WARNING: This tutorial is for RogersDream users only! It does not apply to G1/dream users. If your wireless telephone carrier is not Rogers, this tutorial is not for you!
This how-to/tutorial's intent is to provide clear/safe/concise steps for Rogers users to keep root, update to the latest RogersRadio & Build and get your data connection back from Rogers, while keeping your root! Since I do not want to dis-rotate on the various potential setups you may or may not have currently installed, this is a start-to-finish guide. Meaning, this guide will work, so long as you are ALREADY ROOTED! If you're not already rooted, <this apparently is not solved yet, sorry>).
The only other note I'll make is that if you currently already have the latest RogersRadio installed (3.22.26.17), the ENG-1.33.2005-SPL and a testkeys recovery image (Amon_RA's 1.5.2R preferred) you may directly proceed to installing a rooted/custom ROM made specifically for EBI1 device layouts.
In order to determine what your RogersDream currently has installed on it, perform the following.
1) Determine Radio & SPL Version.
- PowerOff your phone.
- Press and Hold your Camera button and tap the power button, this will load the bootloader.
- Read the versions, if you see "RADIO-3.22.26.17" and "HBOOT-1.33.2005", then you have the proper radio/spl, if not, perform the steps in this guide.
2) Determine Recovery Image Version.
- PowerOff your phone.
- Press and Hold the Home button and tap the power button, this will load the recovery image.
- If you see "Build: RA-dream-v1.5.2R" at the bottom of your screen, you have the correct recovery image. If you see a Triangle with an "!" mark or you see nothing at all after the Rogers SPLASH SCREEN, perform the steps in this guide.
General Step Sections
1) Backup your phone and sdcard, just to be safe!
2) Charge your battery fully!
3) Gather/Download the prerequisite files/tools, check the MD5's, unpack and copy to your sdcard.
4) Downgrade your RogersDream to gain root and ensure proper EBI1 setup/layout.
5) Install flashrec to install Amon_RA's 1.5.2R recovery image.
6) Upgrade/Convert your SPL to 1.33.2005 ENG, to ensure root going forward.
7) Install Rogers latest Radio Update, version 3.22.26.17.
8) Confirm everything updated correctly.
9) Install Custom/Rooted ROM w/EBI1 kernel support.
THE GUIDE
Section 1) Backup your phone and sdcard, just to be safe!
a) Seriously do this! Backup whatever you deem necessary on the phone, however you see fit. This guide is not meant to walk you through this process. One suggestion though, if you're currently rooted, perform a nandroid backup in recovery, then backup all of your sdcard's contents to a computer. If you need help with this step, search around. If that doesn't help, then perhaps rooting (or this guide) is not for you, perhaps.
Section 2) Charge your battery fully!
a) Seriously do this! Just make sure you have well over 90% battery charge, just to be 100% safe. Also make sure you're battery is very secure during this process, meaning never pull the battery and if you know that your battery is prone to falling out or something like that, fix it somehow b/c you don't want it falling out during this process, k? Nuf Said.
Section 3) Gather/Download the prerequisite files/tools, check the MD5's, unpack and copy to your sdcard.
a) You're going to need adb setup and functioning for section #5, in order to install flashrec w/out a data connection. You *may* be able to get installed via wifi, by downloading it directly from the internet, but don't count on this!!! I will only cover the adb method in this how-to. So get adb installed on your computer and test/make-sure it functions before following this guide! If you don't get adb tested/installed before going through with this guide, you'll be stuck at section-#5 until you do! If you need help with this step, search around. There is plenty of information on xda for getting adb setup and tested.
b) Download this ZIP file, check it's MD5 checksum and make sure it matches the one in this post! If it matches, great!, unpack the contents and copy them to your phone's sdcard. If it doesn't match, redownload the ZIP file. You will need approxiately 114MB of freespace on your phone's sdcard for the unpacked contents.
Rogers_RootUpdate_SDCARD_files.zip
MD5: 013ed64ca02dbebb5e49a8a8474bebe1
I) Files in the zip that need to be copied to your phone's sdcard are ...
--- DREAIMG.nbh
--- ar152r-rec.img
--- rogers_radio_3.22.26.17_update.zip
--- rogers_spl_1.33.2005_update.zip
c) Download this flashrec.apk, check it's MD5 checksum and make sure it matches! Keep this handy on your computer to install with adb later.
flashrec.apk
MD5: 4634f88b8dfdb2332b447c0d85ff4bb6
Secion 4) Downgrade your RogersDream to gain root and ensure proper EBI1 setup/layout.
a) PowerOff your phone.
b) Press and Hold the Camera button and tap the Power button, this will boot into the bootloader.
c) At this point the bootloader should automagically detect the presence of DREAIMG.nbh on the sdcard and prompt you to "update" your phone with the message, "Do you want to start update?". It should say "<ACTION> Yes" and "<POWER> No". Press the rollerball in (this is the action button) to begin the update.
d) The update process will begin (really a downgrade to version 146733-1.85.631.5) ... it will go through the update process, wait till this process is 100% finished! You will be prompted once it is finished, with a reboot prompt with a similar "<ACTION> YES" and "<POWER> NO" prompt. Go ahead and reboot by pressing the rollerball.
e) You are now downgraded and ready to root.
Section 5) Install flashrec to install Amon_RA's 1.5.2R recovery image.
a) Once your phone is booted up, skip through the setupwizard by hitting the series of skip and next buttons.
b) Go into Settings, Applications and check the box for "Unknown sources", press 'OK' at the prompt.
c) Then press the "Development" button and check the box for "USB debugging".
d) Plug your phone into your computer via the USB cable.
e) Install flashrec.apk via adb with the command "adb install flashrec.apk". You should receive a success message and be able to confirm that "Recovery Flasher" is installed by viewing the phone's apps now.
f) Launch the "Recovery Flasher" app.
g) If there is a URL in the textedit box, remove (backspace it) completely. And enter the following
This should change the "Download Recovery Image" button into the "Flash Recovery Image" button. If not, make sure you typed the above properly and have that file on your sdcard.
h) Now press the "Backup Recovery Image", which will backup the original image, once it's complete the "Flash Recovery Image" button will enable itself.
i) Press the "Flash Recovery Image" button, which will install Amon_RA's v1.5.2R recovery image. Let it finish, you now have a rooted recovery image installed.
Proceed to section-#6.
Section 6) Upgrade/Convert your SPL to 1.33.2005 ENG, to ensure root going forward.
a) PowerOff your phone.
b) Press and Hold the Home button and tap the power button, this will load Amon_RA's recovery image.
c) Use the rollerball to scroll down the "[Alt+F] Flash zip from sdcard" option and press-in on the rollerball.
d) You should see an entry in the list labeled "SDCARD:rogers_spl_1.33.2005_upd", roll the rollerball over this to highlight it and press-in on the rollerball.
e) You will prompted to confirm your selection, ensure the prompt says "SDCARD:rogers_spl_1.33.2005_update.zip" and if so, press the Home button to confirm.
f) It will flash through quickly with a message indicating "Extracting hboot image ..." and then a message saying "Reboot via home+back or menu to complete installation".
g) The rollerball will already have the top option highlighted "[Home+Back] Reboot system now", press in the on the rollerball. You should quickly see "writing hboot image ..." on the bottom ... followed by a quick reboot showing an "HTC" logo ... followed by another reboot which returns to Amon_RA's recovery. Proceed to section-#7.
(SEE POST #3 for Next Steps)