How to install CyanogenMod 7.1 Android Alpha 3 on the HP TouchPad

Update: CM9 Alpha 0 is now available, making it possible to install an early, buggy build of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich for the HP TouchPad.

The CyanogenMod team has released a new build of Google Android for the HP TouchPad. The tablet originally shipped with webOS 3.0 software, but last month a group of developers successfully ported Google Android to run on HP’s discontinued tablet.

CyanogenMod 7.1 Alpha 3 includes a number of updates and bug fixes, including:

• The “sleep of death” problem which caused the tablet to fail to resume from sleep should be gone.
• WiFi should work better.
• There’s preliminary support for the HP TouchPad 4G.
• The status bar should use fewer system resources when running full screen apps.

This is still an alpha build, and it’s still a bit rough around the edges. For instance, the camera has been improved, but it still doesn’t work very well when you’re running Android. Alpha 3 also seems to introduce a new bug: when you plug in headphones the tablet speaker will shut down, but you won’t be able to hear any audio in your headphones. So proceed with caution, and if you’re happy with Alpha 2 and really need working headphones, you might not want to update just yet.

If you’re installing CyanogenMod 7.1 Alpha 3 from scratch on a TouchPad tablet running webOS, you’ll want to grab the new ROM from the RootzWiki forum and then follow our step-by-step instructions. The latest ROM is called update-cm-7.1.0-tenderloin-a3-fullofbugs-signed.zip.

Things are much easier if you’re already running Alpha 1 or Alpha 2 on your tablet and you’ve made sure to install ClockworkMod Recovery. Here’s all you have to do:

1. Download update-cm-7.1.0-tenderloin-a3-fullofbugs-signed.zip from the RootzWiki forum. You can either download it directly on your tablet or on your computer and then copy it to your tablet.
2. Make sure the ZIP file is located on your SD card.
3. While running Android on your TouchPad, press and hold the power button and then select the “reboot” option.
4. Tap the option to “Reboot to Recovery.”
5. Your tablet should reboot to ClockworkMod Recovery.
6. Use the volume buttons to navigate to the option that says “install zip from sdcard.”
7. Press the home button to select.
8. Use the home button to select “choose zip from sdcard.”
9. Use the volume keys to navigate to the file you want. If it’s in the root directory of your SD card, just scroll down until you find it and then press the home button. If not, navigate to the folder you want, press home to enter the folder, and then press home to select the update-cm-7.1.0-tenderloin-a3-fullofbugs-signed.zip file.
10. Once you’ve selected the ZIP file, scroll down with the volume buttons until you get to “Yes.”
11. Press the home button to apply the update.
12. After Alpha 3 is finished installing, you can use the volume buttons to scroll down to “Go Back” and keep pressing it until you see the option to “reboot system now” and press the home button to reboot.

That’s it. Now you’re running CyanogenMod 7.1 Alpha 3 on the HP TouchPad. It should provide a much more stable experience.

You can also use the same ACMEInstaller tool you used to install Android on the TouchPad in the first place to install the update. Just follow our steps for installing Alpha 2, but use the new file instead. But really, there’s no reason not to just use ClockworkMod. It’s faster and easier, and you can do the whole thing without a computer.

You can also check out some of the other settings in ClockworkMod to do perform actions such as making a complete backup of your device (which can come in handy if anything goes wrong), or wiping the Dalvik cache (which is often a good idea before flashing a new ROM, but not entirely necessary when flashing an update like Alpha 3).

Some users have had problems with WiFi failing to work after upgrading from Alpha 2 to Alpha 3. The solution seems to be to remove your existing WiFi settings and reboot your device.

In other HP TouchPad Android news, developer fattire has started working to bring Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich to HP’s tablet… but he says it will likely be a few months before it works well enough to release a public alpha.

Right now he can boot to a lock screen, but the touchscreen isn’t working, so there’s no way to unlock the device and use it yet.

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