Key combinations for Acer Iconia Tab A500/A501 (wipe, reset, recovery, format, clean boot, update from microSD)

Here's a list of well-known key combinations:

Hard data reset (wipe)

• First, turn off the tablet.
• Set the slider switch that locks the screen to left position.
• Hold the volume up key (the part of the volume rocker, which is closer to the screen lock) + power key.
• As soon as the tablet vibrates, release the power key and start sliding the screen lock from right to left unlit you see these two lines:
  Erasing Userdata...
  Erasing Cache...
  Continue to hold the volume up key.
• In the upper left corner of the screen the lines indicating formatting will appear.
• The tablet is wiped clean as if it were just shipped from the store.

Reboot in the recovery mode

• Turn off the tablet.
• Hold the volume down key (the part of the volume rocker, which is closer to the edge of the tablet) + power key.
• The tablet should boot in the recovery mode.

Reboot in the update mode from microSD card

• Turn off the tablet.
• Hold the volume down key (the part of the volume rocker, which is closer to the edge of the tablet) + power key.
• Continue to hold the volume down key until the picture of the Android appears.