[Xoom Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] fractalrock:
It can be done....

No one bothered to reply, so I will reply to myself to hopefully help others in this situation:

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I purchased a used 3g Xoom around Apr 2012. After initially unlocking / rooting and installing a ROM (EOS) on my 3g Xoom, the 3G radio wasn't working so I started fresh. I locked the device and SBF'd the original Xoom firmware, then used the official over the air (OTA) upgrades to get back to stock ICS. I thought this might fix the 3g issue; it did nothing.

EOS Roms overclock the GPU by default, which caused problems with my (and my wife's Wifi version) Xoom. My only requirements for a ROM are stability, no clutter from dumb carrier installed applications, compatibility, and of course root access. I found a pre-rooted stock Jellybean rom, but it was for the Wifi Xoom. It worked great on my wife's though; and heard rumors that it could work with mine.

*SO*...I took a leap of faith and installed it. It works great. No 3g radio of course, but I gave up on trying to get that to work anyway...so if you don't care about losing your 3g , this will probably work for you. I don't think my 3g will ever work, but I suspect this won't ruin yours if it is currently working. Don't hold me to that; this is a risk.

Random notes and refresher info:

-you will need an SD card. I'm pretty sure the following instructions will only work if you use one.

-If at any point you get the android guy with an orange exclamation point during boot...it is probably ok, just let it sit there for a couple minutes. it should continue to boot into whatever ROM you are currently on. Make sure you enable usb debugging in settings after boot.

-to access RSD, Recovery, or Fastboot mode, press and hold your power button to start the Xoom booting. When you see the Motorola logo, wait a second then press the volume down button. Then you can use volume down again to cycle through your options, and use volume up to choose one.

-the exact differences between RSD / Fastboot and Recovery modes are beyond the scope of this post (and me) so just know that your Xoom can be modified using software on your PC via USB with RSD and Fastboot modes, and stock recovery can be replaced with modified versions to add more functionality. Recovery is used to do all sorts of things...flash Roms, mount drives, format, cleanup caches, etc.

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General instructions. Just guidelines; you will probably need some previous experience with computers / rooting etc.

(If you are already unlocked, rooted, and have a replacement recovery, skip to the last step.)

1.) Follow this guide to prep your Xoom: (unlocking, rooting, and install CWM recovery)

http://www.xoomforums.com/forum/motorola-xoom-development/15179-how-rookie-rooting-flashing-unrooting-under-one-roof.html

Note: you may have heard of Lord AOI tool; it is supposedly designed to simply the above process. I found it didn't work well and was more difficult to use than good ol' adb commands. I recommend skipping it.

2.) OPTIONAL: Next, I recommend using the latest Rogue recovery. Just use standard CWM recovery to flash it. It is nice because it allows you to use the touchscreen to manipulate instead of having to use the hardware buttons (volume buttons are kind of a pain). See here: http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1235170

3.) Finally, flash the pre-rooted stock Jellybean ROM. See here: http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1796335

(here's the direct ROM link for those not needing instructions or extra info: http://www.mediafire.com/?7w5w65l66hgggo8 )

Good luck and let us know your results...