How to Root the Spice MI-300 with Custom ROM

How to root a Spice MI-300 Android phone by flashing a custom ROM (FiretrapSugar) via the built-in recovery mode. This gives you root access, a custom launcher, and useful pre-installed apps.

Warning: Rooting may brick your device and will void the manufacturer warranty. Proceed at your own risk.

Rooting erases all phone data (SD card data is preserved). Ensure you have backed up everything before starting.

Prerequisites

• Spice MI-300 updated to the official Android 2.1 release from Spice
• Two custom ROM flavors are available at Boston Mania: FiretrapVanilla and FiretrapSugar — this guide uses FiretrapSugar

Rooting procedure

1. Download the custom ROM from this link
2. Extract the .rar file (using WinRAR) and rename firetrapSugar.nb0 to firmware.nb0
3. Copy firmware.nb0 to the root directory of your SD card (not inside any folder)
4. Switch off the phone
5. Press and hold Volume Up + Camera, then also press and hold Power (next to the 3.5 mm audio jack) for about 15 seconds
6. The phone boots into Android system recovery mode
7. Using the trackball, scroll down to Download nb0 from sdcard and press the trackball to start
8. Wait 2–3 minutes for the firmware update to complete
9. The phone reboots with the new "Android" splash screen — you now have FiretrapSugar with root access

Recommended apps

With root access you can install: SetCPU (adjust CPU clock between 122–600 MHz), RootExplorer, QuickSSHd, CacheCleaner, WebSharing, Astro, Skype.

Tips

• When root apps prompt for superuser access, check Always allow for trusted apps to avoid re-confirmation
• Use the SwitchPro widget (included in FiretrapSugar) to turn the camera flash into a torch
• Install QuickSSHd for shell access over Wi-Fi instead of USB adb
• With QuickSSHd, you can copy files to the phone over Wi-Fi using WinSCP

Backing up NAND flash partitions

After rooting, back up all NAND flash partitions immediately. The boot and recovery partitions are especially important.

1. Log in to the phone via adb or SSH (QuickSSHd)
2. If using adb, run su and confirm the superuser prompt on the phone
3. Run the following commands to dump all partitions to the SD card (view the partition map with cat /proc/mtd):

cat /dev/mtd/mtd0  > /sdcard/bkup.mtd0.boot
cat /dev/mtd/mtd1  > /sdcard/bkup.mtd1.misc
cat /dev/mtd/mtd2  > /sdcard/bkup.mtd2.splash
cat /dev/mtd/mtd3  > /sdcard/bkup.mtd3.recovery
cat /dev/mtd/mtd4  > /sdcard/bkup.mtd4.ftm
cat /dev/mtd/mtd5  > /sdcard/bkup.mtd5.hidden
cat /dev/mtd/mtd6  > /sdcard/bkup.mtd6.dgbmask
cat /dev/mtd/mtd7  > /sdcard/bkup.mtd7.system
cat /dev/mtd/mtd8  > /sdcard/bkup.mtd8.misc2
cat /dev/mtd/mtd9  > /sdcard/bkup.mtd9.cache
cat /dev/mtd/mtd10 > /sdcard/bkup.mtd10.userdata

Copy the backup files from the SD card to a safe location on your PC.

To revert to the official firmware (e.g. for warranty claims), re-flash using the Software Update Tool from Spice and the phone returns to its original state.

Related posts

• Spice MI-300 Review: Budget Android for Linux Hackers
• $35 Linux Box for Robotics and Home Automation
• RBox: Lightweight Linux Distro for IoT Devices