Samsung’s flagship handset, the brilliant Galaxy S GT-I9000, has been on the unlucky end when it came down to receiving the official Froyo update, something that has been promised again and again, and delayed likewise. A couple of weeks back users in the Nordic region were lucky enough to see official Froyo updates through their Kies software. At the same time Samsung announced that the Froyo rollout will be complete to all users everywhere by the end of November. Recently European users and those in the United Kingdom have also seen the ‘frozen yogurt’ trickling through Kies, with two firmware variants, XWJPA and XXJPO.
If you’re not in one of the above-mentioned regions, you’ll probably need to hold off the update. This guide aims to cover the process of flashing any firmware through the software Odin, using the latest I9000XXJPO Froyo firmware (official for UK) as reference point.
First, let’s look at the prerequisites. The approach to flashing a leaked Froyo firmware via Odin depends on quite a few factors, the foremost being the current firmware you’re on. If you’re coming from Éclair (Android 2.1), you can save yourself one step. Otherwise if you’re already on a leaked Froyo version, you’ll need to go back to Éclair and then flash Froyo.
IMPORTANT – MUST READ
Before you begin with the flashing process, make sure that you:
- Do not have any lagfix applied
- Phone battery is fully charged
- SIM and microSD cards are removed
- Phone is unlocked (no SIM lock present)
- If you’re upgrading from an Éclair firmware, never restore any data backups
We strongly urge you to read through the whole guide first before attempting any of this.
Sticking to our reference firmware, here are the items that you need handy before attempting to upgrade your device.
- I9000XXJPO Firmware (can be downloaded here – courtesy of www.samfirmware.com)
- I9000XWJM8 Firmware (needed only if you’re already using a leaked Froyo build – download here)
- 512.PIT file (needed for XWJM8 firmware, download here)
- 803.PIT file (for the XXJPO firmware – download here)
- Odin Multi-downloader v1.3 (the actual flashing software – download here)
- Samsung USB drivers (come with Samsung Kies software, make sure you have the latest version)
- Samsung USB cable (or any other compatible USB cable)
- One Samsung Galaxy S GT-I9000
To begin with, download and extract all these files mentioned above to a convenient location, preferably on your desktop. The password for both firmware files is “samfirmware.com” (without the quotes). Once you have all the files in place, launch Odin as administrator. On your device end, make sure that you have disabled any lagfix, if applied earlier. Also, on the device end, make sure that there is no SIM lock present on your phone.
- Power off your phone and remove the SIM card and microSD card.
- Put your Galaxy S in download mode by pressing and holding the volume down, home and power keys at the same time. You will see a yellow symbol and the words ‘Downloading’ once the phone has gone into download mode.
- Ensure that the drivers are installed. If you have Kies already installed on your machine, the drivers are already in place.
That’s about it, we’re ready to begin the flashing sequence.
STAGE 1 (applies only if you are coming from an earlier Froyo build)
- We are now going to flash the XWJM8 firmware again (Éclair), so make sure that you load the files for this firmware in Odin.
- In PIT, load the 502.PIT file
- For PDA, select the ‘CODE_I9000XWJM8.tar.md5’ file and for PHONE, select the ‘MODEM_I9000XXJM4.tar.md5’ file. Leave all others blank.
- Make sure that the Re-partition box is checked. All other settings should be as shown in the screenshot below.
- Connect your phone (in download mode) to your PC via the USB cable. It will install the drivers, or if they are already installed, you will see ‘Added’ in Odin’s message box (screenshot above). A COM port will also become visible.
- Again make sure that all the selections in Odin’s interface are correct. Press the Start button when verified.
- The flashing sequence will begin, and you will see several messages in Odin. Make sure that the phone does not disconnect during this time, as it may brick your device permanently.
- At this point, your phone’s screen should be looking something like this:
- Once the flashing sequence has completed, Odin will give a ‘Completed’ message in the Message box, and a green PASS will appear on top. Your device will automatically reboot at this point.
Congratulations! You have successfully completed stage one of the process, and now you’re running the XWJM8 Éclair firmware.
STAGE 2 (you can begin directly here if you are running an Éclair firmware and have flashed originally with 512.PIT)
- Fire up Odin again and this time load the 803.PIT file in PIT.
- In PDA, select the ‘JPO_JPO_U_JPP.tar’ file.
- Leave all other settings as they are, and this time make sure that Re-Partition is NOT checked.
- Put your phone in download mode again and connect it to PC via the USB cable.
- Make sure that your selections in Odin match the ones in the screenshot below.
Once you’re sure that everything is correct, press the start button. The same process as earlier will follow – wait for it to complete, making sure that the phone remains connected during the whole time. Once the PASS message appears and the phone begins to reboot, you may remove the USB cable.
You will be greeted by Froyo’s lockscreen, customized by Samsung to their own flavor. Congratulations, you have successfully upgraded your Samsung Galaxy S to the latest (as of the time of writing) I9000XXJPO Froyo firmware!
Update: Samsung has released the latest XXJPU firmware for Galaxy S, which is Android version 2.2.1 and brings a lot of improvements over all the previous versions. You can download it here (courtesy of samfirmware.com – use samfirmware.com as password). Remember to use it with 512.PIT and Re-partition CHECKED.
DISCLAIMER: The instructions in this guide and the files within are provided as is, without any explicit or implicit guarantee or warrantee of any kind. The author or AddictiveTips cannot be held liable for any damage that may occur to your device as a result of these instructions. This method was successfully tested on Windows 7 32-bit.
Update: If this method isn’t working for you, refer to PoseNotter‘s comment below – Editor
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