How To: Root the Acer Liquid

THIS PROCEDURE IS NOW OBSOLETE, PLEASE HEAD TO OUR HOW TO ROOT USING SUPERONECLICK PROCEDURE INSTEAD.

I. Before You Begin

1. This will give you root access and upgrade you to Android 2.1

II. Download and install the Liquid Drivers

1. Download the drivers

Acer Liquid Drivers (x86 for 32bit Windows, x64 for 64bit Windows)

2. Click Acer Liquid Tool Setup and follow the steps to install the drivers.

III. Flash the Firmware with the Acer Flashing Tool

1. Download the Acer Liquid 2.1 Firmware

Acer Liquid Rooted Firmware

2. Save the .bin file somewhere on your computer that you can find it easily later.

3. Download the Acer Flashing Tool

Acer Flashing Tool

4. Run the Acer Download Tool and click Browse. Then look for the .bin file we downloaded earlier and click that.

5. Connect your phone to the computer via usb and then click Start in the Download Tool.

*I ran into an issue where it said Not Connected while Starting AMSS. Wait a good 5 minutes and if it is still stuck, remove the usb cable and put it back in, this fixed it for me.

6. Once it reboots, goto Menu > Settings > Applications > Development > Check ON USB Debugging.

IV. Install Superboot and Custom Recovery Image

1. Download Superboot2.zip

Superboot.zip (updated 6/23/10)

2. Unzip the superboot.zip file.

3. Double click on the reboot-bootloader-windows.bat file and wait for the phone to boot into bootloader mode.

4. Then double click the install-superboot-windows.bat file and wait for it to finish. The phone will reboot.

5. Double click on the reboot-bootloader-windows.bat file and wait for the phone to boot into bootloader mode.

6. Then double click the install-recovery-windows.bat file and wait for it to finish.

7. Once it reboots, you are all set! You have root access, Android 2.1, and a custom recovery image to flash ROMs with!

NOW, you can load custom ROMs! Head over to our How To Load a Custom ROM on the Acer Liquid procedure for how to get started.

93 thoughts on “How To: Root the Acer Liquid”

  1. I mean it just says : waiting for device on the computer screen and nothing happens on the device.
    I got stuck there .. did i mess everything up.

  2. Wow, thanks very much!
    This was exactly what i was looking for…
    I found that i did not have to carry out Step IV either (only II and III). Any issue you can forsee?
    Thx!

  3. Yes, as mentioned above, every thing worked fine till step 2 and 3… But the Superboot.bat stuff didnt work fine. I mean after passing Step 2 & 3 like Kaiwan… my phone got reset and started working. Still out of confusion, i started the “install-superboot-windows.bat” file. But nothing happened then…All it kept saying till next 20 mins is :

    Flashing Superboot…

    Nothing else happened. Any problems..? As of now, my liquid is working fine.

  4. In case i sound confusing, here is what i mean:
    Every thing worked fine from Step 1 to Step 3.
    It looked like step 4 (Superboot) was not needed, as my liquid already booted after step 3.
    Still when i started Step 4 nothing happened except as mentioned above in my post. 🙂

  5. Also one more query, in step one it was mentioned that it will change to Android 2.1.

    Actually whn i look at the firmware version in my About Phone, it shows as 2.1
    but under Device information >> OS Type it still shows as Donut. I am a little confused to are we upgrading from 1.6 to 2.1 i.e from donut to 2.1 or some thing else..? Sorry if the Question sounds stupid, but i am a rookie to Android and am learning…

  6. Ahh, and one more problem, my Organiser is Going for FC continously. I tried restarting my phone also…any help/suggestion..?

  7. Hello guys, i just want to be sure i understand properly what “rooting the acer liquid” means.

    Here is what i think it will do :

    _ SIM Unlock (will work with whatever carrier)
    _ Allow the use of adb to put my own .apk (No need to put an app on the market tu use it on my phone)
    _ Tethering unlock (just need to install an app that does it)

    Am i missing anything ? / getting something wrong ?

    Thanks ! And congrats for the work !

    1. Olivier,

      I’ll clarify a bit for you 🙂

      1. SIM Unlocking and Rooting, two totally different procedures that do not effect each other in any way. Rooting is the equivalent of Jailbreaking a device. It gives us Root Access so that we can alter any files we want (in a nutshell). We use this to do things like optimize performance, use overclocking programs, increase RAM through swap, load different UI’s (Sense UI on a non Sense UI phone, Sony Timescape on an HTC device, etc.), load newer OSes before they are out (Android 2.1 anyone?), load themes, and even load any apps that require root access to work (i.e. Wifi Tethering which needs root access to function). Hope that helps.
      2. Nope, you can do this without root access on most phones, just put the apk on the sd card and use a program like Linda File Manager to load it.
      3. See 1. lol

  8. Hi, I am using a Acer Liquid with 1.6 Firmware version, Baseband version of A1-02.01.03, kernel version 2.6.29 and build number of Acer_Liquid_2.000.25_APP_SGP.

    1. Can I follow this guide to root the device and flash to custom ROM?
    2. Will this still give me the Chinese Pin Yin input?
    3. Will this give me an Acer Liquid with Android Enclair 2.1 running on it?

    Appreciate for an answer for it. Thanks.

  9. TheUnlockr;

    Went all the way to section 4 step 4. But when liquid rebooted, heard boot sounds of android but no screen display. Completed step 5-6 got the menu on the phone. Selected “root device” option and got an error. Rebooted the phone but no display. Again proceeded with steps in Section 3. Now have a stock android 2.1 bin 0.008 but it is not rooted. Please help.

  10. TheUnlockr, thanks for your reply. BTW, where can I get the Chinese PinYin IME file? How to I load it? Do you know any ROMs that have it?

    Appreciate if you can help. Thanks again.

  11. Sorry, forgot to ask, will all my current program and data remain after done the above procedure?
    Can I revert back to the original rom? If yes, how?

  12. So is anyone else finding that there phone has ground to a halt after this? Sometimes it’s fine, but mostly it’s really slow even just loading menus etc.

    Also, how do you get rid of the annoying little chinese option boxes on the keyboard?

  13. I also have 13en’s problem. I have these funny chinese character thingies on the virtual keypad and I can’t get rid of them. Help please?

  14. Hello Unlocker,

    Yes, agreed, even i am experiencing the same. My Phone has become very slow. 🙁

    My Phone is 67% Free on its memory, very few appications installed, still very Slow. How do i increase my phone’s performance.?

  15. Hi,

    Is this ROM an official release from Acer itself? Or is it manufactured by Modaco or kind like those?

    Grtz

  16. Sorted the chinese keypad issue, just change input method to android keyboard. Sluggishness went away after a little while, but some apps wouldnt work – they kept crashing. Want mytracks to work, so I went back to the official 1.6. Still no sign of an official 2.1 upgrade 🙁

  17. After step 5 the phone reboots but gets black screen after Android logo. It hangs there forever. Cant boot up phone more.

    What can i do? pls help me.

  18. Same problem as Kiddy.

    Got the latest update from acer.com rom: 2.000.16.

    And now my phone does the same as Kiddy.
    Even a hard reset goes with the same problem.

    Helppppp….

    Thx

  19. Hey unlocker plz i have a problem when i try to access the superuser it just go black and nothing happends :S plz help me

  20. Hi AB & JK, the problem is the files that theunlockr has do not work with the latest acer official rom i.e. 2.000.16. what you need to do is follow this process (thanks theunlockr!) but get the newer files from malez2000 the Acer LCR people.
    Also the recovery.img needs to be changed for Superboot as it has the older one.
    Hope that helps.
    Cheers
    The Shak

  21. Hi,
    Yes, the latest files are from
    http://code.google.com/p/acer-liquid-community-rom-bugtracker/wiki/HowToRootAndFlashLiquidCommunityROM

    This has the latest Liquid rom Acer_LiquidE_1.100.05_EMEA_GEN1
    Which is used to upgrade from “Donut” to “Eclair” plus changing the Superboot recovery.img helps as Superboot.zip has an older one.

    Finally you don’t need to install the LCR rom – just leave it rooted…

    I believe that TheUnlockr walkthrough explains it much better than the LCR site!

    Cheers
    The Shak

  22. Hi everybody, after step 4.4 mi liquid reboots -> Acer logo screen -> android logo screen -> BLACK SCREEN forever…i followed all the steps, no problems, what could’ve happened? please help tks

  23. Hi theunlockr…
    The superboot isnt correct still….could you please change it?
    and THANK YOU SO MUCH theshak!!! 😉

  24. A few points:
    MoroMoro87 – did you follow the written instructions on this site? I guess you did. I watched the video and there is one subtle difference, the Video tells you to run the Batch files as Admin (which is important) – did you do that?
    So you did not see the “Flashing Superboot…” come up on your PC?
    Also whenever downloading Roms, IMG’s please please do a MD5/SHA check to ensure you’ve got what are supposed to have… I got caught on this because we use some internet filtering software which changes byte orders etc.

    Mike – superboot is correct, it just needs the latest recovery.img put there from the http://code.google.com/p/acer-liquid-malez-recovery/
    called malezRecovery_0.5.3.img copy this to your superboot directory before doing step 6 in part IV

    thanks
    The Shak

  25. I’ve got same problem as MoroMoro87: after step IV:4 black screen forever and buttons are not responding.

    I have unistalled battery but nothing happens. I can’t even switch on the phone.

    Please, could you help to proceed with the problem.

  26. i have a problem with my acer liquid -> ni sim card … i am despret i tried everithind an till nothing … problem is vhen i finis tre install ant try the superboot, i can’t load install-recovery-windows … the phone just restart ant bick ..

    i put iven a custom rom stiill no signal…

  27. Hey Shak .. I have same problem as moromoro .. i didnt run these batch files as admin as I didnt watch the video =( .. my phone now wont do anything .. iv tried to run the reboot-bootloader-windows batch as admin since and it quickly flashes by in an DOS window then closes and the phone does nothing

  28. actually the phone is turning on .. i have to take the battery out then when i start it after this I get the acer logo followed by the android boot screen (I presume thats what its called) then it goes black .. and stays black .. advice? . I have the most up to date version of bin file .. thanks for that .. have tried the checksum thing but not 100% sure how to use this

  29. I feel these updates maybe an ongoing thing as I trundle through google endlessly .. the phone was previously not charging when plugged into usb .. i have since reinstalled the usb drivers through google liquid tool .. the battery charging now shows when plugged in and switched off .. still wont boot though =(

  30. Hi Kev,
    I think there seems to be an issue with the liquid.superboot.img file inside the superboot.zip;
    Checking this out on other sites there seems to be diffrent file (size) which is used for the 1.100.05.bin file. when I confirm this it you might need to put the original boot.img file back (so you can reboot) followed by a new .img file.
    Give us couple of days to work it out…
    Thanks
    The Shak

  31. OK mate cheers much .. I have had a few new discoveries though none of em too monumental but i think it has reassured me that my nice new toy is not completely broken. I have booted the device into both liquid recovery menu (Build: Lickonn-liquid-0.3_Malez-0.2.1 Finding update package… Opening update package… E:Can’t open /sdcard/update.zip (No such file or directory) Installation failed) though I cant go anywhere from here and I have also managed to get it to boot to the fastboot screen where I am confronted with the serial number of the device and usb_init .. this also allows me see the device on the computer using usbdeview, it shows as acer fastboot interface – connected.
    Hope this gives an insight into what has gone wrong. Cheers for all the help, much appreciated.

    1. Kev Smith,

      If you can get to the custom recovery menu but it says no such file or directory that simply means it cant find the update.zip. You need to put make sure it is on the root of the sd card and it is named update.zip

  32. Here is what I’ve found so far… I hope this helps the people who’ve got stuck trying to root the Acer Liquid.
    1. The latest/final Rom to use is Acer_LiquidE_1.100.05_EMEA_GEN1.bin as found on this and other sites.
    2. Once this is flashed as per the instructions given (at the top) you’ve basically have stock Acer O/S running Android 2.1 Eclair – better than the 1.6 Donut Android version.
    3. You are not “rooted “at the moment, but you can enjoy the phone as is and stop there if don’t need root access.
    4. If you want to “root” then download Superboot2.1.zip not Superboot2.zip as mentioned on this site.
    5. Superboot2.1.zip has two files that are different than Supeboot2.zip, these are a newer recovery.img which is 4,966 KB (5,085,184 bytes) and a newer liquid.superboot.img which is 2,342 KB (2,398,208 bytes).
    6. As of today 19th June 2010 the superboot2.zip has the old files so when you go to step IV #4. i.e. run “install-superboot.bat” this actually installs the wrong boot image and the wrong recovery image – hence the black screen of death!
    So what to do… TheUnlockr; David, I believe you need to change the files in Superboot2.zip and rename the new file as Superboot2.1.zip.
    These changes are needed because Acer sent out the 1.6 at the end of April i.e when your Acer Rom version is 2.000.16.
    Finally I would recommend that people flash the new recovery image first and then boot image, so the install-superboot.bat needs to be edited to ONLY install the boot image.
    David – TheUnlockr – please PM for the files and some more details etc.
    Thanks
    TheShak

  33. I was also stuck with the ‘black screen of death” but I could recover from it by rebooting my phone in Recovery Mode”. This enables somehow the USB port in this way that the Acer Flashing tool discovered the phone. Then just reflash the image and the phone is back alive and kicking. You can then try to unroot the phone again once it’s clear what superboot.img to use.

    PS: here is how to reboot in recovery mode using the combo buttons: http://code.google.com/p/acer-liquid-malez-recovery/wiki/howToInstall

      1. Hey Kevin,

        I don’t know what I could tell you more then my post. Just reboot in Recovery Mode and use flash tool again. If that still doesn’t work, I will not be able to help you any more.

  34. I also have the black screen of death, but my computer cant find the telephone through the USB port.
    Anybody has anay ideas how to sove it, can somebody the update.zip somewhere, so i can put in the root of my SD-card. At the moment my liquid is useless. I think you should change the links in the instructions, because i did this today 23/6, and they still point on the old superboot files.

  35. This is an update to the post I did on 19th June, the superboot.zip on this site as of today is still not right, in fact it is still the old one.

    1. The recovery.img needs to be changed to this one http://code.google.com/p/acer-liquid-malez-recovery/ the file is called malezRecovery_0.5.3.img this needs to be renamed to recovery.img and placed in the same directory as the superboot.zip was extracted to… so you will overwrite the old one.

    2. You then need to download the correct boot.img http://android.modaco.com/content/acer-liquid-liquid-modaco-com/308438/liquide-1-100-05-superboot/ this is file for the Acer_LiquidE_1.100.05_EMEA_GEN1.bin. There are two files there one is the original boot.img and one is the “rooted” Superboot.img

    3. Download the rooted superboot.img called 1.100.05_superboot.img, this then needs to be renamed to liquid.superboot.img and overwritten on top of the old one in the extracted superboot directory.

    When these two files have been replaced then you should have the correct files to root your Acer with the new rom you just flashed.

    Hi David of theUnlockr if you did this and put the new file up there then there will be little changes to your walkthrough as I suggested flashing the recovery first then boot.
    Thanks
    TheShak

  36. hey i have got the black screen problem too

    i can boot “recovery mode” by pressing volume -, camera and power button but it requires an update.zip file on my sd card. Can someone post a link to this update.zip or the file that needs to be renamed update.zip.

  37. after a bit more searching i found that update.zip can be any ROM. is superboot a ROM and should i just use that as the update.zip?

  38. Hey, I tried to do this, but after I installed superboot and the phone restarted, I just gets a black screen.
    It shows that Acer logo and everything, but when it loaded everything my screen turns black, so.. What to do?

  39. Got the black screen problem.
    But i cant do anything with the phone. When i boot using the camera and volume down button i get this on my screen:

    Partition checksum
    splash1:chksum =8ba9da08 OK
    boot:chksum=338dd7f1 !=001ed108 **fail**
    recovery:chksum=2b8b7b4b !=00216b18 **fail**
    system:chksum =f599c9d0 OK
    ========
    <>

    I cant get to it trough the usb cable or anything….

  40. Hi Unlocker. i had the new 2.1 from acer, the official one, i did your instructions and now i am bricked. can you please advise on what i can do. please help me i am about to cry 🙁

  41. The Unlockr

    I’m rooting the acer liquid E and i might be doing this wrong but when i get to step IV of the rooting procedure my phone does not reboot into bootloader and i dont understand what im doing wrong. please help

  42. When i installed superboot and it rebooted, it went blank just after the Andrid pictures came up, and tis not doing anything. The computer wont reboot it into bootloader either. Help!

  43. Ive got it into recovery mode after the Black screen, but what do i do now to make it work again? My computer wont find the phone.

  44. Hi guys, here’s wad worked for me

    I tried going to wipe all data (factory reset) function,
    then reboot.
    It enabled the usb connection
    Then juz follow wad Brakio did, reflash the img

  45. why haven’t I in superboot the file install-superboot-windows.bat?? i have only 16 files while you have 18 files!!!

  46. How do I fix the problem with the screen of death? Please help me someone, dont know what to do! My computer doesnt get in contact via USB so I cant reflash that way.

  47. Two files are missing in the superboot.zip I downloaded from the very top download link. I realized missing files after I download superboot image as mentioned by “TheShak” and there was original file to replace with. And then the batch file install-superboot-windows.bat is missing.

  48. I clicked on the reboot-bootloader-windows.bat file and apparently i didnt wait enough or smthin, and i klicked the click the install-superboot-windows.bat file. And now the phone is all black, dont think it “feels” that it’s plugged in to the USB.. Tried to klick the reboot-bootloader again but nothing happens.. What do to?
    Please help me with this! Send me an E-mail with what to do.. Kalle_me_@hotmail.com

    Thankfull for all the help i can get!

  49. For those who faced the “death step” or “black screen” and can’t get the phone recognized over USB on PC/MAC, here is a solution (step by step):

    1. Put your MicroSD on your computer with an SDHC Adapter.
    2. Now open the MicroSD and paste “LCR_1.7.3-signed.zip” (use THIS and not the 1.8.2) renaming as “update.zip” on the memory card.
    3. Press “Volume minus + Camera + Power” and wait to vibrate 3x then leave it booting.
    4. Now the system will get automatically your update.zip file and rebuild the system.
    5. If the update don’t happens please enable UMS and ROOT on the menu and then “Reboot the system”.
    6. Now you can switch OFF removing the battery and ON with power button.
    7. Wait to boot into the LCR MOD custom system, it will be really slow… be patient.
    8. If it crashed try again with the fastest move you can before it crashes on some important steps =D.
    9. At the HOME screen go to “System -> Applications -> Development -> Debugging mode”.
    10. Now your PC will recognize the phone and you can use the “A1 DL tool intra” to load any Eclair or Froyo BIN image if you disliked the speed from LCR ROM.

    My Liquid has now the “Acer_LiquidF_0.007.00_EMEA-GEN1_05.01.01_57ab23c1cf32cd66f8b94e4be24993d4.bin” from FROYO on it. If you still want custom ROMs then try to use the superboot with a newer zip update, but i won’t recommend you to do it again… it’s not worth anymore.

    1. thanks. it worked geat, just one thing- how do i get ride of the ads that keep appearing on the bottom of the screen?

      HELP please

    2. ok… but when I pressed the combination of the buttons I saw the acer logo for just one sec and then it was almost invisible. I hardly saw the list with actions and I choose.
      I have removed the battery and I pressed the power button to restart the device.
      Again I saw the acer logo for 2 secs and then nothing!!! tottaly black screen…
      Please… tell me what I have to do… please… I’m begging you!!!

    3. Hi, AustraliaBoy just realize that your instruction on this was 8 months ago. I am very desperate ,right , downing the file you mentions, hope it is working, sweating

  50. @ austria boy

    i have the “death screen” and my liquid doesnt reboot through the SD card,
    how function step 5? how i enable UMS nad ROOT in the menu, when my mobile phone has a black screen?

    when you are from austrai please answer in german 🙂

  51. thank you, this guide helps me a lot. i have black death screen when i download official acer android 2.1 to 2.2. and i was soo confuse. i follow your guide, with little modification, and now i can get official 2.2 froyo on my phone.
    here step i did:
    1. download and install acer liquid drivers
    2. download acer flash tool
    3. download acer liquid e roms.
    tips: if you don’t wanna root, you can pick non rooted roms. i get mine 4.005.05.AAP.GEN2_A22F (For Liquid E 512MB) from here http://android.modaco.com/content/acer-liquid-liquid-modaco-com/317068/acer-liquid-liquid-e-all-roms-bin-extract-collection/
    watch carefully on your device type and how much memory it has.
    5. unzip acer flash tool and your rom
    note: i don’t want my phone rooted, so i skip install superboot. (but maybe gonna try later :P)
    4. run acer flash tool file “ACER Download Tool [Single]” by clicking right mouse and pick run as administator.
    5. browse file to your selected roms.
    note: it may gonna prompt “incorrect roms size” or something and MD5 fail, you can ignore that.
    6. connect your phone through USB cable. acer flash tool may recognize it through COM10, if not, do this: unplug your phone usb, take the battery off, wait around 5 sec, put it on again, connect again your phone usb, then do fastboot on phone by clicking volume up + camera button + power, your phone will vibrate twice as sign it do fastboot. then acer flash tool should recognize it.
    7. start acer flash tool, wait till finish.
    note: i encounter problem that it stop for a while and said “not connected”, i’ve tried to unplug and plug again usb but it didn’t works. so here what i do, unplug usb cable, close acer flash tool (by windows task manager (ctrl-alt-del, pick task manager, close acer flash tool on application tab) to close it), and start again acer flash tool, take off and on again your phone battery, plug the usb, and do fastrboot (vol up + camera + power). and start again acer flash tool, this second attempt should go smoothly.

    wait till finish, done. close acer flash tool. take off and on again phone battery, and do usual boot (pressing power button). your new rom applied XD.

  52. I have an unusual problem. When I press the three-key combination (camera, vol, power) nothing happens.

    I suspect that the part of the Flash that recognizes this is corrupt. I tried to upgrade my Acer Liquid E to Froyo . Unfortunately, in my hurry, I installed the FIDO upgrade instead of the Rogers upgrade. This killed my phone. I then used the Acer Tool to download the boot bin file to the phone, and I got my phone back. Now I want to do the Froyo upgrade properly, but it doesn’t do anything when pressing the three buttons.

    Anyone got any ideas? Perhaps I need to download other bin files to the phone?

  53. I have an unusual problem. When I press the three-key combination (camera, vol, power) nothing happens.

    I suspect that the part of the Flash that recognizes this is corrupt. I tried to upgrade my Acer Liquid E to Froyo . Unfortunately, in my hurry, I installed the FIDO upgrade instead of the Rogers upgrade. This killed my phone. I then used the Acer Tool to download the boot bin file to the phone, and I got my phone back. Now I want to do the Froyo upgrade properly, but it doesn’t do anything when pressing the three buttons.

    Anyone got any ideas? Perhaps I need to download other bin files to the phone?

  54. Thanks david – your post is the only one that showed me a simple way to bring my phone back from the black death screen

  55.  hi ive got a big problem my acer liquid e wont turn on, every time i hold the volume start and camera button the screen just blinks 
    plz help asap 

  56. install-superboot-windows file is still missing from download.
    normally I say thanks for the great work…but now I am stuck and wish guide was never put up in the first place…

    so a sarcastic thanks for your work.  as it has been many moons and the files are still missing.  i am not the only one to have mentioned it

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