How to upgrade Samsung Galaxy Note N7000 to Android ICS 4.0.3

Good news for all the Galaxy Note users. Samsung has officially started rolling out Android 4.0 Ice-cream sandwich update for Samsung Galaxy Note N7000. The first upgrade has been rolled out for Europe, Germany. Hopefully in the coming few months, users from the major countries will get the upgrade. As of now, I am going to show you a quick tutorial on how you can upgrade your Samsung galaxy Note to German firmware of ICS 4.0.

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 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.

Shut down your Galaxy Note and remove SD card and SIM card. (Don’t Power On your Galaxy Note)

Firmware details:

PDA: N7000XXLPY

CSC: N7000OXALPY

Country/Carrier: Germany/Open

Date: May 2012

Version: 4.0.3

Files required for the process:

Firmware file: Click here to download.

Odin downloader: Click here to download.

Step by step Process:

1. Unzip and extract the files that you have downloaded to a specific folder.
2. Run Odin downloader.
3. Click on PDA and browse and select the file, “N7000XXLPY_N7000XALPY_N7000XXLPT_HOME.tar.md5” .
4. Now we need to go to download mode in your Galaxy Note. Hold Volume Down Key + OK button simultaneously and press the Power Button. Now if you see a warning message, press on Volume Up key once to enter into the download mode.
5. 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. 
6. Click on start to begin the firmware update process. Wait until the green bar in the first box reached to the end. It will reboot your Galaxy Note twice or thrice.
7. Once done, it will give a message as PASS in the COM PORT box as well as message section.
8. Disconnect the phone from USB. Go to Settings > About Phone and check the Firmware Version.
9. Restore the phone back to factory settings to wife off the data. To do it Go to Settings > Privacy settings > Factory Data reset.
10. Once it restarts, shut it down again and insert SD card and SIM card and now your Samsung Galaxy Note is upgraded with Android ICS 4.0.

Warning: Make sure your cell is fully charged while doing this and take proper back up of apps, contacts and SMS before trying this. If you face any problem while upgrading, try to redo the process. You can also write your issues or queries in comment and we will help you out. Do at your own risk. We will not be responsible if you end up screwing your phone.

We thank Sammobile for providing the firmware file and XDA developers forum to provide ODIN downloader.