo8-234UK-V50%28lite%29.zip

      It's missing Google Earth and Play Services but once you sign in to Google they normally get installed near enough straight after.

      Delete
  16. Hey Andy... I know this is a little out of time but... I just found my old Ainol Novo 8 Advanced in the closet and I'd like to update it to the last version of Nebular Neard Super Cool Rom... (5.0)... Unfortunately all links are offline... Could you mirror them so I can download the ROMs, please?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Alex,

      I had to reupload everything a while back goto this page.
      http://www.nebularnerd.com/2015/03/new-download-links-for-all-files-and.html
      and all new download links are there for the roms.

      I did for up my Novo 8 a month or two back and it's still picking up updates from Google Play but the latest versions of a lot of the apps do tax to abilities of the Novo :)

      Delete
  17. hello buddy.... thanx for the update but its look like 4.1 .... well I haven't try one... but I would be really thank full to you if you solved my prob....
    I stucked at 26% while I am trying to flash my novo 8 discover via PAD product tool... and the cause is DOWNLOAD_VMLX1_FAILED. I am currently running a Cyanogen rom on my tablet and literally its Suks...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Ahsan,

      My firmware if for the Nova 8 Advanced not the Discover which is a completely different device so I'm afraid my firmware will not work for you.

      It's all a bit silly giving everything near enough the same name, makes things a bit confusing at times.

      It looks like this might be the last official firmware here http://www.ainol-novo.com/news/ainol-novo8-discovery-quad-core-20130929-firmware/

      Or try looking here http://www.slatedroid.com/topic/92041-custom-rom-cyanogenmod-102-431-by-christiantroy-update-2013-11-30/

      Cyanogen in itself is normally quite nice if sometimes needing some extra steps taken to get the best from it. Hope that helps :)

      Delete

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