This 2019 blog post tells you how to upgrade a Samsung I9000 Galaxy S from Android 2.3.5 to 6.
Warning: Don’t hold me responsible if a problem occurs. You follow any instructions on this page and/or download any files at your own risk. You risk damaging your phone and making it unusable. Always make sure your battery is fully charged before flashing.
2nd warning: This blog post does not tell you how to backup any EFS data, so following any instructions in this blog post is risky and I’m telling you again, you could make your phone unusable. Also using old versions of Android is a security risk.
3rd warning: Please backup any data you wish to keep before continuing.
Note: To upgrade to later versions of Android, I made little jumps to newer versions, I don’t recommend trying to jump from Android 2.3.x to 6, without installing 4.0.4 and then 4.4.4 first.
Introduction
I purchased this phone second-hand via eBay years ago. The old 1GHz phone has good specifications for an old phone and the Android community have done amazing development.
When I upgraded to Android 6, I found it less hassle to do it in this order:
- Android 2.3.5 to 4.0.4
- Android 4.0.4 to 4.4.4
- Android 4.4.4 to 6.0.1
I’m not using Gapps, and instead transfer APK files to the phone. I did try Android version 7 on the phone, but decided to drop back to version 6.
I’ve spent considerable time putting this in-depth guide together. If you find this information helpful, a thank you comment would be appreciated.
Here is what I cover in this blog post:
- How to flash a stock ROM using ODIN
- Root a Gingerbread 2.3.5 phone and flash ClockWorkMod
- How to Install a Custom 4.0.4 ROM
- How to Install a Custom 4.4.4 ROM
- How to Install a Custom 6.0.1 ROM
How to flash and root a stock 2.3.x ROM using ODIN (also install CWM Recovery)
Warning: Please make sure your phone’s battery is fully charged before continuing.
- On the phone, access ‘settings’ and then select ‘about phone’.
- Find the baseband version and then note down the last three characters. i.e. JVT
- You now need to find a stock 2.3.x ROM with the correct baseband for your I9000 phone. Usually you can discover your baseband version via ‘settings → About phone’. An example is I9000XXJVT. Therefore for that baseband, a stock European ROM from here might be suitable, which contains files:
CODE_I9000XXJVT_CL617736_REV03_user_low_ship.tar.md5
GT-I9000-CSC-HOME-MULTI-OXAJVT.tar.md5
MODEM_I9000XXJVT_REV_00_CL1064602.tar.md5
s1_odin_20100512.pit
The above listed files would then be used in ODIN later for that baseband version. - Install Samsung USB drivers. Version 1.5.51.0 was used during the creation of this guide.
- If using Windows 10 backup your registry. Then download the I9000 registry file, right click on the .reg file and merge the registry entry. Now reboot your computer.
- Run Odin3 v1.00 and select ‘re-partition’.
- Select your PIT, PDA, modem and CSC files as shown in the screenshot.
- Place the phone into download mode (Make sure the phone is turned off, and then hold the volume down, home and power buttons together until you see the download mode screen.)
- Connect the phone to the computer using a cable.
- If Odin3 acknowledges the phone with an ‘added’ message, select ‘Start’ and don’t interrupt the flash process.
- Once the flash process has completed and the phone has rebooted into the stock ROM, turn the phone off.
- Close Odin and unplug the phone from the computer.
- Download the correct CF-Root for your phone from. However if your phone is a JVT, you could try the JVO version. Those using the I9000XXJVT files mentioned in step 3, you might want to use CF-Root-XX_OXA_JVO-v3.2-CWM3RFS.zip.
- You need to end up with a .tar file, which might need to be extracted from a zip file.
- Start Odin again and for PDA, select the tar file.
- Place the phone into download mode and connect the phone to the computer.
- When Odin sees the phone, select ‘Start’.
- The phone should be flashed and then reboot itself. Once the phone has rebooted, if you don’t see a PASS! message in ODIN, press the home button.
Note: I then moved the following files to a microSD card inserted into the phone for the remaining parts of this how to guide:
- lineage-11-20170406-Black.zip or here. Referenced here. (4.4.4)
- MackayROM_CM9_galaxysmtd_2014.1.7.zip Referenced here. (4.0.4)
- omni-6.0.1-20160309-galaxysmtd-HOMEMADE.zip or here. Referenced here. (6.0.1)
How to Install a Custom 4.0.4 ROM
Warning: Please read all warnings mentioned at the beginning of this blog post. Also please make sure your battery is fully charged before continuing.
Note: These instructions assume you have ClockWorkMod installed, which should have occurred if you followed the 2.3.x instructions above.
- Boot into recovery mode by either using the CWM Manager app or by pressing volume up, home and power buttons when turning on the phone.
- Via ClockWorkMod select ‘install zip from sdcard’ and then select ‘choose zip from sdcard’.
- Then select ‘MackayROM_CM9_galaxysmtd_2014.1.7.zip’ and confirm install.
- It will reboot into TWRP (Team Win Recovery Project) v2.2.2.0. Select ‘Wipe’ and then ‘Factory reset’.
- Select, ‘Back’ and then use the back icon (arrow pointing left) to return to the main menu.
- Select ‘Install’ and then select MackayROM_CM9_galaxysmtd_2014.1.7.zip.
- Swipe to ‘confirm flash’.
- I’m not sure if necessary, but after you see the ‘successful’ notice, perform a ‘Wipe cache/dalvik’.
- Go back to the ‘Team Win Recovery Project’ main menu and select ‘Reboot’ and then ‘System’.
Mackay Android 4.0.4. custom rom photos
How to Install a Custom 4.4.4 ROM
The steps below will upgrade from Android 4.0.4 to 4.4.4 KitKat with a notice saying ‘1 March 2017’ Android security patch level.
Warning: Please make sure your phone is fully charged before proceeding.
- Reboot into TWRP by pressing the volume up, home and power buttons together when the phone is turned on.
- Perform a ‘factory reset’ via the ‘wipe’ menu option.
- Go back to the main menu.
- From the ‘Install’ menu choose ‘lineage-11-20170406-Black.zip’ and ‘Swipe to Confirm Flash’.
- For me it failed the first time, which it will likely do so for you as well. Therefore select ‘Wipe cache/dalvik and swipe to wipe.
- Again try and install ‘lineage-11-20170406-Black.zip’.
- It rebooted into CWM-based Recovery.
- Select ‘install zip’ (volume up and down buttons to highlight and power to select).
- Find the location of the ‘lineage-11-20170406-Black.zip’ file and install.
- After installation, go back to the main menu and select ‘reboot system now’.
LineageOS 4.4.4 20170406 Black photos
How to Install a Custom 6.0.1 ROM
Warning: Please make sure your battery has been fully charged before continuing.
- Reboot into CWM/recovery mode by pressing vol up, home and the power buttons at the same time when you turn the phone on.
- Select ‘wipe data/factory reset’.
- Select ‘Yes – Wipe all user data’.
- Select ‘install zip’.
- Find the file ‘omni-6.0.1-20160309-galaxysmtd-HOMEMADE.zip’ and install it.
- At the main menu select ‘reboot system now’.
- Before rebooting, it will ask if you want to root the device. Select ‘Yes’ if you wish to reboot the I9000.
Omni 6.0.1 photos
Conclusion
It took me a while to put this ‘how to’ guide for the Samsung I9000 Galaxy S together. If you found this blog post help, please leave a comment saying thank you.
Whilst I’m now mainly using newer phones, I think some people might find a use for the old I9000 and I hope my blog post helps others.
Hi,
Thank you for the post! I was looking into buying this to use as a Bluetooth music player. But it’s my first time rooting a phone. I was wondering why you chose to stick with Android 6 instead of Android 7?
Also will the apps I can use be limited to only apps for Android 6? How will I know which is compatible? (I think that’s pretty much how it works, I’m just hoping for a chance of a yes “any app” will work lol)
Last question, I’m really looking for a phone below $40 to use as an MP3 player. Is there a better phone, that you know of?
Thank you again!
Hi SpectreX2,
A quick follow up to my previous reply. I recently purchased some Bluetooth headphones. Using Android 6.0.1 mentioned in the post, I’ve paired Bluetooth headphones with the i9000 phone and listened to music using the Apollo application.
Best regards
Andrew
Hi SpectreX2,
You’re welcome. You’ve asked some excellent questions and I like the idea of using the old phone as a music player. However if I was buying a phone today for daily use, including calls, I would try and buy a better phone than the I9000.
I’ve not tried bluetooth headphones with the I9000 phone. I just transferred some mp3 files to the phone’s internal storage, plugged in 3.5mm connected headphones and enjoyed listening to the songs via the Apollo music application.
In the android 6 rom mentioned in the post, there is an app called ‘DSP Manager’. I’ve not used the app much, but in it you can enable an equalizer and there are quite a lot of presets.
Perhaps there are better ROMs than what I used, but I decided to stick with the Android 6 ROM I used due to performance with the 1GHz CPU.
I could be wrong, but I think without Google Play being installed, it’s tough to know what apps are compatible or not. It’s likely lots of newer apps will not work and some that do will be very slow due to their requirements.
On a related note, I just installed the Podcast Addict application on the I9000 phone. To begin with it runs a bit sluggish, but once I searched for and downloaded some podcasts, I think it ran okay.
When using the phone I tend to have the WiFi disabled when not in use. I still own this phone and I might publish another blog post about it later this year.
You mention buying a phone below $40 and I think about the Samsung Galaxy S5 G900F or G900T models. I paid less than $40 for a slightly damaged and unlocked G900T in the UK. I’ve installed LineageOS on a G900T. Perhaps next month I will publish a ‘how to’ guide for the G900T.
Thank you for leaving a comment.
Best Regards
Andrew
Doesn’t work with exact steps *removed*
Hi Ayman,
I know it can be frustrating when a problem occurs, but please leave a helpful comment and don’t swear.
I took a lot of time to put this blog post together back in Sept ’19 and I’ve followed my own instructions. Some sites are turning blog comments off. As you can see from my previous comment on this blog post I like to respond and help people leaving comments.
Please respond and tell me exactly at what stage you’ve run into trouble and what is occurring. I still own this phone so if needed I can correct my instructions and try and help you.
I hope you respond positively and I will try and help you.
Best Regards
Andrew
Sir, what a great post. Just got a GT-i9000 from eBay for 6€ and I flashed the hell out of it. Thanks!
Hello T-Ryder,
Thank you for the kind feedback and for letting me know how much you paid for your phone.
I hope you enjoy using your GT-i9000 phone.
Best regards
Andrew
Thank you very much for this useful post.
I would like to note that i had to follow a different approach by using heimdall because flashing using odin bricked my phone and it was unbricked using heimdal.
I did so following this post:*link removed*.
I flashed the file CF-Root-XX_OXA_JVT-v4.3-CWM3RFS using heimdall and then i followed your steps.
Hi Bardai,
Thank you for leaving a comment. I’m glad you found my blog post useful. I like using old phones and I enjoyed using the I9000.
Best regards
Andrew
many tanks fopr this guide. I’m having trouble getting the wifi to work, with omni on a GT19000 but it’s a journey and you helped get me started. Thanks again.