Installing CyanogenMod Android 2.3 Gingerbread ROM On The LG Optimus S

August 9, 2011 by

CyanogenMod 7If you have an Android smartphone you probably aren’t running the latest version of Android which is Android 2.3 Gingerbread. Updating phones isn’t really the highest priority for carriers and manufacturers. But usually you don’t have to wait for the carrier to publish an update for your smartphone in order for you to get the latest software on your phone. Two weeks ago I published a tutorial on how to root the LG Optimus S, and then last week I published a tutorial going over how to install a custom recovery menu on the LG Optimus S. And now this week I’m going over how to install a custom CyanogenMod ROM on the LG Optimus S using the recovery menu.

So installing this custom ROM on your smartphone will give you the latest version of Android at least right now which is Android 2.3.3 Gingerbread although this specific ROM isn’t being developed anymore meaning that there shouldn’t be any bug fixes or anything anytime soon. Although from my experience there haven’t been a whole lot of problems with this ROM. So the first step is to download the files listed in the sidebar listed under what you need. And once you have downloaded them you’ll need to mount the microSD card on your smartphone and copy the files to the root of your microSD card and then shut down your smartphone.

Once you have shut down your smartphone you’ll need to boot into the recovery menu by pressing the home button, volume button, and power button at the same time. Keep the home and volume buttons pressed until you see the recovery menu but you can quit pressing the power button as soon as you see the LG logo. The recovery menu is pretty easy to navigate, volume up and down to choose an item and menu to select the item. And to go back just press the back arrow.

In the recovery menu you’ll want to first backup your smartphone just in case anything goes wrong during the process. To do that select backup/restore in the recovery menu and click the menu button to select the item. Then you will want to choose nand backup and once that has finished you’ll want to choose backup Google proprietary system. Once you have backed up your phone you will want to install that custom ROM.

To install the custom ROM you will need to select flash zip menu from the main recovery menu screen and then you will need to select the first item on the list to choose the zip file from your smartphone. You will want to flash the zip files which you downloaded from the sidebar by selecting them on the list and then confirming that you want to flash the file. You will need to flash them in the correct order and the order is first the Debug Format System file, then the update-cm-7… file and finally the gapps-gb-… file.

Once you have flashed the zip files you will want to wipe some things by selecting wipe from the main recovery menu screen. First wipe the data and then wipe the cache. The wipe process should be pretty quick and you will need to press menu to confirm that you want to wipe. Then the last thing you need to do is reboot your phone from the recovery menu and then you will see a different boot screen. Once the phone has finished booting you can setup the phone like you would on any other phone.

And really that’s all you need to do in order to get Android 2.3.3 Gingerbread on your LG Optimus S smartphone. I’m not responsible if you did anything wrong and damaged your phone. You shouldn’t have any problems but if you do please comment and I’ll try to help as best I can. And also check out the video embedded below if you haven’t seen it yet.

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About William Quade

Hello, I’m William Quade. I’m a complete computer nerd. Whether it’s the latest Apple product, or this small new company just launched a product I should write about it on ZL Studios. I read all of the major tech blogs every day.

  • Aristeinberg

    I followed the directions in the previous tutorial, “How To Install a Custom Recovery Menu…”  and when I try to go through the steps in this tutorial, I’m stuck at the “Recovery Screen”, because I only have four options on that menu and none of them are “backup/restore”, “nand backup”, or “Google proprietary”.  Have you encountered this before, has anyone?

  • SGTxWaFfLex603@gmail.com

    i have that same problem :/

  • http://zlstudios.net/ Liam Quade

    I’d try getting that recovery menu on your phone again.

  • Djtjriggy

    first of all these processes have confused the pants off of me for three days now but i have stuck it out and persesstance has paid off.  i definatly have a better understanding of my phone now so thank you!   question:  what should i backup when flashing rom? boot, system, data, and catch yes, but recovery, sd-text, .android_secure?  idk what and why those things would be important.  anyways knowlage gained and i diddn’t brick my phone!! yay! feedback appreciated. 
    keep up the good work.
          sincerely   Djtjriggy

  • Whatsup

    can this be done to the lg optimus m

  • wjabaut

    just wanna say thanks, i now have a rooted, lg optimus s, with the CyanogenMod 7 rom, and updated to android 2.3.3 gingerbread. YOU ARE THE MAN!

  • Kr8zeivan

    Hey i been following your tutorials for the LG optimus s and so far so good. I now have custom recovery and am ready to proceed. I just have one problem my phone is currently flashed to Cricket Wireless and need to know if i install this rom will it mess up my Cricket settings? My phone is currently working well and i want to keep it that way, but with your update to the OS. Thanks for all your help. Your tutorials rock. Im new to the whole phone flashing/rooting thing. Thanks.

  • Fixmyauto

    Google Apps download not working???

  • Karen Molloy

    It means your didn’t get your custom recovery menu done correctly. Start that step over again.

  • Bridget Robinson

    Many thanks to you for sharing detailed instructions on how to root and modify my LG Optimus S.  Now my phone is AWESOME!!!  :)

  • Bridget Robinson

    I went to http://goo-inside.me/gapps/ .  The download he has listed in the tutorial is 20110120 (modified on 2011-03-09, about the fourth or fifth link listed).  I don’t know enough about google apps to know if any of the others work on the lg optimus.

  • farshadB

    Hello,
    I have installed the Cyanogen ROM but I get an error when I turn on Hotspot.  Is there another step I am missing to get WiFi hotspot?

    Thanks
    Farshad

  • jnow2

    Followed your instructions explicitly. Everything was working great, both with custom recovery and android 2.3.3 on my LG Optimus S. I may have unplugged the phone from the pc without disconnecting USB storage. Now I cannot access the recovery menu and the phone will not boot. It displays the LG logo then goes into the Cyanogenmod animation, but never goes any further. I’m thinking that because I didn’t disconnect USB storage before I unplugged it from the pc that the phone thinks I have an unmounted SD card. How do I fix this?

  • Johnny Can’t Boot

    Hi. I have a question: Can you boot Cyanogenmod (not necessarily v7) from the microSD card in the LG Optimus S? I know this is possible for other devices such as the Nook Color.

    The reason I want to do this is because of the low storage in this phone. I’d like to install CM in a 32 Gb microSD card and run the thing from there. That should take care of the space problems

    Thanks

    P.S.: Even if you move all possible apps to the microSD card with the Settings program, not all the space used by the app is allocated in the card. Some remains in the phone and that’s what it’s eating up my space.

  • ASF

    I followed all your steps but I have an issue.
    There is no network connections and keyboard.

    If I use a different cm7 file for the optimus I also found online I get the keyboard but still not 3g connection.

    Am I missing something?

    Help.