Install CyanogenMod 9 ICS on Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini

The dream of every Android developer is to see as many Android phones—old or new—updated to the new Android 4.0.3 Ice Cream Sandwich. Relying on official updates alone won’t help bring the updates to all Android phones. We also need the help of independent developers.

If you have a Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini–a rather old phone–you can bring Android 4.0.3 Ice Cream Sandwich to it via the CyanogenMod 9 custom ROM.  XDA Developers member paul-xxx shares a flashing guide that installs CyanogenMod 9 to your phone.

In this instructional guide, we will be teaching you how to flash CyanogenMod 9, offering Android 4.0.3 Ice Cream Sandwich right on your Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini.

Take note, though, that the following features don’t work yet with this ROM:

• Hardware/Software video decoder
• No Radio application
• Camera
• DHCP in Wi-Fi

Requirements

• A rooted Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini running any recent Gingerbread custom ROM or MiniCM7.  The bootloader must also be unlocked.
• A computer with Windows as OS
• FlashTool — Download the Windows version here.  Install FlashTool on your PC.
• Install the appropriate USB drivers for your phone.  (You can check the drivers included in the FlashTool package.  The installer file is inside the “drivers” folder inside the “Flashtool” folder.)
• s1tool — This tool will check whether your Xperia X10 Mini’s bootloader can be unlocked safely.  Download the tool from here and extract it to your PC.
• nAa kernel — You will flash this kernel through FlashTool.  Download the kernel (FTF file) from here.
• CyanogenMod 9 for the Xperia X10 Mini — Download the ROM package here. DO NOT unzip the ZIP file.
• GApps (Google Apps) package — Get the package here.  DO NOT unzip the ZIP file.
• Back up your personal phone data.
• Charge your battery to at least 70% (full charge recommended).
• Stop system utilities such as firewall and antivirus programs so they won’t interfere with the procedure.

Caution

• This guide is published for educational purposes only.
• Use this guide at your own risk.
• Whatever happens to your phone or to you while using this guide will be your own responsibility.  We shall not be held liable for anything.

Instructions

1. Launch FlashTool on your PC.
2. Connect your phone to your PC using a USB cable.  FlashTool will try to detect your phone.
3. Click the padlock icon.  This will initiate the rooting procedure.  Your phone will reboot when it finishes.
4. FlashTool will display the message “Root Access Allowed.”  Check whether Superuser is installed as an app on your phone.  If it is, the phone is rooted.
5. Power down your phone.
6. Exit FlashTool.
7. Launch s1tool.exe on your PC.
8. Hold down the Back button on your phone as you connect the phone to the computer using a USB cable.
9. Click the “Identify” button in s1tool.
10. If s1tool says “SEMC SIMLOCK CERTIFICATE” or “SETOOL2 SIMLOCK SERTIFICATE”, you can safely unlock the bootloader.  If the displayed message is “NOT RECOGNIZED SIMLOCK CERTIFICATE”, style=”text-decoration: underline;”>do not proceed.
11. Exit s1tool.
12. Launch FlashTool on your computer again.
13. Select Plugins > X10 Unlock > run from FlashTool’s menu.
14. You will see instructions on the FlashTool window.  Follow them.
15. FlashTool will automatically reboot your phone after unlocking the bootloader.  If FlashTool detects the phone after it has rebooted, bootloader unlocking is completed.
16. Exit FlashTool.
17. Copy the nAa kernel (E10_nAa-11_2.6.29.6-nAa-11.ftf) into the “firmwares” folder.  This folder is inside the “Flashtool” folder.
18. Launch FlashTool again.
19. Click the lightning icon in FlashTool.
20. From the list of available firmware files, choose the nAa kernel file.  Click the OK button.
21. Follow the instructions that appear on the screen.
22. After FlashTool has finished flashing the nAa kernel, go to Settings > Applications and enable “Unknown sources” on your phone.  Also go to Settings > Applications > Development and enable “USB debugging.”
23. The nAa kernel and ClockworkMod Recovery 5.0.2.7 are now installed.
24. Copy the CyanogenMod 9 ROM (update-cm-9.0.0-V02-X10Mini-KANG.zip) and the GApps update package (gapps-ics-20111230.zip) to the root directory (/sdcard) of your phone.
25. Turn off your phone.
26. Enter ClockworkMod Recovery by pressing the Back button a few times as soon as the Sony Ericsson logo appears during bootup.
27. In recovery mode, go to Backup and Restore > Backup and create a Nandroid backup of your existing ROM.
28. Go back to the main recovery menu.
29. Do a full wipe from the following menus:
    1. Wipe data/factory reset
    2. Wipe cache
    3. Advanced > Wipe Dalvik cache
30. Select Install ZIP from SDcard > Choose ZIP from SDcard.  Choose the CyanogenMod 9 package that you copied to the phone.  Confirm that you want to flash the file.
31. Repeat the previous step for the GApps update package.
32. Go back to the main recovery menu.
33. Select “Reboot system now”.

Good job!  Your Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini is now running Android 4.0.3 Ice Cream Sandwich, courtesy of the CyanogenMod 9 custom ROM.