Edit: It looks like this is a hardware issue and I'll likely try to get it replaced via insurance since I cannot revert to stock using Odin. It is impossible to revert without using Odin right? Thanks to all who read!
To start, I just want to state that I've searched and searched for answers/information on this (not just on XDA forums either) and I haven't found a similar issue - my sincere apologies if I missed it.
Quick "this post is way too long to read" Summary:
1. Phone will not charge
2. Phone will recognize PC connection via USB but with no functionality
3. PC will not recognize phone
4. All details on what I've done so far below
Friday 3/4/11 - I used a USB car charger (link below) to charge my Captivate with a USB cable known to be working (had worked on my Captivate before, works on my brother's Captivate). If you're asking why I used that charger... well I got it for free with my E-71. I'll never use it again. Anyway later that night I tried to charge my phone on my official AT&T A/C charger but nothing happened - the phone acted like no USB was inserted.
newegg[dot]com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16882923001
Sorry for the bootleg link, this certainly isn't spam but I'm not allowed to post links yet.
Since that date, my Captivate won't charge via AC power cord. My PC won't recognize it either, but here's the weird part - my phone recognizes when it's connected to the PC via USB. For example, I can connect the phone to the PC and it will state "USB connected" on the Android pull-down (top) menu. Since I have mass storage chosen as the default, it will give me the option to send or receive files from the PC from the same menu. However, if I attempt to actually take that option, the pop-up menu which allows you to mount your memory cards does not come up. In addition, if I have the phone in USB debugging mode and I connect to my PC, the phone recognizes that as well. The PC does not recognize the phone in any capacity, at any time. No matter what I've done so far it will not charge via A/C.
Background: I've had my phone for a little over 6 months now, I've been running Cognition 2.1.6 since about 3 weeks after I got it - before this problem I haven't done any modifications whatsoever since the first load of Cognition. My PC is Windows 7 Ultimate 64. To rule out a bunch of other things, I've tried to use multiple USB cords that are known to work with a different Captivate and my Captivate prior to this problem (3 to be exact), I've uninstalled and reinstalled all Samsung's drivers on Windows, and I actually reinstalled Cognition using the three button recovery mode. To further rule out external problems, I just put Serendipity on my brother's Captivate using the same USB cord and PC that I'm attempting to use with my phone. He had been using the exact same version of Cognition I was.
I of course tried to revert the phone to stock using ODIN in order to fix the problem. I attempted to use the two button method (hold volume keys and insert data cable from PC with Odin running) but of course since the USB is not working properly that didn't work. It's worth noting that the described method worked perfectly for my brother's Captivate to revert to stock in preparation for installing Serendipity. I attempted to manually unmount and remount my memory cards several times, change USB modes between mass storage, Kies, modem, etc - nothing seems to work. The phone seems to be completely normal except for this USB issue. One last thing that's strange is if the phone is powered off and I have the USB A/C charger plugged into it, I cannot turn it on. When I hold the power button a relatively small spinning circle comes up after a second or two near the top of the screen. It disappears when I release power. If I remove the USB cable and hit power again it powers up completely normally.
Because of all of the above, I'm 99% certain that the issue is with my phone (not from any other external source). My only uncertainty is whether this is a USB hardware issue or a software issue where the phone is trapped in some sort of limbo due to being in a quasi-data mode which is causing it not to charge via A/C power and causing the PC not to recognize it. Has anyone had an issue remotely like this? I've come to terms with the sinking feeling that this is a hardware issue and that the only option I'm going to have is for my phone to be accidentally run over by a car (in order to pay my $125 and get a "new" phone under AT&T insurance). If anyone has any suggestions I'll be more than happy to try, maybe we can get this thing fixed!
If you made it this far I'll just say thanks for reading my wall of text and thanks in advance for any advice you have.
Were you able to get this issue resolved? It just started happening to my Captivate earlier today, and I was hoping that a solution had been found.
I haven't been able to get it resolved, I actually just sort of gave up on it and went back to my old phone for now. I have insurance so I'm not totally screwed, but it's not that cool obviously.
Were you able to get anything resolved on your end? If so I'd love to hear how. The one good solution would be a package to restore to stock that you could run through update.zip on a memory card, that isn't available yet is it?
i have this issue as well. I flashed Cognition 4.4 and it ran just fine for a couple weeks and then it began not even recognizing the micro plugged into any power source or the samsung dock! debugging on or off, battery saver apps removed, all that. multiple reboots. nothing. it takes a spell of, if i'm lucky, recognizing it after i eff with it for a few minutes and flukes a decent charge but at night, it usually has a loop cycle charging effect. I can hear the "boop beep" charger plugged in sound over and over throughout the night.
i use the phone in my cars and everywhere with the same problem.
no resolution! HELP!!!
I came across the same problem with USB on ARMANI I9010 after installing Cognition5. The most unpleasant is that i have bought it abroad and there is no possibility to return it
Does any body found the solution?
Related
I've searched high and low, and I can't find any existing threads that really address this issue.
My captivate is rooted, running Cog 2.3b8.
This week I connected my phone to my computer to charge overnight, just like I do every night. The next day the phone was dead, and with some extensive investigation I determined that for some reason it didn't get a good connection and ran the battery down.
It seems that the stock USB cable now won't get a good connection at all. It will charge if I fiddle with how it fits, and hold my mouth just right, but it won't make a good data connection. Occasionally it will make a data connection, but my computer won't recognize the device and my phone won't give me notification that it's connected.
I normally have the phone set on debugging and set to select connection, but I've tried every option. I had Kies installed originally, but I hadn't used it for some time and uninstalled it to make sure that wasn't the issue. I also deleted my drivers and downloaded and installed them again, multiple times. Finally, I've used 3 different data cables, and all of them get a good charge connection, but don't register on the computer or on the phone as data connections.
The phone hasn't had any previous issues with the USB, and unless my kids did something to it, wasn't dropped or damaged while attached to the USB or otherwise.
Additionally, I don't believe there has been any liquid damage to the phone. The liquid indicator patch behind the battery is white. I did notice that my car charger cable had some very minor corrosion on it, which I suspect is getting some minor water on it from briefly being dropped into my floor mat. It was connected to the phone while it had that corrosion on it, but I do not know if it was actually connected while it was wet as I didn't note it until after the fact. I carefully cleaned all of my cables and the phone connector without any changes.
While I could deal with syncing various things via wifi or bluetooth (though I suck at building networks for wifi networking), and I can make the phone charge in a number of various ways, but I'd like to flash to the new Cog and/or go to the stock Froyo if/when it actually arrives, and I'm not sure how to go about doing that without the USB connection for the Odin master clear and reset to stock. Can I use the build in data wipe, use bluetooth/usb/wifi the update.zip and kick it into download mode in a different way? That would get me back to stock, but I'm not sure how to root back to stock to use ROM manager or titanium back up without the USB.
Any suggestions? Is there something special or proprietary about the Sumsung USB that makes the connection that my aftermarket, data capable, USB doesn't have so it won't work for my phone?
Also, is it possible that it could be related to a bad ROM install? This is my 3rd version of Cog, and I trust DG's work pretty well, but I have a LOT of issues with apps crashing that I didn't have on previous versions, and have pretty constant vibration notifications for something without any indication on what it's for. I won't say for certain I didn't screw it up, particularly with the master clear in Odin.
I occasionally see issues with usb on my windows laptop. Reboot, try a different cable, different port, etc.
I've tried 2 different computers and 4 different cables, and have done reboots on both the phone and the computers along the way.
I think at this point the answer is either A) my samsung cable is bad and the other cables I used are no-data/charge only even though they were sold as data or B) I damaged the usb port on my phone with either the corrosion or some manner of trauma that I'm not aware happened.
I've contacted Samsung to see what a repair will cost, since I've read threads (here I think) that a motherboard repair was only $70 outside of warranty as a result of liquid damage, and a buddy of mine has an Epic on Sprint and I'm going to try to borrow his Samsung branded cable to see if I have the same result with it as I do with mine.
If I am SOL with my usb port, is there a good way to wipe, flash, and/or root without it? I can transfer files in via bluetooth or wireless, and I backed up with Titanium Pro into my Dropbox. I know I can flash new with ROM manager. I suppose that means I can concievably push a new ROM zip on with blue tooth, go to downlaod with ROM manager. Is there a good way to clear/clean everything like Odin's master clear without a USB? Is the one built into the phone sufficient for that? Is there an APP or sorts that will do it?
I honestly don't mind sending my rooted phone with a custom rom to Samsung if I *have* to, I purchased it used and don't have a warranty to void anyway, but I'd rather not send it full of all of my personal data, and if I'm going to wipe it, I might as well do everything else.
And honestly, I can charge via the usb without a problem, I put all my music in my external SD, which I can remove and write to outside the phone, and I can put ROMs on via the bluetooth, so I can *live* without doing data via the USB if I *have* to. Heck, I'm planning on getting an Atrix when they come out for my wife, and I can always clean it off, go to stock, and give it to my wife and play ROM of the day on the Atrix.
Honestly, there is no need to flash stock unless you really mess something up. Obviously the risk is greater with no ability to use odin but the choice is yours.
I have seen the stock jh7 in a flashable zip here somewhere.
edit....here is the thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=790080
edit again....the code for the dialer to wipe your phone is *2767*3855# though i really don't see the need to use it unless you are sending the phone in to warranty
I don't get it. I just don't get it.
I'm now at a loss for words. I took a fine grit sandpaper and meticulously cleaned the usb on the phone, blew it out with compressed air, plugged it in and it worked instantly. I unplugged it, plugged it back in, and again it worked. I tried it with a different cable, and different plugs, all success. I was thrilled. I sat the phone down, and a smile on my face, and went to do some other things around the house. I figured I'd let it charge, come back, and do my ROM swaps with a full charge.
And when I came back, the plug had slipped out of the phone again, and it hasn't connected since.
So, either it needs cleaned again and all the cables I've plugged in are causing the issue again OR it's something to do with it coming out of the phone w/o disconnecting the usb in windows. I've been in "ask me" and debugging each time, and didn't mount the phone.
I'm exceedingly frustrated with this right now. Samsung won't respond to my requests, I can't figure it out, and I'm about 10 seconds from smashing the @#[email protected] with a hammer and going back to my 10 year old flip phone. In fact, I actually considered buying a $50 iphone 3gs for a moment.
My Samsung Captivate was working fine a day ago when I was transferring video off of it to my PC. Now this comes up and I'm like WTH lol. I've never dropped my captivate or damaged it( to my knowledge).
I have read in other posts that the only way to fix this is to replace the mini usb port inside of the phone... If that is true could someone direct me to a site that sells it?
Or is It a battery issue? because It now has a problem with showing the charging battery symbol when its not charging now...
I also thought about going to At&T and letting them tell me what they think, only thing i'm afraid of is that without me being able to flash back to Official 2.1 Eclair they wont help me...
Any suggestions guys?
Bump T_T............
lol, make it totally bricked, att will not see if the phone cannot turn on.
Have you tried switching computers? My laptop stopped reading my phone, but my desktop picked it up just fine.
Try factory reseting and flashing to a new rom
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
Well I would Flash it to stock, but how would I do that without the use of USB, because no computer can detect my phone as it is now.... the USB Port is damaged I believe.
As for Bricking it how can I do that because they told me I could replace it because I'm under warrenty, but they also told me that if its found out of warrenty that they may charge me upwards to 480 bucks for the replacement. The guy on the phone told me it only applied to cosmetic and liquid damage though, he didnt mention stuff like flashing the OS or modding.
This is strictly a Hardware Issue as it was working 2 days ago.
lol, you can easily brick your phone by doing the following:
1. download a rom;
2. go to recovery mode;
3. start flashing the rom and remove the battery during the process;
never help people like this ... i feel guilty ...
lol ikr? Never thought I'd ever ask that xD.
Can you plug your phone in to the wall charger and it charge. When you plug.it into.the PC are you getting a message about USB device not recognized. Are you using a.deshktop or a laptop what OS. If you are using a desktop are you using a port on the back preferrably the one closest to the motherboard. These are all things to take into account.
If when you plug it into the wall.or computer your phone will charge then most likely there is nothing wrong with your micro-usb on the phone. Instead its the computer. I had the same issue and had to fight with it for days but now it works everytime I plug [email protected]
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
I am using windows on my laptop and Fedora linux on my netbook and I have tried to connect all of them to it and it failed and they all had the latest drivers and my usb development and all that stuff is as it should be.
like i said in the OP it was working 2 days ago perfectly and I did nothing to change it or damaged it in any way ( to my knowledge) maybe the usb port got messed up when i tried to charge it but I can still get a charge but the battery keeps showing its charging even when it is off of the charger.
Izurin said:
I am using windows on my laptop and Fedora linux on my netbook and I have tried to connect all of them to it and it failed and they all had the latest drivers and my usb development and all that stuff is as it should be.
like i said in the OP it was working 2 days ago perfectly and I did nothing to change it or damaged it in any way ( to my knowledge) maybe the usb port got messed up when i tried to charge it but I can still get a charge but the battery keeps showing its charging even when it is off of the charger.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
only way to really know is by flashing another rom... use your mobile browser not xda app, and go to xda, find a rom thread, and use the mobile browser to download the rom over 3g... reboot into recovery to install it, it will be in the download directory on your internal SD...
Well I would do that but Now I have another problem... it turned off and now it wont turn back on!!!! UGGGGGGGGGGGGGGH!!
Izurin said:
Well I would do that but Now I have another problem... it turned off and now it wont turn back on!!!! UGGGGGGGGGGGGGGH!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
anything from the charger? might bee good that it finally died... the att service center should swap it out for you now that its dead...
Well I thought I should Follow up on my Question... Somehow I got my Samsung Captivate to magically connect to my PC and believe me it was very Wonky. And Soon as my PC detected it I hurried and Downloaded Odin for Stock 2.1 and Put my Captivate in download mode using Cognition's Download mode option in the hold button popup on screen.
Long story short I was finally able to get my captivate back to 2.1 and the reported problem still exists... I'm calling ATT right now for my replacement that should be here in 2 days ^_^
Thanks Again to all the people here at xda for your help, I deeply appreciate it!
place dg cf7 on sd card via another phone or use an alternate browser to download it also get clockwork mod rec.zip and boot into recovery install from there, thats how I got back to stock after same problem as you,warranty phone.
worked for me
I have a Samsung Captivate i897 for AT&T
Firmware version: 2.2 Froyo
Ok, so I had tried to foolishly upgrade my phone through Kies to 2.3 Gingerbread, knowing that I was
upgrading to the SIII in a few weeks anyway. Kies came back with a response that the upgrade
could not be finished, so I proceeded to follow the instructions and do an emergency recovery
of the phone, but after a while, that also failed.
After the recovery failure, I ended up with the "phone ! computer" screen (fromw what I've found, a
disconnect of the phone and computer). It took me several tries, but I found a forum somewhere
that showed me Odin (something I had never really played with for fear of bricking my firmware).
I followed the steps outlined in an xda forum by opening Odin and trying to flash the phone
back to stock.
But alas, my phone's screen turned red...which from some forums seems to be a problem with the
Odin installation. I had looked around a bit more on how to fix this issue, and eventually
arrived again at the Downloading... screen. This was promising at the very least,
but trying to connect to my computer started to fail. I would continually get "USB device
not recognizable" by Windows. I've tried multiple USB ports, reinstalling the phone drivers,
but could not get Kies or Odin to recognize it.
Now...the worst part. Someone somehwere suggested to restart the Download mode, which I did,
and now...the phone won't even return to the Downloading... or phone/computer screen. It's just blank.
Some have suggested that the USB cable or USB ports (more likely the computer) may be at fault
here as well. So I have ordered a cheap USB cable off of Amazon to maybe solve this issue.
The phone does not boot up to any screen, nor does it seem to charge (either in wall or
computer).
So my question is..., does anyone believe I have achieved an unsurmountable task in "bricking"
my Captivate, or is there hope yet that I can revive it from the dead. I plan on selling it online
for around $85 so that I can lower the price for the SIII, but a bricked phone won't get
too much.
Any help here would be greatly appreciated. Thanks to anyone who can enlighten me a bit here.
If u have zero signs of life, even when plugged into the wall charger, then u r hard bricked...
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I777 using xda premium
What did you do before losing download mode/phone-!-computer? Did you flash boot loaders?
Sent from my SGH-I897 JellyBro
If you are interested in trying to save your phone instead of scrapping it for the S3 you might look into either making a jig or ordering one. There is a thread somewhere on here that shows you step by step how to make one and it will force the phone into download mode if it's not completely bricked.
I have made one myself and it worked flawlessly and provided you have an extra micro usb sync cable that you are willing to destroy in the process it will cost you less than $5 to make.
been there..and i fixed mine
can you still do the up+down volume and plug usb to download mode?
Sent from my SGH-I897 using xda app-developers app
Dont know if this method works but its still an option for you to try, might as well.
Install Odin3 One-Click Downloader [I897UCJF6-final-OCD-REV0.exe] mediafire /?0w2y31maz8mdom4 (I cant seem to post link because Im a new member)
Its basically a hard format.
-Unplug your Phone from USB
-Launch the application
-Take out your battery for about 30 seconds and place it back
-Press and hold Volume Up & Down buttons
-As you're holding the 2 buttons, plugin the USB
-If the application recognizes your phone, just click [START] button and it will wipe everything on your phone (And I MEAN EVERYTHING, so its a sacrifice of losing whatever you had on to fix your phone), and have your phone in factory mode.
I fixed my phone when it was bricked this way. I reinstalled all the mods and updaters.
Hope it works for you!
Alright, day 10 of my epic tale...
Handset: Samsung Captivate SGH-I896 (Rogers)
Computer: (MacBook Pro, WinXP 32bit, Win7 64bit)
Really the story starts about 10 months ago. Captivate boots up one day after a night of charging only to display "Downloading Do Not Turn of Target!!!". No matter what boot method of key combos will change this. Well the phone found its way into the junk drawer and forgotten about. Fast forward to about 2 weeks ago, my current fruit based named device type 4 receives a large blow from my 2 year old causing its all glass front and back to be unusable, parts are now on order. I look into the junk drawer to find a suitable interim replacement. I find my 'ol Samsung Captivate, put the battery in, plug it in and BOOM, it boots just the first day out of the box. Two days later, back to "Downloading Do Not Turn of Target!!!"... Damn. Everything I have tried from my 96+ hours of trial and error has led me here to post. ODIN, Heimdall, Kies, OneClick this, and OneClick that, nothing.
I have had the phone boot up properly twice in ~10 days, the back to Download Mode.
[TL;DR] I'm a n00b, every attempt that you can image and a few you can't. Samsung Captivate will NOT exit from Download Mode.
Thank you for your time,
Nate.
nelliottca said:
Alright, day 10 of my epic tale...
Handset: Samsung Captivate SGH-I896 (Rogers)
Computer: (MacBook Pro, WinXP 32bit, Win7 64bit)
Really the story starts about 10 months ago. Captivate boots up one day after a night of charging only to display "Downloading Do Not Turn of Target!!!". No matter what boot method of key combos will change this. Well the phone found its way into the junk drawer and forgotten about. Fast forward to about 2 weeks ago, my current fruit based named device type 4 receives a large blow from my 2 year old causing its all glass front and back to be unusable, parts are now on order. I look into the junk drawer to find a suitable interim replacement. I find my 'ol Samsung Captivate, put the battery in, plug it in and BOOM, it boots just the first day out of the box. Two days later, back to "Downloading Do Not Turn of Target!!!"... Damn. Everything I have tried from my 96+ hours of trial and error has led me here to post. ODIN, Heimdall, Kies, OneClick this, and OneClick that, nothing.
I have had the phone boot up properly twice in ~10 days, the back to Download Mode.
[TL;DR] I'm a n00b, every attempt that you can image and a few you can't. Samsung Captivate will NOT exit from Download Mode.
Thank you for your time,
Nate.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I really don't know that I have a good answer for you but first of all since you've indicated that you've tried several methods including one-clicks... did anything that you tried to flash show in the program you were using that the time that it went through and flashed?
m1batt1 said:
I really don't know that I have a good answer for you but first of all since you've indicated that you've tried several methods including one-clicks... did anything that you tried to flash show in the program you were using that the time that it went through and flashed?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No program was able to detect the phone, only one PC was able to detect that something was pluged in (WinXP 32bit), all attempts with various drivers did not change this. However once in a blue moon the phone boots just fine, battery charges I can sync with Mac & PC. This tells me that the general condition of the hardware is good.
nelliottca said:
No program was able to detect the phone, only one PC was able to detect that something was pluged in (WinXP 32bit), all attempts with various drivers did not change this. However once in a blue moon the phone boots just fine, battery charges I can sync with Mac & PC. This tells me that the general condition of the hardware is good.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So when the phone is in download mode and you plug it in via usb the computer doesn't recognize it at all? It's not listed on device manager as it should be or unknown?
I could be way off base but it almost sounds to me like your usb port is going bad. If it's shorting out in there it could explain why it's constantly going into download mode. And why every once in a while it actually boots and functions as normal.
m1batt1 said:
So when the phone is in download mode and you plug it in via usb the computer doesn't recognize it at all? It's not listed on device manager as it should be or unknown?
I could be way off base but it almost sounds to me like your usb port is going bad. If it's shorting out in there it could explain why it's constantly going into download mode. And why every once in a while it actually boots and functions as normal.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The USB on the phone does charge the batter, if I leave it plugged in and unplug it, it will sit in download mode until the battery runs dry.
Hello,
I unlocked my device by using ASUS unlock tool. Everything went well. I also can see the message "Device is unlocked".
Then I tried to connect my tablet with my computer to install TWRP and further a cutom rom, but this is not possible. If I connect my tablet with my PC nothing is happening at all, means tablet is not recognized at all. I'm using Windows 10. Anyway, my mobile phone is recognized. I already tried to set it back to factory settings, flashed the latest Asus ROM, but nothing helped.
The other curios issue is that the tablet is not able to recognize that the battery is charged. LED is lightning and battery is charged, but tablet says power adapter is not connected.
Any idea? Could it be the cable? I already tried to connect the table over the dock, but same behavior. Dock LED is lightning as well.
I'm really frustrated. Hope anybody can help. I really need to establish the connection to my PC to go ahead.
5.11.15 - Update:
I realized that it seems to be an issue with USB. As mentioned above USB to tablet is not working (no PC can recognize it). If I connect the keyboard no USB device will be found. Charging the tablet is also not working, except I connect the power adapter and cable directly. Any idea?
Thank you.
Hi, I am having the exact same issue with my TF701. Were you able to resolve yours?
Duchman said:
Hi, I am having the exact same issue with my TF701. Were you able to resolve yours?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Duchman or Dutchman? I'm having again exactly the same symptoms. Tried 3 different USB cables too. Dit yóú manage to get this sorted? I know it was 4 years ago but my TF701T is still working properly, for the most part.
FireStorm75 said:
The other curios issue is that the tablet is not able to recognize that the battery is charged. LED is lightning and battery is charged, but tablet says power adapter is not connected.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is exactly the same behavior. Best for now is to charge with the device powered down. I'm about to open up mine to doublecheck if the USB connector is seated properly.
Weird thing is that the keyboard also fully works which should not be possible if the USB port on the tablet was malfunctioning right?
I'm having a lot of apps not displaying anything anymore so was going for the KisKatt rom to see if that fixes the lot. Also I see after some time some apps keeping the device awake all the time so battery is always drained when tablet is closed.
sebastiaanmeloen said:
Duchman or Dutchman? I'm having again exactly the same symptoms. Tried 3 different USB cables too. Dit yóú manage to get this sorted? I know it was 4 years ago but my TF701T is still working properly, for the most part.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My TF701T is sitting disassembled in one of my drawers after an unfinished screen replacement attempt. I did manage to install TWRP on it, however, I don't remember what I did exactly to accomplish that.
I might have used one of those shady rooting apps that I'm not sure if I'm allowed to mention here. Then I probably flashed the TWRP with Flashify. Basically, circumvented having to connect the device to a computer up to the point where I had a working recovery on it.
Don't ask me for the exact steps because I wouldn't be able to remember anyway. I'll lay out a basic plan of action:
1) Find an app that lets you root your device without connecting it to a computer. Be warned, those more often than not come bundled with malware, so exercise caution. I'd back up all the important files and information and do a factory reset before attempting this if I were you.
2) Install Flashify, grant root access, download TWRP zip on your tablet, flash. Do some research on how Flashify works and how to use it before you attempt this.
Good luck, and if anything comes out of this, be sure to come back here and report on what you did in case some other poor soul wants to install a custom recovery on their 7 year old tablet without using a USB cable.
I just had mine crap out for some reason and needed to reformat everything and re-install. Connecting the USB to my PC, the PC makes the connected sound but no drive or anything showed up. I couldn't be bothered to figure out why so I just used adb to put the files on the tablet.
adb push yourfile /sdcard