[Q] How to replace Chinese firmware with European one

bluppfisk · Jul 30, 2011

I have bought a SGS2 in China. It comes with Chinese firmware (has English language though) but mostly with Chinese software and without Android Market. So it does not sync with Google, searches go through Baidu, I can't find and install most apps so it's essentially not very fun to use.

I have been trying to exchange the Chinese firmware for European firmware using ODIN.

Sadly, this seems not to work: the flashing always fails, leaving my phone bricked until I reflash the Chinese firmware (which works fine). This Chinese firmware has a different format, i.e. there are no CSC, MODEM and CODE tarballs. Instead there is one single tarbar containing the following files

boot.bin
cache.img
factoryfs.img
hidden.img
modem.bin
param.lfs
Sbl.bin
zImage

I would be terribly grateful if someone could help me make my 500 euro phone useful, or at least I would like someone to tell me why this firmware cannot simply be installed on this phone.

alrit · Jul 30, 2011

ownhere --yeah the guy making googlemap mods -- is now making sgs2 rom based on china sgs2 rom

Go get it here

bluppfisk · Jul 30, 2011

Thanks, but will this enable the Android market? It doesn't say so in the Chinese translated through Google Translate.. :/

alrit · Jul 30, 2011

umm.. i thought u can read chi ..

It will enable market for sure. Here's 2 captured pics of that rom

It's in Chinese but u may still recognize the market icon @ second line together with some other GG stuffs.

said Non-officially , china version i9100 has some easy-to-brick problem rooting and flashing eu/hk rom, so maybe u should try this ownhere rom.

bluppfisk · Jul 30, 2011

Thanks! This sounds really promising! Does it support English language still? I'll try as soon as possible!

alrit · Jul 30, 2011

yeah every android handset supports english locale I guess.
like ur china version does.

bluppfisk · Jul 30, 2011

Thanks again. By the way, why is it that Chinese I9100 models have this problem? Is it a different filesystem? How have they managed to block EU firmware from a phone whose hardware ought to be identical?

Does it have anything to do with the processor not being a Tegra2?

bluppfisk · Jul 30, 2011

Oh delicious man! It works! So far at least, I've been able to add a Google account and download apps from the Android market. I'm the happiest person on the planet. 100% fact*

*probably

alrit · Jul 30, 2011

no idea.
It's a "It's said".
lol

bluppfisk · Jul 30, 2011

Cool. I've been playing with it for a bit and am quite happy with it.

Some problems still remain, though.

1 The Reader's Hub and Social Hub are gone, not that I care that much

2 The MediaHub still only offers Chinese services, might want YouTube there

3 I don't find a phone software update button in the settings menu anymore (do I manually have to check for updates to this mod? Probably)

4 Adding a Credit Card to Google Market makes it become unresponsive (before I even am allowed to enter a card number). Might work better back in Europe.

5 I am now using a custom rom. I feel more comfortable with stock roms. I don't want to sound ungrateful but would love to know why I cannot simply flash European stock roms and how I could circumvent the barrier.

But a big thanks so far, it actually makes my phone usable and the GPS fix is fast as **** now!

sspslv · Aug 7, 2011

Same as you all : look for a google open rom to flash on chinese I9100

Dear gluppfisk, You are a happy one with this cooked rom, accepted on chinese I9100, but including sone open application (google, market, ...).
But the link in the thread for this rom is now dead.
Is there someobe to reawke such a link ?

screem_3 · Aug 15, 2011

sspslv said:
dear gluppfisk, you are a happy one with this cooked rom, accepted on chinese i9100, but including sone open application (google, market, ...).
But the link in the thread for this rom is now dead.
Is there someobe to reawke such a link ?

+1111111 please

and a little words about how u did it, google translator makes me crazy

gmstrollo · Aug 20, 2011

screem_3 said:
+1111111 please

and a little words about how u did it, google translator makes me crazy

Yeah, it's a little hard to understand via google translate... I clicked on the link for http://u.115.com/file/dn6hgajt... and then had to ask a friend in China to translate. Those are in the attached jpg's, below.

LiFE1688 · Aug 20, 2011

bluppfisk said:
This Chinese firmware has a different format, i.e. there are no CSC, MODEM and CODE tarballs. Instead there is one single tarbar containing the following files

boot.bin
cache.img
factoryfs.img
hidden.img
modem.bin
param.lfs
Sbl.bin
zImage

All official stock rom has only 1 tar file, containing the same files as above.

0blivious · Aug 20, 2011

bluppfisk said:
Cool. I've been playing with it for a bit and am quite happy with it.

Some problems still remain, though.

1 The Reader's Hub and Social Hub are gone, not that I care that much

2 The MediaHub still only offers Chinese services, might want YouTube there

3 I don't find a phone software update button in the settings menu anymore (do I manually have to check for updates to this mod? Probably)

4 Adding a Credit Card to Google Market makes it become unresponsive (before I even am allowed to enter a card number). Might work better back in Europe.

5 I am now using a custom rom. I feel more comfortable with stock roms. I don't want to sound ungrateful but would love to know why I cannot simply flash European stock roms and how I could circumvent the barrier.

But a big thanks so far, it actually makes my phone usable and the GPS fix is fast as **** now!

I am in the same boat as you! Well, actually my brother is, he got a chinese SII from a friend, and I bought myself a european SII a few days ago, he definitly would like to have a regular EU SII

So +1 for you, looking for the same things

mr_pause · Sep 5, 2011

Hello there,

I have the same problem as OP, and i'd also like to know a way to flash this chinese SGSII with an european rom/custom rom (such as superfast litening rom).

Thanks !

gmstrollo · Sep 5, 2011

mr_pause said:
Hello there,

I have the same problem as OP, and i'd also like to know a way to flash this chinese SGSII with an european rom/custom rom (such as superfast litening rom).

Thanks !

M.Pause...

I have the same issue. Bought in China, tried to load non-china ROM and soft-bricked my phone. After much research, it seems that the Chinese have locked out a good deal of the functionality from their version of the SGS2 and blocked the ability to download a non-chinese ROM to the phone. I keep hoping someone will figure out a way around this--like to repartition the phone and add a different boot loader... or something like that.

In the meantime, your best bet is to go to onwhere's website: http://bbs.gfan.com/maintain.html?20110906. This person apparently doesn't like that the chinese have them locked out of google marketplace. They have a hacked ROM that you can load into the phone and get most of your needed functionality. It's not great, but it's better than nothing. FYI, onwhere is chinese and so it the page. You'll need to go through google translate or the like. I also have some screen shots earlier in this thread that have some of the download links translated. You might want to check them out.

If you manage to figure out a different way around this, would you mind shooting me a message on this forum?

Thanks, G.

mr_pause · Sep 6, 2011

gmstrollo said:
M.Pause...

I have the same issue. Bought in China, tried to load non-china ROM and soft-bricked my phone. After much research, it seems that the Chinese have locked out a good deal of the functionality from their version of the SGS2 and blocked the ability to download a non-chinese ROM to the phone. I keep hoping someone will figure out a way around this--like to repartition the phone and add a different boot loader... or something like that.

In the meantime, your best bet is to go to onwhere's website: [strange forum rules]. This person apparently doesn't like that the chinese have them locked out of google marketplace. They have a hacked ROM that you can load into the phone and get most of your needed functionality. It's not great, but it's better than nothing. FYI, onwhere is chinese and so it the page. You'll need to go through google translate or the like. I also have some screen shots earlier in this thread that have some of the download links translated. You might want to check them out.

If you manage to figure out a different way around this, would you mind shooting me a message on this forum?

Thanks, G.

Yup, my phone is already flashed with onwhere's rom.

It's somewhat unstable and doing strange things sometimes, but it works.

If i find something i'll post here.

darkneill · Sep 6, 2011

i got my sgs2 in malaysia it support chinese and english. my rom version is xwkf1 2.3.3(singapore ver) , think of flashing the lastest 2.3.4 which is europe rom . does europe lastest rom support chinese ?

bluppfisk · Sep 7, 2011

It's still right here.
http://bbs.gfan.com/android-2099143-1-1.html

[Q] How to replace Chinese firmware with European one

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