[GUIDE] Downgrade, Root, Partition, Update SPL, and Install CyanogenMOD

Search This thread

nephron

Senior Member
May 25, 2009
745
65
This is a Detailed Guide on Rooting your phone and installing the new CyanogenMod Roms!


Like My Guide(s)? Donate


I am not responsible for any damage that is done to your phone. You have chosen to follow and read this guide.

Here we go!

Check if you have RC29 or RC7 (UK)

1. Go to settings
2. Press on "About Phone"
3. Scroll Down to "Firmware Version" if you have RC29 or RC7 please skip the downgrading part of this Guide. If you have RC30 or higher please follow the downgrading part of the Guide.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Downgrade Your phone from RC30 or up to RC29 OR RC8 and up to RC7

1. Make sure you SD CARD is formated to FAT32. If it is FAT or FAT16, this will not work. So, if your SD Card is not FAT32, please format it now.

NOTE: Formating your SD Card removes all files. Please backup your files first!


2. Download the RC29 DREAIMG.nbh (USA) - HERE or RC7 DREAIMG.nbh (UK) - HERE

3. Unzip the file and place the DREAIMG.nbh in the root of your SD Card (root = not in any folder)

4. Unmount your phone from USB

5. Turn off your phone

6. Boot into your bootloader by holding the CAMERA button and the POWER button.

7. A gray screen should appear. Press POWER to start the downgrading process

8. Once its done, Press the Track Ball to continue

9. Reboot your phone by pressing Talk + Menu + Power

10. Go through the Setup Wizard as normal to setup your phone

11. Congrats! You have now Downgraded your phone to Firmware RC29/RC7. Please verify it in the "About Phone" section in your settings menu.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rooting Your Phone

1. Go to Settings > Applications and make sure Unknown Sources is checked

2. Open your browser on your phone and go to www.g1upgrade.com/root.apk

3. Once its down downloading, Long press on the apk and choose to install

4. Open the Root.apk app that we have just installed and Press on Download IMG and HardSPL files

5. Once it finished downloading, press on Home

6. Press Enter, Enter, and then type telnetd, then press Enter again

Note: Ignore the Contact search

7. Go back to the Root.apk and click on "Protect my Root"

Note: If it doesnt work, please reboot and try Step 6 again

8. Once you successfully protected your root Turn OFF your phone

9. Hold Home + Power to enter recovery, You will see a yellow sign.

10. Type Alt+l then Alt+s. Your phone will reboot a couple of times.

There you go! Your phone has now been successfully rooted!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Install CyanogenMOD 4.0.1 (Stable)

1. Download CyanogenMOD 4.0.1 - HERE

2. Rename update-cm-4.0.1-signed.zip to update.zip and place it at the root of your sd card

3. Boot into recovery by pressing Home + Power

4. Type Alt+l then alt+w then alt+s

5. When its done it will ask you to reboot with Home + Back, if not reboot with Talk+Menu+Power

6. Done! You should now have a rooted G1 Phone with a custom Rom! :D

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Installing the CyangenMod Recovery IMG

1. Open up the Terminal App on your phone

2. Type in su then press on "Always Allow"

3. Type in the following:

Code:
cd /sdcard
wget http://n0rp.chemlab.org/android/cm-recovery-1.4.img
flash_image recovery /sdcard/cm-recovery-1.4.img

4. Done! Easy as Pie :D

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Partition your SD Card with EXT3 and Fat32 and Enable auto apps2sd

Note: This will erase everything on your SD Card!


1. Turn off your phone

2. Enter recovery by holding Home + Power

3. Scroll Down and press on Enter Console or press alt+x

4. Press enter

5. Type the following according to your sd card:

1 GB

Code:
parted /dev/block/mmcblk0
print (to verfiy we know what size card we are dealing with, the details should be straight forward)
rm 1
rm 2
mkpartfs primary fat32 0 600
mkpartfs primary ext2 600 996
quit
upgrade_fs
reboot recovery

2 GB

Code:
parted /dev/block/mmcblk0
print (to verfiy we know what size card we are dealing with, the details should be straight forward)
rm 1
rm 2
mkpartfs primary fat32 0 1500
mkpartfs primary ext2 1500 1996
quit
upgrade_fs
reboot recovery

4 GB

Code:
parted /dev/block/mmcblk0
print (to verfiy we know what size card we are dealing with, the details should be straight forward)
rm 1
rm 2
mkpartfs primary fat32 0 3500
mkpartfs primary ext2 3500 3996
quit
upgrade_fs
reboot recovery
8 GB

Code:
parted /dev/block/mmcblk0
print (to verfiy we know what size card we are dealing with, the details should be straight forward)
rm 1
rm 2
mkpartfs primary fat32 0 7500
mkpartfs primary ext2 7500 7948
quit
upgrade_fs
reboot recovery

16 GB

Code:
parted /dev/block/mmcblk0
print (to verfiy we know what size card we are dealing with, the details should be straight forward)
rm 1
rm 2
mkpartfs primary fat32 0 15500
mkpartfs primary ext2 15500 15948
quit
upgrade_fs
reboot recovery

OPTIONAL: Upgrade EXT3 Partition to EXT4 (Thanks david1171)

Code:
tune2fs -O extents,uninit_bg,dir_index /dev/block/mmcblk0p2
e2fsck -fpDC0 /dev/block/mmcblk0p2

6. Reflash your Cyanogen 4.0.1 Rom

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Flash the New RADIO and SPL

NOTE: Please read carefully before flashing! This could BRICK your phone!!!

1. Check if you have a PVT or DVT board

a. Power off your phone and enter bootloader (Camera + Power)
b. Check look at the top and see if it says PVT of DVT

2. If you have a DVT board YOU CANNOT CONTINUE BECUASE THIS WILL BRICK YOUR PHONE!

3. For all you luck PVT board people Download the following:

OTA Radio Update - HERE
Danger SPL - HERE
CyanogenMod 4.0.1 - HERE

4. Rename ota-radio-2_22_19_26I.zip to Radio.zip. Rename spl-signed.zip to SPL.zip. Rename update-cm-4.0.1-signed.zip to ROM.zip

5. Place the 3 renamed files at the ROOT of your SD Card

6. Enter Recovery (Home + Power)

7. Scroll down and press on "Apply any zip from sd"

8. Press on Radio.zip

9. Let it install. Once done it will tell your to reboot to finish the update. Press on Reboot System now in the recovery menu.

10. It will reboot back to recovery. Once it does, Scroll down and press on "Apply any zip from sd"

11. Press on SPL.zip

12. Let it install. Once done it will tell your to reboot to finish the update. Press on Reboot System now in the recovery menu.

13. It will NOT reboot into recovery. Your phone will be stuck on the G1 screen. Once it gets there, reboot your phone by pressing Talk+Menu+Power and then hold the HOME button to enter back into recovery.

14. Scroll down and press on "Apply any zip from sd"

15. Press on ROM.zip and let it install.

16. Reboot your phone to finish.

17. Congrats! You are all done! Enjoy your Rooted phone! :D

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Credit:

Cyanogen
Haykuro
youneek
 
Last edited:

DirectMatrix

Senior Member
Jun 16, 2009
495
7
Norfolk, VA
Very nice to have everything in one place and an updated guide for all the people who post on the forums thinking that all the stickied guides are outdated. I think I'm gonna unroot my spare g1 and follow this guide just for fun. Thanks again for your dedication to the n00bs and attempting to keep the threads uncluttered.

I vote for yet another sticky for nephron!!!
 
Last edited:

tigerhalsey

Member
Aug 12, 2008
8
0
AUS htc dream

this doesnt work on the aus htc dream
when i press camera and power
i get error and Not Allow
how do i fix that?
 

usafunderdog

New member
Jul 19, 2009
2
0
mkpartfs

Hello all,
I have had my phone rooted for about a month now and have been doing the basic hings like Tethering my phone. But i want to add the Hero Rom to my G1.-Everything works when i go through the steps except when you have to put in the mkpartfs... command-it comes back and says sh: mkpartfs: not found
does anyone know how to make this work or how to add mkpartfs to the phone or how to make it recognize it?
Thanks
 

david1171

Senior Member
Apr 29, 2009
3,202
166
Hello all,
I have had my phone rooted for about a month now and have been doing the basic hings like Tethering my phone. But i want to add the Hero Rom to my G1.-Everything works when i go through the steps except when you have to put in the mkpartfs... command-it comes back and says sh: mkpartfs: not found
does anyone know how to make this work or how to add mkpartfs to the phone or how to make it recognize it?
Thanks

did you type parted /dev/block/mmcblk0 first?
 

usafunderdog

New member
Jul 19, 2009
2
0
parted /dev/block/mmcblk0

Yes, i typed parted /dev/block/mmcblk0 first-but still nothing.
What is cm recovery1.3.1 and im not typing it into terminal, im typing after you hit Alt-X.
 
I am obviously new at this but I recently rooted my US T-Mobile G1 phone and flashed CyanogenMod 4.0.1 and have Cyanogen's Recovery 1.4.

I formatted my 2GB SD card in FAT32 and I have backed up all my data.

I tried making a partition on my SD card and had messed up and had to format the card to make it work again.

I am having a few problems following the "Partition your SD Card with EXT3 and Fat32 and Enable auto apps2sd" guide...

#1 - When typing the code do I hit enter after every line I input?

#2 - Where it says "print (to verfiy we know what size card we are dealing with, the details should be straight forward)" do I type whats in parentheses?

Again I am new to this whole process so if anyone could help I'd greatly appreciate it.
 
Last edited:

DirectMatrix

Senior Member
Jun 16, 2009
495
7
Norfolk, VA
I am obviously new at this but I recently rooted my US T-Mobile G1 phone and flashed CyanogenMod 4.0.1 and have Cyanogen's Recovery 1.4.

I formatted my 2GB SD card in FAT32 and I have backed up all my data.

I tried making a partition on my SD card and had messed up and had to format the card to make it work again.

I am having a few problems following the "Partition your SD Card with EXT3 and Fat32 and Enable auto apps2sd" guide...

#1 - When typing the code do I hit enter after every line I input?

#2 - Where it says "print (to verfiy we know what size card we are dealing with, the details should be straight forward)" do I type whats in parentheses?

Again I am new to this whole process so if anyone could help I'd greatly appreciate it.

1) Yes hit enter after every line of code
2) Sorry for this, but LOL.....anyways, no you don't type whats in parentheses. The print command will tell you what partition format your sdcard has before you begin. If it looks like this....

Code:
print
print
Model: Unknown (unknown)
Disk /dev/block/mmcblk0: 7969MB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos

Number  Start   End     Size    Type     File system  Flags

then your sdcard is virgin and has no partitions.
If it looks like this......

Code:
print
print
Model: Unknown (unknown)
Disk /dev/block/mmcblk0: 7969MB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos

Number  Start   End     Size    Type     File system  Flags
 1      512B    7469MB  7469MB  primary  fat32        lba
 2      7469MB  7969MB  500MB   primary  ext2

then you have a fat32 and a ext2 partition

Refer to this guide for any supplementary information that isn't included in nephron's guide (although his is pretty comprehensive)

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=534714
 

DirectMatrix

Senior Member
Jun 16, 2009
495
7
Norfolk, VA
Yes, i typed parted /dev/block/mmcblk0 first-but still nothing.
What is cm recovery1.3.1 and im not typing it into terminal, im typing after you hit Alt-X.

Typing it after you hit Alt+X is only the correct place to execute the command providing you have Cyanogen's recovery image which replaces the default recovery image that comes with the phone. (when you boot up while holding down power+home) If you boot while holding those key combos and you get a yellow triangle with an exclamation point, you don't have cyanogen's recovery image. If you do have it, then you will see a ghostly android bot in the background and green text on the screen.

If you have cyanogen's recovery, I'm not sure what your doing wrong. If you don't have it, get it by following the steps entitled Installing the CyangenMod Recovery IMG in the OP of this thread. More info about cyanogen's recovery can be found below.

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=523558
 

DirectMatrix

Senior Member
Jun 16, 2009
495
7
Norfolk, VA
When I input "print" my card looks like this...

Yes, you have a 2 gb card that has one fat32 partition.

Code:
parted /dev/block/mmcblk0
rm 1
mkpartfs primary fat32 0 1500
mkpartfs primary ext2 1500 1999
quit
upgrade_fs
reboot recovery

Also note that if you are using a recent CM build, which you are because you stated you have 4.0.1, then you don't need to do apps2sd, it is done automatically when you have a properly formatted ext2 or ext3 partition, which you are going to have after you follow the above steps
 
Last edited:

DirectMatrix

Senior Member
Jun 16, 2009
495
7
Norfolk, VA
I went all the way through with the guide but when i did
"mkpartfs primary ext2 1500 1999"
I recieved the following -
Error: The location 1999 is outside of the device /dev/block/mmcblk0.

Is that ok or should I start over and try something else?

sorry typo on my part....you should use 1996

You should really do some more reading into partitioning. It is quite clear that you are completely lost and just blindly following my responses which isn't a good thing. You should have some idea of the general commands we are doing here. These commands are fairly self explanatory. You should take a minute to look at the original output of the print command....This is exactly what you have according to your print command output...

Code:
Disk /dev/block/mmcblk0: 1996MB

1996mb means you have 1996mb available on your sd card, I inadvertently told you to input 1999mb because I simply copied it from the original post without paying much attention assuming you would figure it out. You really need to have a slightly better handle on this stuff before you continue.
 
Last edited: