[Samsung Galaxy Gio GT-S5660] nerdygeek:
Hi folks, this is my first post, so feedback is appreciated. I don't see how to add tabs, so sorry if this looks a bit funky.

Purpose: To compile a walkthrough for what I did to root and install a custom recovery on a GT-S5660M (Samsung Galaxy Gio) running the original 2.3.4 pre-installed ROM, locked on the Bell network (Canada). The phone is still locked, I had no impulse to unlock at this time and I don't have a locked-out sim to use for that purpose anyway. But if you're into that, the link for the phone root will continue on to describe that process. Looks scary to me.

Audience: newbies like me

Phone: Samsung Galaxy Gio

Model Number: GT-S5660M (adding GTS5660M for search purposes)

Android: 2.3.4 after factory reset, I think it shipped with 2.3.6 :/

Baseband: S5660MUGKG3 (whatever, I have no idea what a baseband is)

Kernel Version: 2.6.35.7-perf-CL413839 se.infra@SEI-44 #1 (It sure is!)

Build Number: GINGERBREAD.MUGKG3 (delicious if you use a scratch-n-sniff screen protector)

Background: I bought an android phone. I ran out of room really fast before I had all the apps I wanted (all very modest stuff). I wanted to remove the built-in apps I didn't want such as the whopper of a 25MB Mobile TV, and also make a backup image so I would be able to restore all in the future. In the end, I chose to stick with the stock rfs file system and the current ROM without flashing any custom ROM versions. So began 2 solid days of reading so many threads I didn't even know Firefox could have that many tabs open at once.

Prerequisites: The phone with battery near 100%

USB cable that is used for data and for charging

microSD card class 6 or above (the one that came with the phone would be enough) installed in the phone

Computer capable of treating the phone like any old removable usb drive (usb mass storage). In my case, Windows XP.

The two downloaded files needed for this operation

Root file: Universal_GB_ROOT_v10.zip

Thread: Thread from AndroidForums

File Link: Link within the thread

ClockworkMod file: S5660M_cwm-5.0.2.6_feb_26_12.zip

Thread: Thread from xda-developers

File Link: Link within the thread

Note: The ClockworkMod file from the author's website is a different version, and is different inside. I have NO clue how to use it. I went with something that was reported to be stable and used successfully.

Note: Because I just got the phone, I didn't have any data in there worth saving. If you want to back up some of the data on your phone, now would be the time. I suppose you can install Kies from Samsung on your PC and use that to back up your stuff. Other people might have other suggestions, but because I didn't need to do it, I didn't look into it. If you use My Data Manager to track your data plan usage, take note of how much you've used this cycle so you don't forget. At least My Data Manager lets you enter the data already used and a date for the beginning of the cycle to begin counting from.

Ok, so at this point you have your PC running with the two files stored somewhere and the usb unplugged. Ready?

Disclaimer: The usual obvious thing you've read 1000 times already: Do any of this at your own risk. Here's the part you need to take note of: I don't know what I'm doing. I read enough in 2 days to be able to go forward with this procedure without relying heavily on being lucky. I went forward when I was comfortable there was sufficient reason to believe it would be successful. Having a bloatware phone is better than having a brick. That said, I still took a risk in doing it and voided my warranty, and if something goes wrong I'm almost certainly unable to help you other than to clarify something I wrote. Apart from reading a lot of threads that were mostly opaque to me, I only know that what I did here worked for me. At this point, I don't even know how to delete the bloatware. But I'm doing this now before I get off on a tangent and follow another rabbit hole.

Begin!

== PREPARATION ==

000) Make sure the battery is around 100%

001) Factory data reset [enable Format SD card] (Settings/Privacy/Factory data reset)

002) Wait for phone to restart

003) Shut down/restart phone just to make it all happy and completely booted

004) Make sure it's acting normal. It certainly should be.

005) Turn off cell data network (Hold power button until a menu appears, select “Data Network Mode”)

006) Enable unknown sources (Settings/Applications/Unknown sources)

007) Set long screen timeout

008) Turn off USB debugging (Settings/Applications/Development/USB Debugging) This is important because if debugging is on, you won't be able to get the PC to make it a writable drive in My Computer

009) Connect the phone via USB

010) Press the Home button

011) Swipe down from top of screen to show the menu

012) Tap the message that says “USB Connected: Select to copy files to/from your computer."

013) Tap “Connect storage to PC” and press OK

014) In Windows, open My Computer and open the removable drive where the phone's SD card is mounted. "mounted" means a partition on the drive is made visible and in this case also writable. To relate, the C:\ drive is partition 0 on disk 0 mounted at a place in the file system Windows calls C. So C:\ is what you'd call the root of the C drive. So if your phone is mounted on, say, drive letter E then E:\ is the root of the E drive where the user-accessible partition of your phone's SD card is mounted.

015) On the root of the removable drive, create a folder called “Applications”

016) Into the Applications folder put the downloaded file Universal_GB_ROOT_v10.zip So on your phone's SD card you now have a folder Applications and inside you have a file Universal_GB_ROOT_v10.zip

017) Close the file manager windows you have open, making sure no programs are accessing the SD card.

018) On your phone, select “Disconnect storage from PC”

019) In Windows, unmount the drive as you would for any usb drive e.g. click the taskbar icon, click “Safely remove USB Mass Storage Device - Drive(E:)”

020) Unplug the USB cable

021) Turn off the phone, wait for it to power down completely and wait a few seconds

== ROOT THE PHONE ==

022) READ ALL OF THIS STEP BEFORE DOING IT: Simultaneously press and hold the Home Button and the Power Button, and at some point you will see the phone come alive and show SAMSUNG. Release the power button but keep holding the home button until you see it start to boot into recovery mode with some words appearing on the screen that don't normally appear, then release the home button and let it finish booting into the recovery console. You will now be in the stock recovery console.

023) With the volume control, navigate to the item “apply update from sdcard”

024) Press the Home Button

025) With the volume control, navigate to the folder you created “Applications”

026) Press the Home Button

027) With the volume control, navigate to the file Universal_GB_ROOT_v10.zip

028) Go make a sandwich or get a coffee or have a comfort break or play peekaboo with your dog and think about if you really want to do this.

Yes? Then continue...

029) With the highlight on Universal_GB_ROOT_v10.zip press the Home Button

030) You see the messages: Unmounting SYSTEM..., Rooting complete. Enjoy!, Install from sdcard complete.

031) If not already highlighted, navigate to the option “reboot system now”

032) Press the Home Button

033) The phone is now rooted and boots normally

034) Once it has restarted normally, power down and restart the phone normally again just to make sure it boots properly

035) Optional: Connect to a network

036) Optional: Use marketplace to install Android Terminal Emulator by Jack Palevich

037) Optional: Run Android Terminal Emulator, type su and press return, accept admin permissions, you see a # prompt which is the admin prompt in linux. Type exit and press return to get out of admin and back to the $ prompt, and type exit again and hit return again to exit the terminal.

Congratulations, your phone is now rooted. Next step is to install a custom recovery console so you can make a backup of your entire system to your sd card.

Regarding ClockworkMod Recovery: I read a lot trying to figure out how to do this. Perhaps there are several ways, I don't know, but I finally read enough to decide on a path to take, and that involves using a modified version of the original ClockworkMod Recovery for Gio which is updated to 5.0.2.6 (not the newest, but stable) which uses only the rfs file system and not ext4. This is a very important point to consider if you are interested in custom ROM versions. You will want to do more reading and considering, because I get the impression that custom ROMs tend to use ext4, and thus you'd probably want to choose a different version of CWM that uses ext4 instead, such as px-CWM-v2.zip linked at the bottom.

I don't know, at this stage of my understanding, if one can later flash another CWM version suitable for ext4. Sounds logical to me, but...

== INSTALL ClockworkMod Recovery ==

100) Check your battery level, make sure it's around 100%

101) Have your PC and phone on

102) Plug in the USB cable

103) Swipe down from top of screen

104) Tap the message that says “USB Connected: Select to copy files to/from your computer."

105) Tap “Connect storage to PC” and press OK

106) In Windows, open My Computer and open the removable drive where the phone's SD card is found

107) Copy the file S5660M_cwm-5.0.2.6_feb_26_12.zip to the root of the removable disk (e.g. if the removable drive is E:\ then put it right in there and not in a subfolder)

108) Close the file manager windows you have open, making sure no programs are accessing the SD card.

109) On your phone, select “Disconnect storage from PC”

110) In Windows, unmount the drive as you would for any usb drive

111) Unplug the USB cable from the phone

112) Turn off the phone, wait for it to power down completely and wait a few seconds

113) Boot into the stock recovery console.

114) With the volume control, navigate to the item “wipe data/factory reset”

115) Press the Home Button

116) With the volume control, navigate to the entry that says “Yes – delete all user data”

117) Press the Home Button

118) With the volume control, navigate to the item “wipe cache partition”

119) Press the Home Button

120) With the volume control, navigate to the entry that says “Yes – wipe cache”

121) Press the Home Button

122) With the volume control, navigate to the item “apply update from sdcard”

123) Press the Home Button

124) With the volume control, navigate to the file “S5660M_cwm-5.0.2.6_feb_26_12.zip”

125) Press the Home Button

126) If not already highlighted, navigate to the option “reboot system now”

127) Press the Home Button

128) After the phone boots normally, power down and restart again to ensure it still boots normally

The phone should now be rooted with an rfs-only ClockworkMod Recovery version 5.0.2.6

I followed through to make sure I could run a backup and restore. Again, I had no data, so I did the safest thing and factory wiped before backup and again before restore.

== BACKUP ROOTED ROM WITH NO USER DATA ==

200) Check your battery level, make sure it's around 100%

201) Power off the phone

202) Simultaneously press and hold the Home Button and the Power Button, and at some point you will see the phone come alive and show SAMSUNG. Release the power button but keep holding the home button until you see it start to boot into recovery mode with some words appearing on the screen that don't normally appear, then release the home button and let it finish booting into the recovery console. You will now be in the ClockworkMod 5.0.2.6 recovery console.

203) With the volume control, navigate to the item “wipe data/factory reset”

204) Press the Home Button

205) With the volume control, navigate to the entry that says “Yes – delete all user data”

206) Press the Home Button

207) With the volume control, navigate to the item “wipe cache partition”

208) Press the Home Button

209) With the volume control, navigate to the entry that says “Yes – wipe cache”

210) Press the Home Button

211) With the volume control, navigate to the item “backup and restore”

212) Press the Home Button

213) If the Backup option is not already highlighted, use the volume control to highlight it

214) Press the Home Button, the backup process begins and you see lots of file names updating at the bottom of the screen. When it's done, it will show: Generating md5 sum..., Backup complete!

215) If not already highlighted, navigate to the option “reboot system now”

216) Press the Home Button

217) After the phone boots normally, power down and restart to ensure it still boots normally

== RESTORE PHONE FROM BACKUP ==

300) Check your battery level, make sure it's around 100%

301) Power off the phone

302) Boot into the ClockworkMod 5.0.2.6 recovery console.

303) With the volume control, navigate to the item “wipe data/factory reset”

304) Press the Home Button

305) With the volume control, navigate to the entry that says “Yes – delete all user data”

306) Press the Home Button

307) With the volume control, navigate to the item “wipe cache partition”

308) Press the Home Button

309) With the volume control, navigate to the entry that says “Yes – wipe cache”

310) Press the Home Button

311) With the volume control, navigate to the item “backup and restore”

312) Press the Home Button

313) With the volume control, navigate to the option “Restore”

314) Press the Home Button

315) With the volume control, navigate to the entry that says “Yes – Restore”

316) Press the Home Button, You will see a lot of file names change at the bottom. When it's done, it will show: Restore complete!

317) If not already highlighted, navigate to the option “reboot system now”

318) Press the Home Button

319) After the phone boots normally, power down and restart to ensure it boots normally

Congratulations, you have rooted, backed up and restored your phone. Unless you bricked it.

======================================================================================================

CONDENSED WALKTHROUGH

== ROOTING PREPARATION ==

Back up all your data that you have on the phone. Contacts, photos, whatever.

Battery near 100%

PC on with the rooting zip file downloaded and accessible

Root file: Universal_GB_ROOT_v10.zip

Thread: Thread from AndroidForums

File Link: Link within the thread

USB unplugged

Factory data reset with sd card reformat

Set long screen timeout

Turn off USB debugging

Connect USB and open the sd card in My Computer

Create a folder called Applications

Copy the rooting zip file to the Applications folder

Unmount the usb mass storage

Unplug the USB cable

Turn off the phone

== ROOTING ==

Boot the phone into the recovery console

Apply an update from sdcard, navigate to Applications, highlight the rooting zip file, click the Home button on the phone

Wait until it's done

Reboot the phone

== CLOCKWORKMOD RECOVERY PREPARATION ==

Battery near 100%

PC on with the CWM zip file downloaded and accessible

ClockworkMod file: S5660M_cwm-5.0.2.6_feb_26_12.zip (rfs only)

Thread: Thread from xda-developers

File Link: Link within the thread

USB unplugged

Connect USB and open the sd card in My Computer

Copy the CWM zip file to the root of the sd card available in My Computer (i.e. not inside any of the folders)

Unmount the usb mass storage

Unplug the USB cable

Turn off the phone

== CLOCKWORKMOD RECOVERY INSTALLATION ==

Boot into the recovery console

wipe data/factory reset

wipe cache partition

apply an update from sd card, locate the CWM zip file, click the Home button on the phone

Wait for it to finish

Reboot the phone

== NANDROID BACKUP OF THE ROM (without user data) ==

Boot into the recovery console (ClockworkMod Recovery version 5.0.2.6)

wipe data/factory reset

wipe cache partition

backup and restore

Highlight the option Backup, click home key, wait for it to finish

Reboot the phone

======================================================================================================

THREADS AND FILES

Root file: Universal_GB_ROOT_v10.zip

UnRoot file: Universal_GB_UNROOT.zip

Thread: Thread from AndroidForums

ClockworkMod file: S5660M_cwm-5.0.2.6_feb_26_12.zip (rfs only)

Thread: Thread from xda-developers

Some of the most helpful threads I found:

Peteragent5

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1493932

TripleRipple

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1871169

phiexz

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1421650

phiexz

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?p=20896513

VeNuM

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1587607

AndroidForums - StoneBoyTony

http://androidforums.com/galaxy-min...0-ace-s5830-gio-s5660-pop-i559-fit-s5670.html

ClockworkMod file: px-CWM-v2.zip (ext4 only, may be 5.0.2.7 or 5.0.2.8)

A really big thanks to all the folks who put this stuff on here to find. Without it I'd be stuck with a bloatware phone.

Next task is to remove the bloatware and install something like avast, or whatever.