How to upgrade Samsung Galaxy ACE S5830 to Gingerbread (2.3.6)

Samsung has brought a new update for Samsung Galaxy Ace S5830 for Asia region. You can try upgrading from Kies, but if it doesn’t work for you, you can follow the steps below to upgrade your Samsung galaxy ace S5830 to S5830DXKT5 stock rom. This is the latest official upgrade (Asia region) provided by Samsung. This is a Singapore update and not official in India yet, but Gingerbread 2.3.4 is still there available as official upgrade for Indian users. European version S5830XWKT7 and Russian version of 2.3.6 S5830XXKPP is also available. If you need specific firmware of your region, check samfirmware.com for your region file.

Steps before Upgrading:

1. Take backup of Contacts. Go to Contacts > Press Menu button > Click on More > Import/Export > Export to SD card > Confirm by pressing Yes.
2. Take backup of your messages. For this you need an app. I personally use SMS backup & Restore Pro by Ritesh Sahu, you can get it for free, check this article.
3. Take backup of the installed apps. For this you need to use a file explorer app, I used ES File Explorer. To take the backup of the apps installed, Open ES File Explorer > Press Menu button > Click on Manager > Click App Manager > Press Multi-select button on the top and select all the apps > Press Menu key > Click on Backup. The backup will be taken in SD card “backup” folder.
4. Take backup of current settings and application data. Go to Settings >Privacy settings > Put a check mark on Back up my data and Automatic Restore.
5. Shut down your galaxy ace and remove SD card and SIM card. (Don’t Power On your galaxy ace now)

File required for the process:

Firmware file: Click here

Odin Downloader: Click here

OPS file: Click here

Extract all the zip files. If asked for password use; samfirmware.com as password.

Step By Step Process: 

1. Extract the files that you have downloaded to a specific folder.
2. Run Odin downloader.
3. Put a check mark on Auto reboot and Protect OPS.
4. Click on OPS to browse and select the OPS file. You need to go the destination folder where you have extracted Cooper v1.0 ops file.    
5. Put a check mark on One Package and browse click on the last box that is ONE PACKAGE and select the firmware file S5830DXKT5_S5830OLBKT3_S5830DXKT4_HOME.tar.md5.
6. You will get the following message once firmware file is checked :

Check MD5 FileName...


MD5 File Name : S5830DXKT5_S5830OLBKT3_S5830DXKT4_HOME.tar


Open File Name : S5830DXKT5_S5830OLBKT3_S5830DXKT4_HOME.tar

Check MD5 ...
Tail MD5 : 4B2A82ACFB4598E491200D08DFB5A377
Image MD5 : 4B2A82ACFB4598E491200D08DFB5A377
Check MD5 ...ok

7. Press VOLUME DOWN+HOME (middle key) +POWER keys simultaneously to enter in Download mode.
8. Once you are in the Download mode, connect it to USB data cable and wait for ODIN to detect the phone. Once detected, the COM PORT 1 MAPPING box will become yellow and the phone’s port will be detected. In the message section, you  will get the following message:

<1>Added!!!

<1>Detected!!!!

Note: If your phone is not getting recognized in Odin, you might need to install your device’s hardware first. Download the driver from this link. If asked for password, use samfirmware.com as the password.

9. Now click on START. Wait until the green bar in the first box reached to the end. It will take around 5-6 minutes and will reboot your Galaxy Ace twice or thrice.
10. Once done, it will give a message as PASS in the COM PORT box as well as message section.
11. Disconnect the phone from USB. Reboot it and select your language (if you see a different language) and go to Settings > About Phone and check the Firmware Version.
12. Restore the phone back to factory settings to wife off the data as well as cache. To do it Go to Settings > Privacy settings > Factory Data reset or type this code: *2767*3855#
13. Once it restarts, shut it down again and insert SD card and SIM card and now your Samsung Galaxy Ace is just like a brand new handset with android gingerbread 2.3.6.

Note: Make sure your Galaxy Ace is fully charged while doing this and take proper back up of apps, contacts and SMS before trying this. This process is checked our Samsung Galaxy Ace and by far we have not seen any bugs. If you face any problem you can write it in comment, we will help you out. Do at your own risk. We will not be responsible if you end up screwing your phone. We thank samfirmware.com for the file. For future upgrades and files you can always check samfirmware.com.

Noticeable changes after Gingerbread Update:

• Better battery backup.
• New smart icons.
• Better wifi connection.
• Bugs fixed of the previous 2.3.4 version.