Upgrading a NZ Samsung GT-i5503t to Android 2.3 (CyanogenMod 7)

Posted on by austinmarton

I inherited a Galaxy Mini model GT-i5503t. It comes with Android 2.1 which is getting a bit old and unsupported, it is more than capable of running 2.3 and isn’t too hard to upgrade. This phone is also called the Galaxy 5 which is the same as the i5500 and i5508. These are the steps that worked for me to install CyanogenMod 7. Unfortunately you need to use a proprietary tool to flash a new Baseband image and ClockWorkMod to start with, but you can update to future CM versions without it. I’m not an expert in this so I’d recommend you redirect any questions to the XDA forums

Required files
(Google for download links)

Steps

  1. Remove the SIM from the phone. Backup any data on the SD card, wipe it and copy the following files on to it:
    • cm-7-20120702-MADTEAM-galaxy5.zip
    • hotfix5-cm-7-20120702-MADTEAM-galaxy5.zip
    • gapps-gb-20110828-signed.zip
  2. Find a Windows computer to download and run Odin Multi Downloader v4.28.exe
  3. Upgrade the baseband:
    • Put phone into download mode by powering off then sequentially holding Volume Down + Centre Button + Power Button
    • Start Odin, select One Package and the file AMSS-I5503TAJJP9.tar.
    • Plug phone into computer via USB, it should show up in Odin (if not get the drivers from Samsung website), once detected click ‘Start’ and hopefully it will copy successfully and then the device will reboot.
  4. Install ClockWorkMod (CWM) with the same procedure as above but instead select the file ClockworkMod-Galaxy5-v0.7.tar
  5. When the device reboots it will start CWM. Wipe all the data phone:
    • wipe data/factory reset
    • wipe cache partition
    • advanced > Wipe Dalvik Cache
  6. Install the roms
    • install zip from sdcard > choose zip from sdcard > cm-7-20120702-MADTEAM-galaxy5.zip
    • install zip from sdcard > choose zip from sdcard > hotfix5-cm-7-20120702-MADTEAM-galaxy5.zip
      NOTE: This one is important! WiFi didn’t work without it
    • install zip from sdcard > choose zip from sdcard > gapps-gb-20110828-signed.zip
  7. Once they’ve all installed, select the reboot option and wait for the first boot up which can take a long time (5 min)
  8. Done! It’s working great for me and I can now run apps that weren’t available on Android 2.1. If you’ve got any problems probably best to check out the XDA forums

References

Update (3/9/12)

I’ve been running this version of CM7 for 6 weeks now and I would definitely recommend it. I get better battery life, it’s more responsive, the phone no longer turns off daily (like it did with the stock firmware) and I’m having no problem running newer apps.

9 thoughts on “Upgrading a NZ Samsung GT-i5503t to Android 2.3 (CyanogenMod 7)”

  2. Reblogged this on ZACHARiAS and commented:
    When i come across something particularly interesting and helpful, i think is no shame to make use of WordPress’s re-blog feature. I don’t actually own the phone, but like I’ve said, i think it’s helpful. So here goes. Many thanks to it’s author 🙂

    Reply

  3. Hi. I also have just inherited the same phone. Have “rooted” many other models of “android” phones, but would like some advice on how to root this wee unit. May I have you procedure please. Cheers. Tim (Oamaru)

    Reply

    • Hi Tim,
      Sorry I can’t remember exactly how I rooted this phone. You should be able to enable USB debugging and then I would just use Odin to update the bootloader and install CyanogenMod and you will have root access. It comes with an app called superuser that you can use to allow other apps root access. Looks like lots of the links in this article have now been taken down, but just google the filenames and you should be able to find the necessary downloads.
      Cheers, Austin.

      Reply

  5. Your da fucken man Tim i cant thank you enuff bro!! i fucked my ph bout 5 months ago tryn the same thing that some other dumb ass posted up follow it step by step about 6 times and gave up. thanks man my phones alive again. you rule man!!

    Reply

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