Upgrading Zenfone 2 Laser ZE550KL to the latest firmware version - Error mount /asdf solved

I had bought my Zenfone 2 Laser in 2015. The phone is good enough if we use it inside the constraint of memory and internal storage space it is having. Definitely not good for gaming purposes. If you almost consume full capacity of the internal storage or memory, it starts misbehaving.

I was completely satisfied with the performance of the phone until recently. Started becoming unsatisfied when it suddenly started a problem of not able to update new firmwares getting released by ASUS over the air. The main drawback was that I was not able to apply the voLTE update which was required for Reliance JIO.

I tried updating new firmware manually by copying the firmware downloaded from ASUS website to the internal storage as per the directions given in the update manual available in the website. I got a mount error after trying to update. It looked like

error : mount /asdf

And then it would revert back to the previous firmware. I tried a lot of ways to overcome this. ASUS also didn't come up with a solution for this problem. With lots of check over the internet, I could find a real easy, less risky solution for my problem. I am mentioning it in this blog so that it would help fellow Zenfone 2 laser owners.

Disclaimer :- I myself have done these steps and overcame the problem mentioned. This might not work for all. Please do it at your own risk. I would not be responsible for any problems.

I have not faced failure for this procedure and I cannot help if you face any failure.

Prerequisites :-

1. Download latest software from the ASUS website

http://asus.com/in/ZenFone-2-Laser-ZE550KL/HelpDesk_Download/

Select OS --> Android

Do cross check your region(WW) and phone model(Z00L) as per the directions provided in this link. Cross check with your existing software version in your phone. Should look similar.

Store this software in your external SD card. (Not in internal storage). The zip file itself is the software file. Don't extract.

Please keep at least 2.5GB free space in your internal storage.

2. Download and extract the tools.zip from the below link

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0aLSwTxUBYETFVvQU1ZUHNFaEE/view

(Link Courtesy - Gadget RIDER)

Keep this in your laptop

3) Please ensure more than 60% battery before doing this whole procedure.

Procedure :-

Carefully follow the below steps.

 

1) Enable USB debugging -

Go to Settings --> About --> Software Information

Tap 'Build Number' seven (7) times to enable 'Developer Options' in settings

Once you do it, you can see 'Developer options' under settings

Go into developer options and enable 'USB debugging'

2) Reboot in the fastboot mode

Power OFF your phone

Press the volume UP button and Power button together to start the phone in fastboot mode.

Once started in fastboot mode, the screen will show 'Fastboot Mode!!!' written on the top of the phone.

3) Once the phone is rebooted in the fastboot mode, connect the USB data cable from the mobile to the PC in which the tools folder is saved.

Open the tools folder and run the flash-all.bat file in administrator mode.

It will execute by itself and close. Ignore the errors which you see in the batch prompt.

Remove the data cable. Remove and re-insert the battery for power cycle.

4) After inserting back the battery, we should restart the phone in recovery mode pressing the volume DOWN button and Power button together.

5) Once the phone starts in recovery mode, select option 'Apply update from SD card' by using the volume button and use Power button to select it

Now select the firmware file stored in the SD card by scrolling using the volume button and press Power button to select the file

Some yellow color text will follow and the phone will get updated.

This will take some time (near to 10 mins)

You will get a success message after this and the recovery options will appear again.

6) Select 'Reboot system now' using the Power button

7) After reboot you will get the app optimizer message 'Android is updating'. Please let this finish. This may take another 10-15mins

8) Now you can look into the Settings --> About --> Software Information to confirm that the phone has got updated to the latest software version you downloaded.

9) To enable voLTE, please go to Settings --> More --> Mobile Networks and enable voLTE

Hope this helps. 

An eventful air travel

I was coming back from Mumbai to Goa booked in Air India flight AI683. The actual itinerary I received on booking had mentioned 1hr 20mins of travel which suggested the aircraft to be the small ATR type. But on the day before my travel I got a reschedule message from Air India. The departure time in the message seemed to be the same. When I cross checked once again it was the arrival time which got changed. 1hr 20mins of travel time was decreased to 1hr which suggested Air India changed the aircraft to Airbus 319/320/321. I actually became happy that I would be reaching Goa early and would be able to catch some good sleep.

Now lets come to the travel day. Reaching the boarding gate I understood why Air India changed the flight. It seems they got more passengers that day and I saw many foreigners to board this flight to Goa. Air India had recently got membership in the 'Star Alliance' and these passengers might be the code share passengers who are using Air India services via Star Alliance. The boarding was 10 minutes late. As expected the aircraft was Airbus A320.

On boarding the flight I understood the fact that it was very old. A bad smell caught my nose once I stepped into the flight. Something like entering a house which was not occupied for months. The crew courteously welcomed us. I didn't have to move much as my seat was in the front rows. Was sad to see that the seat was so stained and soiled. I didn't mind. But I was thinking about the impression it made on the foreign passengers about the Indian national airline. Moreover there were lots of mosquitoes in aircraft and many passengers were seen driving the mosquitoes away from their vicinity.

The safety briefing started.

'All exit signs can be easily identified by the exit signs and the floor path lighting'

When the air hostesses tried to show the fluorescent green floor path strips, they were not there. No floor path strips existed in the aircraft. The crew actually got embarrassed with that unexpected backfire. But soon regained their postures and continued the safety briefing.

'To fasten the seat belt, push the metallic end into the buckle. To adjust the belt the loose end can be pushed or pulled...'

I tried to fasten my seat belt. Buckled it. But was not able to adjust it. It was stuck. Later left it to the way it was. Pretty loose on my lap.

'In case of a fall in cabin pressure, individual oxygen mask will drop down automatically'

The demonstration unit they had was so dirty that the air hostess in front of me was hesitating to handle it properly.

Once the cabin was secured, the lights were dimmed for take-off. The passenger who was seated in front of me switched on the overhead light for reading. The lights behaved like ones in ghost movies. It blinked for sometime before slowly becoming on. Then after sometime it went off by itself. The crew couldn't answer the passengers questions on this matter.

The flight took off and was stable now. So the crew started serving dinner. My row was now getting served. All in the row opened the tray table and the passenger who seated next to me found one end of the tray table broken. For having dinner, he had to finally support the dinner box near the end of the tray table which was not broken. Other items included like tea cup and water bottle was accommodated in my tray table.

It should be remembered that the crew did their best to make the travel comfortable for passengers in spite of all the hardships and embarrassments they had to face during the flight course. Kudos to them.

A horrible car service

It was august 14, 2014. Only two days more for my engagement. I wanted to clean my car interior and exterior to use it as grooms vehicle for the function. It was full of dirt following the recent heavy rains. So decided to take it to a newly opened car cleaning centre 'CAR ZONE' near NH bypass junction, Thondayad, Calicut who cleans car interior and exterior. They also have a cafe attached to the place for people to relax and wait until their cars are serviced. It's 400INR for a hatch back(I have a Renault Pulse hatch back) and more for a sedan. Cafe charges of course are extra as per the purchase made.

There was a huge queue when I reached there in the evening. Around 10 cars. The lady in reception told me that it won't be possible to clean my car that day. She also informed me that they were working on August 15 i.e Indian independence day. It didn't look good. But the requirement was mine. I again looked towards my car. It was dirty as a pig. I looked inside the service center towards the cleaning area. All were from the north and north-east. Majority Bengali speaking. No wonder they are working on independence day.

The next day I took my car there around 12 in the afternoon.  The queue was bigger than what I saw on the previous day. More than 15 cars already. People took privilege of cleaning their cars on the national holiday. I approached the lady at the reception with the car keys. Initially she refused to accept it for cleaning. But when I told her that I had come the day before and was asked to come that day she agreed. It seems there were less worker attendance due to the National holiday. I was asked to come in the evening around 6PM. I agreed. Anyway I had some work to do including a grooming session to prepare for the following day. My brother had followed me in his car, so we set out to complete those works in his car.

It was dark by the time we reached back to take the car. Around 6:30PM. It took me by surprise that none of the cars I noticed earlier in the afternoon was there at the time I reached back. How fast do they clean them? They were still cleaning cars in the dark. The lady at the reception was already gone. I enquired about my car with the guy sitting there now. He seemed to be the owner/manager of the service station. He checked the list and told that my car cleaning was completed already and ready for delivery. I paid INR400 and he handed over the keys to a guy there who lead me to my car.

The car was parked in front of the cafe. I unlocked the doors and switched on the lights to check the interiors. Interiors seemed fresh and awesome. The dashboard and seats are well cleaned. The floor also seemed clean. I happily shook hands with the guy there and got ready to leave. It was then under the light from the cafe I noticed a muddy patch left uncleaned on my back right door. They might have missed it as it was dark. I called back the guy and brought it to his notice who inturn called a worker to clean it up. I thought to examine the whole car for any more such patches left so that those can also be cleaned. There were a couple more such mud patches left on the car which they missed. But it came to me as a shock when I examined the bonnet. It was full of scratches. Please see the picture below.

BONNET

I called back the guy again and demanded an explanation. Initially he tried to retreat meanwhile I decided to do a thorough check-up all over the car. I could find one more clear scratch near one of the wheels and some minor scratches on the door and bumper. I caught him again demanded an explanation.

NEAR THE WHEEL

 ON THE DOORS

Now he started arguing with me that those are scratches which I already have on my car. My car is my daily pal and I exactly knew where all I bumped it and where all I have bruises on it. I took him to see some of those and told him that I am not talking about those. Even if I agree to his point that the scratches on the door/bumper/near-the-wheels came on the car without me knowing it, how the heck in the world do I agree to him that it came on the bonnet automatically.

Now I demanded the manager of the service station to give an explanation. I wanted to hear his perspective. Initially he tried to shrug off but I didn't leave. Gradually people in the cafe came out to check out what was happening. Some of them asked me what was the matter. The manager was yet not making any responsible statement. I started showing the scratches to them. They started talking between each other now. The manager went into an alarming state and wanted me out of the place.

It followed with heated argument between my cousin and the manager when the manager finally told the following statement - "It was not the responsibility of the service station to check whether any scratches are coming on the vehicle. The responsibility of the service station is just to clean the vehicle which is done". Then why the hell are we paying money? To get our car scratched? And that too 400 bucks. Isn't that amount enough for them to take good care of the car? And moreover the car was not completely cleaned too. It was left with mud patches. Okay. There is no point in arguing with the guy. We decided to leave. He finally told one more statement - "Please don't come back". Me, my brother and my cousin replied in a single voice - "Never again"

My Android Applications

Google

Both my personal and official google login are added in my android. Corresponding logins are used in specific google applications where it applies. Details are given in the below subheadings.

Google Calendar

The Calendar app displays events from each of your Google accounts configured to use with it. I have both my personal and official logins used in calendar. Calendar widget is added to one of my home screens. All my personal and official events gets added in the calendar which automatically comes up in the widget. Upto a limit it helps me to keep work-life balance. And you are familiar about the reminders possible using Calendar.

Google Drive

Easy to upload files directly from the phone to Google Drive now. I use my phone for both official and personal purposes. So there are occasions that I might need to view official files on the go or upload some personal photos during travel. All possible using Google Drive. A new feature supported in google drive is the SCAN feature for which i used CAMSCANNER application earlier. Now we can SCAN documents using the phone camera, crop, adjust and then upload to google drive. Fantastic feature.

Google Keep

I am somebody who forgets small small things and would like to note them down. Was using sticky notes earlier for this purpose and now Google has introduced keep. This also have alarm feature so that you can be reminded of something at exact time. 

Also during official meetings, now I don't take a note book. Note them down in Google keep. Even we can add pictures. Share of a note is also possible

Google Maps

Anybody need an introduction for Google maps? Improving day by day. As a frequent traveler I should admit that it helps me a lot. And recently Google has introduced to save a part of map so that we can avoid the requirement of data during use of maps. Only GPS will do (Not with phones where only A-GPS will work).

Google Mail

I require my personal email on the go. Having a good 3G connection no problem to have that in my mobile.

Splitwise

Are you sharing a rented house where you have shared expenses? Then splitwise is exactly what you need. It offers a perfect way to share your expenses and get it settled. In addition to splitting household bills with rand d mmates, it can also serve you for group vacations or individual spendings. Separate groups can be created for these. Month end splitwise will send you a summary of expenses and settlement report as email.

Expense Manager

A great application to track your income and expenses. You can have different accounts say personal and official. You need to enter your income/expenses immediately or on a daily basis so that you dont forget. Expense manager also has a reminder service to remind you of adding the expenses. You can divide the income and expenses into different categories and see individual category reports. Budgeting is possible for different  categories and you can compare in which category you have lost out in a particular month. Different kind of charts are also available so that we can have a graphical comparison of the same. Reccurring payments can be configured so that we dont need to add it every time it happens. Export of data to CSV format or upload to Google Drive/Dropbox is also supported.

NTES(National Train Enquiry System)

A must for Indians as we all use Indian Railways some or other way. The Indian Railways official app for train enquiry. The earlier version was a crap. But they improved well in the new app and its easy to use and helpful. The new version provides realtime information about trains and stations.

App features include :-

     Spot your train

     Live Station

     Train Schedule

     Trains Between Stations

     Cancelled Trains

     Rescheduled Trains

     Diverted Trains

Freecharge

Freecharge is one of the most convenient way to recharge your mobile, internet or DTH without visiting the retail shops directly. You can use your credit /debit card for making your payments. The application supports all major service providers. In addition, the application provides frequent offers above ones from the service providers; normally as cash back to freecharge credits which can be used later via freecharge.

Line

Line is a free messaging app very popular in many countries but in India. Here people use watsapp more so I use watsapp also. But I like line more. It supports voice calls and video calls in addition to messaging and at the same time remains a very light and fast application. Further to add, a PC version of the application is also available for people who want to use it in PC.

ES File Explorer

ES File Explorer is a free, full-featured file and application manager. It functions as all of these apps in one: file manager, application manager, task killer, download manager, cloud storage client (compatible with Dropbox, Google Drive etc.) and FTP client. It shows thumbnails and has built-in viewer. Its ultimate use comes for root users to manage the file-system.

My Days X

This application is helpful for both ladies and couples equally. Ladies can follow up their period and related information. Once you enter the current period dates, the application would provide you the estimated dates for periods in coming months. And as you enter the start and stop dates for a couple of months, it automatically adjusts the dates as per your cycle length and period length which is calculated by the application. 

You can see your high fertility days in order to get pregnant. This feature is very useful for couples for planning purpose. The calendar also provides you with opportunity to mark several details which would help you for proper planning.

1mg

This application gives information about the medicines prescribed to you and your loved ones. It gives details about the side effects of the prescribed medicine too. Equivalent medicines and approximate price of these medicines are also available in this app.

Automate It

Wanna get more out of your phone? Want to make your phone smarter? Automate It is exactly the application you need provided your phone is rooted. It helps to automate various tasks on your smartphone based on triggers and actions. We can define rules to do some actions based on some triggers in our smartphone. The application provides some basic rules by default and provides flexibility for us to define new rules. Also some rules which are popular can be downloaded from internet. Examples of some default rules available are low battery voice warning, quiet at night, normal in morning, enable data with GPS etc. We can enable or diable rules whichever are applicable for us. Please see the Automate It application description to see the list of available triggers and actions

Flashlight

A torch is required for everybody and you need not carry it separately if you have a smartphone with LED flash. This application will make your device a bright torch. It has evolved so much to have minimum memory footprint and battery consumption compared to other applications.

Memories

I used to write diary from my childhood times and from the time I started using smartphones I was looking for a good diary which offers good features and at the same time security. After trying out many applications I settled down with this application. Along with the text you write, you can also attach images and audio. A location can be added so that you can remember where exactly the event happened. There is password protection for the diary and as far as the review and comments of the app in Google Play are concerned the data seem to be safe. It has TAGS to organise and classify records. Another innovative thing from the developers is the introduction of 'Flow of Thoughts' which is a way to keep memories linked to each other and organised as continuous conversation. The whole diary can be backed up to google drive

The road to buying my new car - Part II - Diesel Models

I hope you read about the Petrol Cars I checked out from the below link

http://rajeevdaniel.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-road-to-buying-my-new-car-petrol.html

Continue reading for information about Diesel Cars which i looked into.

My brother had checked out Chevrolet Beat DIESEL during its launch and as our current range stands in around 5lacs, he insisted that I should check it out as we have a large difference in petrol and diesel prices as of now. If I am to drive to and fro office everyday then fuel will be a critical thing which i should keep in mind while selecting a vehicle. I decided to test drive the new Chevy BEAT. The Chevy SMARTECH 950cc engine is not offering you good power but comes with a mileage claimed around 26kmpl. The handling is ok. The LT model excluding the optional items cost 6lacs.

Now I wanted to test drive all diesel variants available the B-Segment Hatchs which I was looking for. The MARUTHI SWIFT and HYUNDAI i20 seemed costly for its features and I have drived them earlier. So i didnt check them out. My criteria or my requirement for my car is decent mileage, very good driving experience and handling, which comes on road around 6 lacs, good turning radius and optimum width so that it can enter the small way to my house easily and low maintenance. I was also loking for some safety criteria for me like driver side airbag and crash resistance body. The below ones are the cars which i considered.

FIAT PUNTO

The tuff built heavy PUNTO. You feel very much safe inside. The driving quality is not bad. The 1.3L multijet diesel engine which is the same used in SWIFT and VISTA seems to sit back due to the weight. I mean it better fits PUNTO than the other two :-P. The fuel economy seems to be affected by its weight. The fuel economy claimed to be near 20. It claims a ground clearance of 195mm which is the best i have heard. The handling and drive experience was below my expectations. The worst thing was its turning radius. It was very difficult for me to turn a 90 degree turn coming out from our office. It definitely wont be able to enter the small way to my house with that. But its the most stable car among the ones i test drove. The DYNAMIC version was costing around 7lacs on road and it was not having the airbags in the driver seat as per my requirement. Actually the price is not so high compared to SWIFT or i20 as there are many features in the DYNAMIC version. They just forgot airbag it seems.

FORD FIGO

This was the car with best handling and drive experience among the ones i test drived. I agree with something they have written in their brochure - "Best in class ride and handling". The 1400cc engine perfectly matches the vehicle. Car claims a good mileage also. The only thing i didn't like about the car was its shape. The full option Titanium version costs 6.8lacs on road. The Ford Figo stands among the ones i short listed.

TOYOTA ETIOS LIVA

The Etios Liva is almost as good as Figo in handling and drive experience. It costs around 6.6lacs on road. The 1300cc D4D CRDI engine gives good response. The outside look is stunning. But you will feel to puke when you see the interiors. The plastic seems to be such a bad quality. I was expecting more from Toyota. The interior design also seems to be done not for India. The ac vent positions are awkward. Seeing the interior i rejected the car from my list.

RENAULT PULSE

It was very recently that a RENAULT showroom got opened in my native place. I am a fan of REDBULL RENAULT racing team which is now at the top of the F1 championships. It was actually about RENAULT DUSTER which people were talking about. A SUV at 9lac. I decided to give a look into the RENAULT offerings. DUSTER was costly for me. So i settled down to check the PULSE. The looks seemed to be quite cool. It is same as NISSAN MICRA which is owned by one of my colleague. But he commented that PULSE is somewhat more refined than MICRA and is a good option. The 1500cc engine seemed to be too much for the small car. The torque was extra ordinary and the car seemed so powerful. The ride quality and handling seems to be ok. One thing RENAULT boast about in their brochure is about the turning radius of PULSE which is 4.65m. I also tried it out during my test drive and i could do a U-turn in a stretch where-in if I was in my Indica V2 it would have cost me a couple of shifts to reverse gear. PULSE had the best suspension among the cars i tried. Moreover the seat exactly rested my back and I felt more comfortable in my ride. The  gear shifts were smooth. The fuel efficiency claimed is around 23kmpl but my colleague is getting near to 30kmpl which was the highlight in my case. The car was having a slight more width than my indica which may give difficulty in the turn to my house. Another negative point I found about the car is its stability when turning curves in high speed. There are chances of rollover if the speed crosses 80kmph in an average curve. The PULSE RxL option with driver side airbag costs around 6.6lacs on road. Checking the features I shortlisted PULSE also in the final list.

Now it was time to choose. The final list contained HONDA BRIO, FORD FIGO and RENAULT PULSE. In the stage wise filtering BRIO got filtered out as it is a petrol model. Finally after many thoughts i decided to go with PULSE hoping I will get good service from the new launcher. Its a risk I am willing to take. The color i chose is METALLIC GREY.

I think you got pretty much information about cars available currently in the market. Hope it will help you people in selecting your car. 

The road to buying my new car - Part I - Petrol Models

It was back in 2010 i wrote my last review about a car. That time it was about TATA NANO. NANO was the most expected car of that time. Something everybody was looking into very eagerly. Read my post from the below link

http://rajeevdaniel.blogspot.com/2010/08/tata-nano-test-drive-feedback_28.html

Now I myself wanted to buy a new car. Was not fixed on what I want. Inititally was looking for a low price petrol car which can suit my daily needs. A doubt that central government would increase diesel price soon added fuel to that decision. Started looking into the options. When looked for a range of 3 lacs, in front of me I saw MARUTHI ALTO and HYUNDAI EON. I had long back discarded Alto. Reason - very less space inside. Even NANO had more space than ALTO. So I went to check out Eon. I was impressed with the looks of the car. Hyundai has done well in giving the car a noticeable look. The ERA+ model of EON costs around 3.6lacs. Mileage claimed to be 20+. But the test drive of Eon changed my opinion. On higher speed the body of EON jerks. The ride is not so smooth. I had a better experience with my friends ESTILO which i had tried earlier. I felt it very much smoother than EON and it was of a comparable price and better spacious.

The price band was increasing. If i can consider ESTILO, i could also consider WAGON R. And now my price was standing near a 4.5lac. Then why not the all new HONDA BRIO??? For around 5 lacs Honda is offering its all new low cost car. I decided to have a look at Honda Brio also before taking the final decision.

BRIO comes in a 1200cc HONDA SOHC i-VTEC engine which should be familiar to all HONDA lovers. From the test ride experience the engine is smooth and awesome. The gear shifting not bad. HONDA claims a mileage of 18+ for BRIO. Its is coming in four models - EMT(entry), SMT, SMT(O) and VMT(full option). The base model was costing around 4.25lacs and each successive models will have a difference of around 40k each. I was attracted to the feature set of SMT(O) coming at a price of 5.35lacs(with discounts during the time) on road. It had its own integrated audio & speakers and steering mounted audio controls. Along with driver/front passenger airbags and ABS and also a hell lots of features. My brother didn't like its rear looks. But overall i found the car ok. It was the first car shortlisted by me.

Read about the Diesel models i checked out from the below link

http://rajeevdaniel.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-road-to-buying-my-new-car-part-ii.html