Droid Hype

Flash Xionia Recovery on the LG Optimus V

The LG Optimus V on the Virgin Mobile network is by far one of the best values in Android smartphone computing. Not only is the Optimus V an excellent entry/intermediate device, it’s also on one of the nation’s cheapest smartphone plans starting at $25/month.

Like it’s siblings, the Optimus V is very welcoming to custom roms and kernels. To get started, you’ll need to load a custom recovery so you can flash your desired rom and/or kernel.

The Xionia recovery ported over to the Optimus V is probably the most accepted and supported recovery at the moment. Just about every rom can be flashed using this recovery. To get started on your Optimus V, follow these steps:

Note: You must be rooted first. If you aren’t, look up the Gingerbreak app. The following steps assume you have adb working correctly and you have the correct drivers loaded on your computer.

Download the recovery zip: [download id=”7″]

1. There should be two files in the .zip file, flash_image and xionia_cwma_12518.4_virgin.img. Extract the contents to the root of your /sdcard.
2. Open up a command prompt, we’ll be using adb to flash the recovery.
3. Connect a micro usb cable from your Optimus V to your computer. Find the Superuser app in your app tray and open it. On your command prompt, Type “adb shell” and then type “su”. Immediately check your Superuser app, it should prompt you to allow access. Select remember and allow the access.
4. Type “mount -o remount,rw -t yaffs2 /system /system“
5. Type “cat /sdcard/flash_image > /system/bin/flash_image“
6. Type “chmod 755 /system/bin/flash_image“
7. Type “mount -o remount,ro -t yaffs2 /system /system“
8. Type “flash_image recovery /sdcard/xionia_cwma_12518.4_virgin.img“
9. You can now issue the command “reboot recovery“, but I prefer to power down and manually enter recovery on the first try.
10. Power down the device. Then press and hold volume down + home + power. You can let go once the LG boot image comes up.

If you see the blue lettered Xionia recovery, then you have installed your recovery correctly. First order of business is to make a nandroid backup under the backup and restore menu. Use the up/down buttons to navigate and the camera button to select. The back button will bring you back to the previous screen if you get lost.

Now go download a rom or kernel and try it out!