Flashing a Galaxy 5

So, you bricked, shit-pasted or did something wrong with your phone, and now it's stuck in a boot loop or something like that. If you can still boot your phone in recovery mode (volume down + OK/center key + power) then you're still in luck. Here's what I did:

• You'll need a firmware image for your Galaxy 5 first. Depending on where you got the phone (Asia, Europe, whatever) you'll be getting a package that's specific for your phone variant. A list with links to known vanilla firmware files for the Galaxy 5 can be found here. Samfirmware also has links to other variants, although you might have to register in order to gain access.

I'll be posting links to other variants just in case.

• Install Samsung Kies. We won't be needing the suite itself, but the drivers that came with it will be needed. Don't even ask me where to get that thing.
• Now download the Odin flasher tool here: http://www.4shared.com/file/J-WSCJSX/odin_v428_and_ops_file.html
• Fire up Odin as admin, and then click on the OPS button. You'll be asked for the .ops file. In our case, this will be EUROPA_I5508_v1.0.ops.
• Depending on the model you'll be needing the BOOT, PHONE, PDA, CSC and EFS files. If you found those in the firmware image files that you downloaded for your model, then it should be like the following:

BOOT tab: I5500XXXXX_BOOTLOADER.tar.md5 PHONE tab: I5500XXXXX_amss_phone_CL462398.tar.md5 PDA tab: I5500XXXXX_PDA_CL500331.tar.md5 CSC tab: I5500XXXXX_CSC_SER_CL498242.tar.md5

If you ended up with a single .tar file upon unzipping the image that you downloaded in step 1, don't worry about the other files, just tick the One Package checkbox, and then click on the One Package button. Find the tar file that you extracted, e.g. I5503DXJP8-I5503DXJP7-I5503OLBJP7_HOME.tar, and then click on Open.

• Now here comes the fun part: press the volume down, OK/center key and power buttons at the same time until your device shows a yellow sign with the words "Downloading..." on it. Plug the phone into your PC, and let the rig detect the thing. If you get a successful device installation, it should say that Odin/Mobile Modem and Samsung Composite Device has been installed successfully. You should end up with the Odin flasher tool showing a COM port or something on the COM port mapping box. If it does then you're good to go. Click Start, take a little break, and try to observe if your tomfoolery bore some fruit.

If your device reboots back to your home screen, then congratulations! I'm not sure about the other models, but for anyone with an i5500, then I'm sure this might do wonders for you.