A gave me a Samsung Galaxy Grand Quattro - model i8552, also known by many other names like Win Duos and so on -
https://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_win_i8550-5392.php
This was for use at our exhibit of
Universe2go.
The stock Samsung had Android 4.1, and Universe2go needed at least 4.2. So, I started on the journey to flash a custom ROM on the device. It took me 3-5 hours over 3-5 days because of conflicting instructions and things not going as planned. The things which delayed me turned out to be
- loose USB cable. A good fit for the USB cable, and a good cable, is a must before doing any flashing.
- lack of clear instructions on how exactly the buttons need to be pressed to go into download mode on this particular model, and terribly written instructions in general,
- and many broken links and links to paid file hosts. Downloaded files from androidfilehost.com instead, using the filenames given.
Finally after I finished the process, found that universe2go is laggy on this device, so I won't be using this device after all. Documenting the method which worked - took less than fifteen minutes excluding time taken to download the ROM images -
1. Downloaded TWRP recovery image,
2. Downloaded the custom ROM, saved on the phone's SD card by moved it to the phone SD card using Airdroid. Can be either internal memory or extra SD card, doesn't matter. Could have downloaded on the phone directly also. (I tried these ROMs below -
3. Installed heimdall with
sudo apt-get install heimdall-flash heimdall-flash-frontend
On Windows, Odin is supposed to do the job, but was stumped by not seeing the device. Probably some driver install issue.
4. Download the PIT file from the phone using heimdall, following the instructions at
Utilities tab, Download PIT, choose save as destination, Download.
5. Power down the phone, wait 10-15 seconds to allow it to power down completely. Then boot into Download mode by continuously pressing Home + Vol Down + Power buttons, and when the phone vibrates, after it finishes vibrating, releasing the Power button, keeping the other two buttons pressed until the warning screen appears. (This part in bold is the technique which stumped me.) As the warning screen says, press Vol Up to go into Download mode.
6. Following the instructions in this link,
flash the TWRP img file downloaded in step 1 -
Flash tab - choose the PIT file downloaded in the previous step - click Add - choose Recovery in the dropdown menu, choose No Reboot. Then start.
7. A blue progress bar on the phone shows when the flashing is done - should take only 10 seconds or so once it starts. Then remove the battery, put it back. This would have installed the TWRP -
Team Win Recovery Project - custom recovery software which would allow the flashing of custom (unsigned) ROMs.
8. Now boot into Recovery by continuously pressing Home + Vol Up + Power buttons, and when the phone vibrates, after it finishes vibrating, releasing the Power button, keeping the other two buttons pressed until the TWRP screen appears. TWRP is easy to use, and has a touch interface.
9. Choose to Wipe (factory reset - this is generally safer, though not always necessary) and then Install - choosing the ROM downloaded in step 2. After the installer says it is done, remove the battery, put it back, and reboot. Done.
Will try to restore the stock ROM -
https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2433941
and then maybe unroot etc,
https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2494471
Edit: Finally restored stock ROM from
TransK ROM had play store and other apps crashes, maybe since it reports it is Android 4.4 in spite of being 4.1.
The actual sequence of steps I followed, with many missteps, was something like this -
(Samsung Galaxy Quattro 18552
1. Root with Framaroot
2. Update downloaded from
3. ADB all in one from
4. TWRP install via
5. TWRP via recovery flashable link at
6. Installed TWRP Manager, then copied over recovery.img using airdroid, then using TWRP Manager, "recovered".
7. Manager did not install TWRP, so using Flashify,
But Flashify not responding.
8. Installed CWM instead
9. Downloaded files from androidhost via google instead of the links in above.
10. (I was continuing to press the vol + power + home buttons after the vibrate also, hence phone was booting into normal mode)
11. Finally entered download mode with adb
12. Loose contact USB, problems.
13. Driver issues on Windows with fastboot, so Linux.
14. just sudo apt-get install android-tools-adb android-tools-fastboot
15. lsusb shows Samsung
16. adb devices showed
* daemon not running. starting it now on port 5037 *
* daemon started successfully *
List of devices attached
71ba1f19 device
17. Then did via
adb method.
But again, waiting for device at fastboot flash
18. So, trying
lsusb gave
Bus 002 Device 008: ID 04e8:6860 Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd Galaxy (MTP)
But still no fastboot.
19, Tried adding as per
adb works, fastboot waiting for device.
20. Try with android sdk install. Downloaded tools.
21. Trying this,
lsusb in download mode gave different id
Bus 002 Device 011: ID 04e8:685d Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd GT-I9100 Phone [Galaxy S II] (Download mode)
Bus 002 Device 003: ID 046
Apparently, Samsung devices need heimdall and do not work with the fastboot tool.
method worked to get into download mode, and get pit file.
23. heimdall
24. To boot into recovery, vol up + pow + home, leave pow when vibrates
25. from Twrp, selected install, and chose the trans-k rom.
26/. Wipe cache/dalvik, as per
27. pull out battery, put it back, boot as normal. )
Edit: Some more trial and error in getting back to Stock ROM. See main section above for
assert error
downloaded stock from
But did not work with TWRP. Will probably need to use an external removable sdcard since I formatted the system partition and the device does not boot.
