Thanks to some of the website in the web such as sammobile.com and sampro.pl, some of the Samsung Android smart phones owners get lucky to mess with their handsets. These sites provide leaked firmware flashing tools (like Odin Multi Downloader and corresponding .OPS file) as well as various official stock firmwares for downloads for various Samsung smartphones. By using these tools, Samsung smartphone owners can upgrade/flash a firmware on their device, install custom clock work mod recovery and do many other things.

However, not all people are technically advance and thus can't do everything properly. They don't pay attention to the details and instructions and end up bricking their handset rendering it useless. So, it's necessary to be careful and follow all firmware flashing instructions carefully before trying out anything silly on  their handsets.

In this article, I'll list some of the problems/errors faced while using Odin and corresponding solution for these errors. But, before that here are few precautions to be taken while flashing firmware via Odin.

• Make sure your device is fully charged (At least 80 % of battery charge is recommended).
• Make sure proper drivers for your Samsung smart phone are installed on your PC.
• Note that you are using correct version of Odin Multidownloader tool and correct .ops or .pit file file for your handset. 
• Check the firmware details and find a upgrade for your current firmware. It's always recommend to flash firmware from your own region and your own country (if possible). While flashing firmware from other region will work fine, you should be careful not to flash provider specific firmwares on your sim unlocked phone or vice versa.
• Make sure that Samsung Kies is closed or disabled (or uninstalled). 
• Be sure to follow all the precautions and flashing instructions carefully.

1. Cannot open the usb serial port. code: 5 error

This error occurs when Odin can't access the port on which your device is connected. It can happen when your device drivers are not installed properly or when your smartphone is communicating with some other devices using the same port. To solve this issues make sure :

• Samsung USB drivers are installed properly. Fast and easy way to do this is install Samsung Kies (if you don't have it already.)
• Your device is connected properly in download mode.
• Samsung Kies (aka Kies PC) and all it's process are closed (not running in the background). You can freeze Samsung Kies or uninstall it.

It's recommended to close all other applications during flashing.

2. Odin says PASS, but, my phone is still not booting up. It only shows Samsung boot animation. 

Can't find the error you're facing. Just leave us the details at the comments below and we'll try to provide a solution to your Odin firmware flashing error.

Problem : 

Clockwork Mod recovery says can't mount /system when I try to do a backup... What should I do ? I own a Samsung Galaxy Mini handset (if that's needed).

Solution :

Such errors are normal when you visit clockworkmod recovery while on stock samsung firmware. Since clockworkmod on galaxy mini is not fully compatible with stock rom, you'll get these errors. Simply flashing a custom rom on your galaxy mini handset removes this messages from clockworkmod recovery.

However, if you don't plan to install custom rom, then it doesn't make sense to install custom recovery like clockworkmod. So, I suggest removing it by flashing stock rom via Odin which will overwrite clockworkmod recovery with stock android recovery.

Question :

Reply :

You might also want to read :

How to Revert Back to Original Stock Firmware?
How to Do a Complete Nandroid Backup of a Rom?

Depending upon your handset and the fact whether Odin Multidownloader -- a firmware flashing utility for Samsung smart phones -- is available for it or not, there's possibility that you can return to stock rom. If required flashing programs are available and if (upgraded) firmware is available for your region then you can download it, load it in Odin, reboot your handset to download mode and then flash/install it within few minutes and change your handset to make it look alike to that of the very first day you bought it. That's why it's always recommended to keep the firmware details of your handset (you can dial *#1234#* Samsung secret code and get PDA, Baseband and CSC details of your current firmware).

Question :

I installed the simple2ext in my cyanogenmod 9 as mentioned  in this article at Handy Information blog. after installing when I checked my task manager it shows that all my apps are installed in device but when i check the sd-ext directory it's showing all apps there. My device, which is Samsung galaxy mini gt-s5570, is showing 81 MB used memory in task manager application. I can't understand whats happening, please help?

Reply :

Question :
I bought an 8GB SD Card the other day, but, it didnt work on my galaxy mini. The guy at the shop said that Samsung Galaxy Mini GT-S5570 can not handle it. So, I am stuck on my 2gb SD Card.
I just wanted to ask you if partitioning this 2GB SD Card, will I be able to make the partition to 500MB ?
The original 180MB for apps is way too low, and I think I could do with 500MB somehow.
Reply :

The guy at the shop probably didn't know much about it. In fact, Galaxy Mini can support sdcard upto 32 GB, however I don't recommend using it, since your device will load slow as it'll take much time to scan the card and load files. 8 GB or 16 GB memory card should be enough for galaxy mini users. Now, for you case, if you are really not satisfied then, I suggest you pay a visit to some other shops and seek for a 4, 8 or 16 GB card. Don't forget to try it out on the spot. It should work fine.
Note : Some cards need to be formatted before you can see or use them.

Also, yes, you can partition your 2 GB card to create a sd-ext partition of 500 MB which should be enough if you are a normal users. Simply follow the step by step instructions given at this article to partition your sd-card. In case you buy a new card, don't allocate more than 2 GB for your sd-ext partition. 500 MB or 1 GB should be enough for normal users.

Also, it is to be noted that, even if you use sd-ext partition (to preserve your internal memory), it doesn't necessarily mean all apps should be installed in sd-ext/app/ directory. Some apps, which support Androids' app2sd (a new feature introduced by Google with Android 2.2.1 Froyo release, which let's developer to install some or all part of application and data to be stored in sd-card.)  feature will be installed in sd-card as usual. This means, most games will be installed in sd-card which justifies the reason why you shouldn't allot more than 1 GB of memory for your second partition in sd-card.

Good luck and happy partitioning.

Problem :
I'm a Samsung galaxy mini user and i have a doubt. My doubt is that when i installed cyanogen mod 7 on my galaxy mini, Samsung launcher has been replaced by zeam launcher and I'm not able to uninstall it. So, is there any way in which i can replace zeam launcher by some other launcher like Sony Ericsson and make it permanent. (uninstallable).

Solution :
Yes, it's possible to replace the default launcher app. By using a root app called Root Explorer you can do so instantly and easily by following the detailed instructions given below. So, before you follow the steps below, Make sure you have Root Explorer installed on your CyanogenMod 7 rom.

• Get yourself the apk install file of the new launcher app that you are going to replace with the default one and copy it to your sd-card.
• Now, Browse to /system/app/ folder using Root Explorer and mount it as read-write from the mount R/W button present at the top of the app.
• Now copy the new launcher app to system/app/ directory, which is where you can find all system applications.
• Once you are inside the system applications directory ,search for the default launcher app and rename it to add .bak at the end of it's name. [See example below.]
• Now, rename the new launcher you copied earlier with the name of the default launcher app.
• Once done, long press on the new launcher file to get a list of menu options. Select Permissions from the menu (you should see something like below --not exactly the same though.)Then, Set appropriate permissions : Read-write for Owner and Read only for Group and Others. Or more specifically, set permission to rw-r-r. You can also use root explorer permission option to set the permission as shown below :

Permissions for System Applications

• That's all. Now reboot your device and your android launcher should now be replaced with your favorite Home launcher application.

In case if you find the above steps confusing, you can try adb commands to replace default launcher by pushing new launcher as the default launcher and settings appropriate permissions using chmod command of busybox.

However, to better understand the case above, I will present a simple example. Assume your default Launcher name in system/app/ directory is ADWLauncher.apk and you want to replace it with a new launcher be it Xperia Launcher.apk. Now, you copy this Xperia Launcher.apk to system/app/ directory and rename ADWLauncher.apk to ADWLauncher.apk.bak [We do this so that we can use it later on in case we run into problems.] Now, rename the new launcher (Xperia Launcher.apk) to ADWLauncher.apk
and set permissions as rw-r-r (as shown in the diagram above). Now, reboot your device and see the changes take effect.

That's all to replacing default android home app with whichever launcher you have to make it permanent. You can alternatively install the new launcher and set it as default one in Manage Applications settings too. Do let me know if you have any doubts at the comments below.

Question :
May I know what is ODIN and ROM? There isn't any official firmware upgrade through Samsung Kies. And I don't know how to upgrade my phone. My current device is Samsung Galaxy Mini GT-S5570 with android version is 2.2.1 Froyo in it. Also, I'm from Malaysia (if that helps). Can u help me?

Reply :
ODIN is a leaked program for flashing (installing) official Samsung Firmwares (aka. ROMs) on Samsung Handsets. Different versions of Odin are available for different Samsung android smartphone and the choice of the version of Odin depends upon your device's model. As for Galaxy Mini/Pop you need to use Odin Multidownloader v4.38 which can be downloaded from http://yagyagaire.blogspot.com/p/downloads-for-galaxy-mini-gt-s5570.html along with other necessary files including roms and recoveries.

ROM on the other hand stands for Read Only Memory. But, here it doesn't intend to mean the type of memory. Instead, it is used as a synonym to Firmware which is a program stored in read only memory. Or, in more simpler terms ROM here means the system that is running in your handset. There are various ROMs including some from Samsung and other from different users/developers open source community out there. While roms from Samsung are called Official Firmwares, systems from other open source community are called Custom Roms as they are customized from the source code of the official firmwares taken as base.

To upgrade your device, you have to collect Odin, corresponding OPS file and latest firmware from sammobile.com or other leaked firmware distributors. And, once you have all the required files you put your device to download mode (Press Volume Down + Home + Power button while your device is turned off to get to download mode) and then connect it to your PC. After that you need to prepare Odin with the firmware file(s) and press Start button when everything is ready. Your device should be upgraded within few minutes ranging from 5-10 minutes. Note, that you will fail to flash firmware if you don't have proper Samsung drivers installed on your PC. Installing Samsung Kies installs the required drivers along with the software.

That was just an overview of how you flash the firmware on any Samsung device. For your case, (i.e. for Samsung Galaxy Mini GT-S5570 smartphone) you can follow the detailed instructions at this article. However, since you are from Malaysia you will need to replace the firmware (said in the article linked above) with the one that is released for your device from sammobile.com. For this you can check your PDA and baseband by dailing *#*#1234#*#* in your Phone keypad and then noting down the details. Then you can match the first seven digits from the code you obtain with the firmwares available at sammobile. Do let me know if you have any doubts at the comments below.

Question :
I have few more concerns about rooting the cell; means I read a lot that you can do anything with one's cell phone once you get root access. But after i rooted my cell, i didn't find any difference. The main difference was that i had access to system files. I don't know what to do with those system files, I can't even manipulate any file, as i have no idea what they do. I thought that after rooting, I will get lots of options in settings menu and all other administrator options. But there weren't any. So, what exactly does rooting do to my smartphone.
Reply :
Rooting exactly is the process of breaking through the security that is put by the OEM on any handset to smart phone. It is just like obtaining root access in your Linux PC or having administrative privileges in Windows system. In other words, rooting provides you with superusers access meaning you will then have the ability to browse system files, edit them, customize your device and take the control of your device in your hands.

Here's are few advantages of rooting your device :

• You get access to system files.
• You get to run many applications and other tweaks [also known as root apps as they require you to have a rooted device to run/function properly.]
• You can remove bloatwares and other system apps that comes pre-installed with your device.
• You can customize your device to your liking (change fonts, themes, etc ) with the help of various apps and tweaks.
• Ability to backup, restore and manage applications and the data.
• And there are many more such as removing ads from applications and browsers, etc.

The real problem with you seem to be you are unknown of how you can do these all things on your android device. In reality, most of the task above require high knowledge and they are done with apps or tweaks in the market. If you just search for root apps in market you should be able to get a helluva lot of them --some for free and some for a price. You can try the fee ones and see what you can do with them. Here (http://yagyagaire.blogspot.com/2011/09/top-ten-android-applications-for-rooted.html) are few apps to name that will help you get started exploiting your rooted smart phone.

While there are many advantages of rooting, like other cases it also has disadvantages. One who doesn't know what he is doing will probably damage his/her device. Rooting provides system access as a result some malwares or applications may steal your private data and information. Not, only that there's also a chance to brick your device if it is not done properly.

Despite these people root their device to enjoy all the freedom they get by rooting. However, rooting will mean nothing to you if you don't know much about and how to use it's power to get the best out of your handset.

Question :
What is root directory? I am instructed to copy a file to root directory at this article (http://yagyagaire.blogspot.com/2011/12/rooting-samsung-galaxy-pop-with.html) but I can't seem to find it. Can you explain it in detail and tell me where can I find it?

Reply :
The root directory is the first or top-most directory in a hierarchy. It can be likened to the root of a tree — the starting point where all branches (other folders or sub-directories) originate. For example : The C:\ drive in your PC is root directory and folders inside it are called child or sub-directories. Similarly, D:\ , E:\ or any other drive are root directories.

In the case of sdcard it's a removable disk that is mounted in your PC. The first window you see by opening it is called root folder and in the article above, you are simply instructed to copy it to this folder and not inside any other folders within the /sdcard/ directory. You can even view this by using root explorer and navigating to root (usually denoted by /) directory.

For your information, you can simply ignore it and just copy and paste it inside sd-card you mounted in your PC.The above article asks you to do so because it is easier to find the file in recovery if you don't paste it inside other folders. Also, some recoveries might not let you navigate inside folders in recovery mode so, it is useful in such situation too.

Hope that was clear. If you still have doubts then this Wikipedia article on root directory should help you learn more.