Folks Report That ICS Update for the Transformer Prime Causes Freezes, Lock-Ups and Possibly Bricks Devices?

by Jack Holt on Jan 11th 2012, 11:45am
tagged asus, Botched Tablets, CES 2012, Freeze ups, ice cream sandwich, reboots, Transformer Prime, XDA

As you know by now Nvidia recently announced at CES that Ice Cream Sandwich for the Transformer Prime would be available Monday night. We even reported that the new update breaks root. Well it appears that this update is causing a lot more problems than lack of root access for some. Multiple forum threads have been started over at XDA in regards to these problems. As of right now it’s a small percentage of folk having these problems but the number appears to be growing.

Folks are reporting that after downloading and installing the ICS update they are receiving a number of lock-up and reboot problems, like six times in under an hour. Regardless of if they are rooted or not people are having this issue. This in turn is causing folks to return their device. Right now there is no official word from Asus on the entire deal but one person at XDA reported that a customer service rep reported that the file isn’t from them and it’s a malicious OTA update. I don’t know how accurate this is considering the word came straight from Nvidia.

There also appears to be two sets of Transformer Primes going out to people according to one XDA thread. There is a bad model that has the WiFi/GPS issues that we reported on a while back and then there is the updated and fixed consumer model. If you are concerned or have one of the ones with WiFi problems you can head on over to this forum here to report your issues. It appears that Asus will exchange these models but I don’t know the details for sure.

With that being said I would advise caution in updating the tablet to ICS until this mess is sorted out or we hear some official word from Asus on the matter. Are you guys having problems out there?

A big thanks to reader Jeff Hamstra for bringing this to our attention.

[via XDA 1, 2, 3]

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Categorized as Android Carriers, Android Development, Android Manufacturers, Android News, Android Software, Android Tablets

Makatc

dont forget the unknow serial number problem with the asus transformer prime….
http://twitter.com/jrcrmr Jeffrey Cormier

I think the “bad” batch of primes are the ones that are having problems with the OTA..since a lot of them are having the serial number issue as well. I, knock on wood, have not had a problem witht he ICS update or the camera update that came with it. I actually had a few bizarre screens with lines through them when i had honeycomb but i have not had a problem since the ICS update…mind you, i only got it last night. Hopefully it’ll stay that way…but i was one of the vast majority (versus loud minority) that didn’t have a problem with his prime to begin with (wifi is not AMAZING, but it works great, almost as good as my phone, haven’t tested the GPS thoroughly, but it has locked…)…so i still feel very confident and happy with my purchase (as do 90-95% of prime owners…)
Kdlmaj

To the author of the article- you neglected to mention the other serious issue of the unknown serial number bug- a big chunk of us have unknown serial numbers in our systems and are completely unable to get any updates at all or root our devices. ASUS’s customer support has been a nightmare in this regard, and they refuse to admit there’s something wrong with our units.
Billgates

I had one that said” serial number not known” in the settings and it would not do any over the air updates…after doing some research it seams i am not the only one with this problem. So good luck to you if you ordered one. I bought mine from officedepot i am in the process of returning it and rolling the dice on another one i guess.
Mike_RX7

With manifacture android firmware 3.2.1 the only problem of my tf201 was the poor wifi signal and poor gps signal. After ICS upgrade only camera was better. Now the problems are even more like freezes on screen, gps poor signal, bluetooth issues and wifi poor signal and wifi keeps goes off and on all the time. that break my nerves i want to throw it out of the window.
- Crcc23
  
  Same here, wifi and gps are working fine but after ICS its the tablet its all freezes and reboots
Whodunit

I haven’t had any trouble with my TP201 (wifi or gps) and I haven’t had any trouble with the ICS update either. I guess I got one of the good ones (ordered from Amazon). I feel for those of you who are having problems with yours but when you get a good one, you’ll be glad you hung in there. These are awesome! Several members of my family plan on getting one of the 7″ MeMOs when they are available. Thank you, Asus! I love my Transformer Prime
Guest

After taking the ICS update I now have black bands across the screen. I tried a factory reset and it didn’t help.
Mdb1201

Immediately upon updating to ICS Vers 4.0.3 the screen began to display intermittent horizontal black stripes. It occurs at random times but makes the device useless during the event. Normally they disappear after the screen refreshes. I have found no solution. I also have no GPS issues.
Sumocrush

I’m having the same issue. Intermittent, many black bars across the “top” of the screen. Also sometimes vertically on the “left” side of the screen. Doesn’t matter what app/program I’m working on at the moment.

When got my tablet and booted it, ICS was ready to install, so don’t have experience with previous IOS.

Ok I feed good-bad it isn’t just mine having problems, so I’m hoping Asus will find a fix Fast!? Cause if not soon, it’s going back!!
Christopheryi1

Mine is perfectly fine. No “unknown serial”, wifi, backlight bleed, dead pixels, ics ota problems. Everything is working fine. I’m beginning to think Asus screwed themselves with a December release date. They should have done better quality control tests and shipped the primes in January with ICS.
Junk4john

As soon as I updated to ICS, the tablet is intermittently displaying black horizontal lines. For the most part, they are always shown, except some apps when run display perfectly, like words with friends and youtube videos.
John

After update to ICS many reboots on my Transformer Prime; before the update no problems. Reboots in games, business apps, browser and when idle. Apart from reboots not problems (wifi works fine, everything works fine; but reboots make it unusable.) Shame; i’ll bring it back, and wait a while until things get fixed; will buy again when problem is acknowledged and fixed by asus.
Paul

First Asus Transformer Prime I purchased had the “no serial number” problem. Returned it.
So I buy another. Take it out of the box and fire it up and prompts for update. After update to ICS: terrible wifi, no gps, and black bars flickering randomly on the screen.
Asus Customer service was horrendous. So I returned this one and will not buy another.
Fssndos

Hi. I just got my Asus Prime and update to ICS and right away the freeze and restarting started. I don’t know what to do. Is there a way to get back the previous system it had before ICS? I need to know how to get it back. Any help out there will be appreciated. Thanks.