[Optimus One, P500 Android Development] victortangocharlie:
My experience with ROOTing an Indian LG P500 (GSM)

UPDATE: I have created a thread with instrucions for downgrading stock firmware, rooting, installing android sdk, installing custom recovery etc.

HERE. The instructions are more detailed in that thread.

As far as I know, there are only 4 firmware releases for the unbranded Indian P500 GSM model to date - V10B_00.kdz (android2.2) , V10C_00.kdz (android2.2.1), V10D_00.kdz (android2.2.2) & V10E_00.kdz (android2.2.2).

http://csmg.lgmobile.com:9002/swdata/WEBSW/LGP500/AINDBK/V10b_00/V10B_00.kdz , http://csmg.lgmobile.com:9002/swdata/WEBSW/LGP500/AINDBK/V10c_00/V10C_00.kdz, http://csmg.lgmobile.com:9002/swdata/WEBSW/LGP500/AINDBK/V10d_00/V10D_00.kdz & http://csmg.lgmobile.com:9002/swdata/WEBSW/LGP500/AINDBK/V10e_00/V10E_00.kdz respectively.

Phone with stock V10B is rootable while those with stock V10C or stock V10D are not yet rootable.

So, for phones that came with 2.2.1 or 2.2.2 on board, rooting first involves downgradiing the firmware to 2.2.

I shall elaborate on the procedure that I followed below. (I am doing this because being a noob, I spent 2 whole days reading the forums, collecting information lying scattered and unorganised, trying to understand the nuances of rooting the P500 phone and came to the conclusion that KDZ flashing (using KDZ-FW-UPD.exe) was the only way to get a stock firmware on an unrooted P500. I also became aware (worried sick) that it was a very risky affair and that the chances of bricking your phone were very high. I tried my luck and managed to complete the procedure without bricking the phone. I am on an emotional high at this point of time. So, I decided to share my experience with the community which helped me accomplish this and present all the data I possess in a single organised post. I do not consider this to be a TUTORIAL but I sincerely hope that this helps someone trying to root their phone.

PLEASE EXCUSE THE LENGTH OF THIS POST AS I WANT TO BE AS THOROUGH AS POSSIBLE.

Procedure to install original firmware using KDZ-FW-UPD.exe

[this procedure was used to install V10B_00.kdz(android2.2) over V10C_00.kdz(android2.2.1) on an unbranded Indian GSM model of LG P500 using a Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit updated to date PC.]

1. Install LG PC Suite IV from SD card which came with phone by connecting the phone to PC through USB cable.(the procedure is as follows)

- Enable the 'USB Mass Storage Only' mode in the phone's Settings/SDcard & PhoneStorage menu.

- Connect phone to PC with the USB Cable.

- Press the 'Turn On USB Storage' button which appears on phone.

- Browse to the folder containing the 'LG PC Suite IV' on the phone/s SD card using Windows Explorer and run the LG Installer file. PC Suite will now install on your system along with the required drivers for your phone.

- Cancel setting up PC Suite or continue setting up PC Suite if you want to Sync or backup the phone data.

- After closing PC Suite, Safely remove the USB device from your system.

- Press the 'Turn off USB Storage' button on phone screen.

- Detach the USB Cable.

- Disable the 'USB Mass Storage Only' mode in the phone's Settings/SDcard &PhoneStorage menu.

Alternatively, I also tried installing the latest drivers via LG Mobile Support Tool from LG's website (available here at http://www.lg.com/in/support/mc-support/mobile-phone-support.jsp) but KDZ-FW-UPD.exe(mentioned below) crashes when run. This could be happening only to me, so please try for yourself before writing off this method.

2. FOR MY COMFORT MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE, I SWICHED OFF THE SCREENSAVER AND OTHER POWER SAVING FEATURES ON THE PC and ALSO SET THE SCREEN TIMEOUT DELAY ON THE PHONE TO 30 MINUTES (Settings/Display/ScreenTimeout)

3. Charge the phone to the maximum.

4. Enable USB Debugging on Phone(Settings/Applications/Development).

5. Detach all other peripherals from your PC.

6. Disable 'LGE Virtual Modem' in PC's Device Manager.

7. Unmount the SD card from the phone(Settings/SDcard & PhoneStorage).

8. Open phone back and remove the SD Card.

9. Download KDZ_FW_UPD_EN.7z onto your PC and extract it to a folder. Avialable at http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=8651505&postcount=1

10. Run the msxml.msi file and complete the installation.

11. Connect the phone to PC with USB Cable.

12. Run KDZ_FW_UPD.exe from the extracted folder.

13. Chose TYPE as 3GQCT & Phone Mode as DIAG.

14. In the 'KDZ file' space, browse for the firmware you want to install.(in this case V10B_00.kdz)

15. Press the 'Launch software update' button.

16. The firmware flasing proces is now underway.

If all goes well, in 5-10 minutes the phone will be flashed with the new firmware.

I shall describe in detail what happened with my phone - 10-15 secs after launching software update on PC, my phone screen turned blank and in a couple of seconds the phone entered the 'Emergency Mode'. during this mode the screen was yellow with Emergency Mode written along the middle of the screen. the phone stayed in the same way till the Software update procedure finished on the pc and the phone turned blank. I waited a while for it to reboot but after a minute or so, I manually switched on the phone. the phone came alive and following the LG boot animation, the android logo screen came up. the phone spent about 2 whole minutes in that state before booting up fully and entering the home screen.

I am attaching the log file generated by the firmware update procedure.

17. AFTER BOOTING UP FULLY, I FINALLY DETACHED THE PHONE FROM THE PC.

Went to 'About Phone' in Settings and confirmed the change from 2.2.1 to 2.2.

Installed z4root and rooted the phone. Available at http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=833953

IN CASE OF PROBLEMS DURING FLASHING, read the following thread completely. Various types of errors and various measures to correct them including some innovative ones like shaking the phone etc

are mentioned there.

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=883314

I have collected the above information from various threads and tried to organise it for the benefit of a new user trying to root. If any mistakes are present in the above post, please let me know. I will correct the information accordingly.

For information regarding Installing Android SDK on your PC, Installing Custom Recovery or Custom Rom's on your phone, Read [HOWTO] Rooting, Installing - Android SDK, Custom Recovery, Custom ROM's