Random Bits & Bytes

I’ve finally decided to give in and root my tablet as I would like to upgrade to the custom ICS ROM’s that are available on the XDA-Developers forum. So to achieve this I first need to root my xoom.

NOTE: Follow these instructions at your own risk, do some reasearch, don’t just trust what I am saying will work for you

My Xoom: MZ601 Australian Telstra 3G + WIFI (currently 3.2)

Step 1:
Download and install the Xoom drivers from motorola, found on the Motorola Website

Step 2:
Setup your Xoom to enable “USB Debugging”, found Settings -> Applications -> Development

Step 3:
Plug in the Xoom with a USB Micro cable and wait for it to install. You will now have a portable device with two drives

Step 4:
I would Strongly suggest that you complete a BACKUP of anything that you can’t lose.

Step 5:
You can root your Xoom manually or use a script tool, the one I used is LordAIOTool. Detail of this can be found on the XDA-Developer forum. The tool is very easy to use, first unzip to C:\

Step 6:
Run C:\LAIOT\LordAIOTool.bat, keep pressing enter through the following screens. It will locate your Xoom and connect to it, when all done you should see the below screen:

Step 7:
Make sure you unlock your BootLoader by selecting 2

Note: This will wipe your Xoom so ensure you have a backup of everything you need.

Step 8:
Select Xoom from the device list 1 (That is if your device is a Xoom)

Step 9:
Your Xoom will now reboot and you will be presented with what looks like the normal boot screen, however there will be some text in the top left corner, when this happens press enter on your laptop and your Xoom should change to the below:

Step 10:
Using the volume buttons, press “Volume Down” so the text changes to “I Accept”, then press “Volume Up” to select

Step 11:
You will be asked if you want to continue with the unlock, press “Volume Down” to change option to “Yes” then press “Volume Up” to select

Now wait as you Xoom will be formatted and Unlocked. Once complete it will reboot.

Step 12:
Once started up you will need to “Re-Enable” the USB Debuging Mode as mentioned in “Step 2″

Step 13:

Note: I thought the tool did not work for me so I installed this manually, however the step I missed which stuffed up the process was on the first reboot after loading the CWM, you need to enter the Recovery Mode at this step, or you can’t get in and will need to re-do the process.

So the steps I took were as follows, as I thought LordAIOTool did not work. So to do this manually, download the recovery image from ClockworkMod Website. Choose the version of the recovery image for the device you have, mine was Motorola Xoom and version 4.0.0.4

Rename downloaded file to “recovery.img” and save to directory “C:\LAIOT\ROMInstaller”

Also copy update.zip from C:\LAIOT\Tools to the root of the sdcard

Step 14:
Reboot into “Fastboot” mode, by selecting the “Volume Down” button when the “Dualcore” logo is on the screen during boot up. Press “Volume Down” until the text in the top left changes to “Fastboot”, then press “Volume Up”

Step 15:
Once Fastboot is on the screen, open and command prompt and go to the directory C:\LAIOT\ROMInstaller and run the below command

Once listed as done, now reboot the Xoom by holding “Volume Up” and “Power”

Step 16: Make Sure you do this on the First Reboot
Now enter “Recvoery Mode”, by pressing “Volume Down” when DualCore Motorola logo is on the screen. Choose “Recovery Mode” by pressing “Volume Down”, then press “Volume Up”, the screen should look like the below:

Step 17:
Select to Backup the device from the menu, by “Volume Up” and “Volume Down” with “Power” as select

Step 18:
Now select to update from the update.zip on the sdcard. Wait till this completed and reboot Xoom.

Your Xoom is now Rooted.