Full Update Guide - G1/Dream Firmware to CyanogenMod

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This is a guide to upgrade your G1/Dream from the Stock OTA update to CyanogenMod 4.2.x. If you are upgrading a Magic32A/32B/MyTouch3G, see this page.

Contents

[edit] Downgrading to RC29 (US) or RC7 (Europe)

There is a security loop-hole in the RC29 / RC7 Bluetooth Module that is exploited in the next step. This loop-hole has been fixed in more recent releases, so you must downgrade to RC29 / RC7.

WARNING: This process will remove all existing applications, data, and phone configurations. Resetting the phone back to 'base' settings. There is no going back once you load this image.

  1. Backup any files on your SD card that are valuable to you (you can copy them to your PC's hard drive)
  2. Format your SD card to FAT32
    • If you have Android 1.6, you might be able to format the SD from the phone settings
    • Windows: Right-click on SD icon and select format
      • There are some issues with Linux/Mac creating a working vfat partition. If you run into this problem, try borrowing a Windows machine.
    • Mac users: Use Disk Utility and click Erase and then select MS-DOS FAT (FAT32 is simply known as FAT in Mac OS X)
    • Linux: Use gparted (it's in the repositories of your favorite distro)
  3. Download the RC29 / RC7 dreaimg.nbh file (don't rename it or your phone won't recognize it)
  4. Put the file you just downloaded onto your freshly formatted SD card.
  5. Turn your phone off.
  6. Hold down the Camera button, and press the Power button until the bootloader starts.

On some G1s it may require pressing the action button (trackball), while on others it may require pressing the power button.

  1. Follow the on-screen instructions to flash the image.
  2. When it's done, press the trackball.
  3. Press the Call, Menu, and Power buttons at the same time to reboot. You may need to unplug your phone for this to work.

[edit] Rooting the phone

You need to have root (or 'admin') access to the phone so that you can install whatever software you want and not just what your provider gives you. This is where you will exploit the hole in the Bluetooth. This is not the same as unlocking your phone.

  1. Finish booting up your phone, and sign-in to your Google account. Follow this guide to sign-in via wifi if you don't have access to a 3G network. Also you can try and add your networks provider's APN. To do this press Menu key -> APN Settings, press Menu again -> Add APN and enter 4 things: Name, MCC (Mobile Country Code), MNC Mobile Network Code and APN - all this info should be available here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_network_code and on your network provider's site (google it).
  2. Once you're at the Home screen, open the keyboard, and press the Enter (Return) button twice.
  3. Type 
    telnetd [enter]
    • Typing will bring up the Contacts screen, but you can just ignore that.
    • There will be no indication to let you know you did it right. Just continue on to the next step.
    • If you get an error when trying to connect (step 5), try pressing Enter twice and type "telnetd" and press Enter again
  4. Open the Android Market, and install "Telnet" (by Koushik Dutta)
  5. Open Android Telnet Client, enter "localhost" in the large text box and press connect. (You may have to enter "23" in the smaller text box on the right)

[edit] Cyanogen Recovery Image

Now you need to replace the standard Recovery Image with a customized Recovery Image based off the Recovery Image Google's Engineers use. This will allow you to do things like make a backup of your phone, and recover from a crash. Most importantly, however, this will give you the physical ability to install a custom ROM.

  1. Download the latest Cyanogen Recovery Image (1.4)
  2. Move the Image File to your SD card
    • You may need to unplug/unmount your phone so the phone can access the SD card
  3. Open Android Telnet Client and type (include all spaces) 
    flash_image recovery /sdcard/cm-recovery-1.4.img [enter]
  4. If completed correctly you will simply see # # appear on your screen beneath the line you've just typed. If you get the "permission denied" message, type "su" (without quotes), press enter and repeat the previous step. If you get a file not found message, you may need to remount your sd card.
  5. Press Home key and proceed to next step

[edit] File Download

Due to recent events, CyanogenMod can no longer distribute Google specific apps with his ROMS. The way around this is to download and install the legal Google apps and then install CyanogenMod on top of those apps. The good news is that it works, the bad news is that it requires an extra step or two in the install process.

  1. Download the Android 1.6 Recovery Image
    • for now use this image DRC83_base_defanged which will not try to replace your recovery or radio
      • Avoids Android market not working or missing, Data Syncronization settings not working, etc.
  2. Download the latest CyanogenMod ROM for your device:
  3. Put both of these files on your SD card (in zip format - as they are - don't extract)
  4. If you use the 'Defanged' DRC83, your radio will still be 1.x from the rc29/7 downgrade. Download the 2.22.19.26i radio from here and save it to your sdcard with the other two zip files.

[edit] Flash Android1.6 & CyanogenMod latest

You will now install the actual OS of the phone. First you will install the legal Google apps, and then you will install CyanogenMod on top of those apps.

  1. Turn your phone off.
  2. Hold the Home button and "End" (power) button to boot to Recovery mode.
  3. If you wish to have an option to return to your factory settings, select nandroid backup now. If not, continue.
  4. Press Alt-W (or select "wipe data/factory reset")Press home to confirm
  5. Press Alt-A (or select "apply any zip from sd")
    • DRC83_base_defanged.zip or signed-dream-devphone...
  6. Press home to confirm and let installation complete --Note that no "I have finished my job" message will appear after it finishes. Attempt to move the trackball once you see "Formatting CACHE:;" if you can see the highlight moving on the menu, it has completed the installation. In some cases it will say "Install from sdcard complete".
  7. STOP - DO NOT REBOOT YOUR PHONE
  8. Once again, press Alt-A (or select "apply any zip from sd")
    • Select update-cm-4.2.x-signed.zip
  9. Press home to confirm and let installation complete --Note that no "I have finished my job" message will appear after it finishes. Attempt to move the trackball once you see "Formatting CACHE:;" if you can see the highlight moving on the menu, it has completed the installation. In some cases it will say "Install from sdcard complete".
    • If you used the Defanged DRC83, you need to manually install the ota-radio-2... just like the first two updates.
  10. When this is complete, reboot your phone by pressing Home & Back.
  11. Wait, your phone will display a [box] -> [phone] and say writing radio image and then reboot. This will take a couple of minutes. Be patient!
  12. If the phone enters Recovery mode after rebooting, press Home & Back again to reboot it once more. You should see the blue CyanogenMod Android logo this time.


If that's all you wanted to do, you're done! You should now have a fully functional phone.

[edit] Hard SPL (optional) - ONLY FOR HTC DREAM (G1)!!!

If you choose, you can install a custom SPL. This will allow you to use fastboot to flash *.img files (nandroid backups, alternate kernels, etc) from a computer. This can be useful if you mess up an installation or like to experiment. This is not the "danger" SPL that gives you more space; However, if something goes wrong during the flash, there is still a potential to brick your phone.


DO NOT INSTALL A CUSTOM SPL UNLESS YOU HAVE DONE THE FOLLOWING:

  • Manually flashed the latest radio to your phone.

If you fail to do this, you will brick your phone.


  1. Go to http://code.google.com/p/android-roms/wiki/Install_Hard_SPL and download the SPL File
  2. Place the SPL file on the root of your SD card.
  3. Power off your phone.
  4. Press and hold Home and then press Power to boot into recovery mode.
  5. Once in recovery mode, Press ALT+A (or select "apply any zip from sd") and select the SPL file you downloaded to apply the update from the SD card. (If you do not see a menu / text on screen, ie - you see an exclamation mark, press ALT+L to show the menu.)
  6. After the update is complete, hold Home + Back to restart.
  7. Once your phone has booted up, turn your phone off so that we can make sure the update worked.
  8. Press and hold the Camera and Power buttons to boot into your SPL. It should have three androids on skateboards at the bottom, with a white background. If you still have the four-color rainbow, go back and try again. If you press HOME you will start this all over again.So DO NOT. Press Action. Then either way, press Call, Menu and End at the same time to reboot.

[edit] Apps2SD (optional)

Apps2SD moves your apps to the SD card, freeing up more room on your phone. As of 4.2.x, this is not necessary (for the CyanogenMOD to work, but IS NECESSARY if you want Apps2SD), however, this may become a requirement in the future. (See seperate Apps2SD wiki page for full instructions)

[edit] Audio Resources (optional)

CyanogenMod only includes a few ringtones for space considerations. This file has many, many more.

  1. Download:
  2. Unzip contents to root of SD Card
  3. The phone will automatically recognize the audio files (or it should after an sdcard mount/unmount; you can manually force the media scanner with the dev tools app included in CM, by tapping 'Media Scanner')

[edit] Deutsche Version des Guides

[edit] Korean version of this guide

[edit] Troubleshooting

  1. If you have issues with the rc29/7 downgrade, reformat the card and re-download the DREAIMG.nbh and try again
  2. If you accidentally let the HTC recovery boot, it will attempt (and probably succeed) to replace your nice shiny CM-1.4 recovery.img with the default HTC ADP1 recovery. You'd see /!\ when booting with home held down. Of course, HTC doesn't let you install custom ROMs, so you'll have to get the custom recovery back. See RE-recovery-img if this happens. This is not an issue with the 'defanged' DRC83 base, which doesn't have the recovery.img (or boot or radio).
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