Ice Cream Sandwich update failing on some Transformer Primes

The update to Ice Cream Sandwich is apparently leaving some owners of the new Asus Transformer Prime out in the cold.

Released by Asus last Tuesday, ahead of schedule to users in the United States and Taiwan, the tablet was supposed to receive the Android 4.0 update over the air. But instead, several owners of the Prime are complaining that their tablets are displaying a serial number error, preventing the update from installing, according to posts on the XDA Developers forum.

Asus is aware of the issue and is close to a fix, according to a message posted Sunday by the company's technical-marketing manager, Gary Key. The post was updated yesterday and again today.

Identifying the problem, Key said the tablet will not automatically or manually update to the latest firmware, which carries with it Ice Cream Sandwich.

As a work-around, he had suggested that users perform a factory reset and then let the Prime stay active with a Wi-Fi connection for 15 minutes so it can sync with Asus' servers. If the update doesn't appear automatically, Prime owners can try a manual update. If that still doesn't work, then he advised affected users to send him a private message on the forum with the serial numbers of their tablets.

Some of the people who have already contacted Asus should hear back from the company with a potential fix to test, Key added.

But even some Prime owners who have successfully updated their tablets to ICS are encountering other issues.

Another post by Key identified a screen lockup or corruption problem after the ICS update has completed. As with the Serial Number glitch, Key said Asus was able to replicate the lockup issue and is developing a final fix based on two possible causes. He has promised that the company will start contacting Prime users who have already reported the problem.

Owners of the original Transformer tablet looking for Android 4.0 will have to wait a bit longer than owners of the Prime to update to Ice Cream Sandwich.

Asus announced on Saturday via its Facebook page that Google is currently in the midst of approving the ICS update for the Transformer. Key told CNET last week that Asus is planning the update for early February. Of course, in light of the technical bugs with the Prime's ICS update, Asus will certainly want to make sure the Transformer's move to ICS goes a bit more smoothly.