[Guide] Rooting and Flashing Hero

[djunio]

Most people here are not from the XDA or have not even heard of it so this guide will help you root as well as flash Hero. You need to be rooted to flash this or any other Rom. This entire first set of steps was taken from the XDA, Koush posted this November 4th 2008, this is almost perfect and I see no reason to modify or change it. Here’s how you get Root:
Why should you root your Dream/G1?

• You can install a full Linux distribution, like Debian.
• You can run applications that require root, like Screenshot and Auto Rotate your Browser and or any other application.
• You can install the latest Android build directly from the Android source tree.
• Customize your boot image.
• Create full backups of the state of your phone.
• Create custom ROMs.
• Install Applications to your SD Card to save space.
• Use your phone as a tether to connect your computer/laptop to the internet.
• Turn your phone into a wireless router that provides internet access.

Well, hopefully one of those reasons convinced you to get root access on your phone!


Preparing to Get Root on your Phone
Getting root on your phone involves exploiting a security hole that existed in an early version of Android. The versions with the security holes are known as RC19, RC28, and RC29 (or RC7 or lower for UK phones). As of RC30 (RC8 on UK), Google patched the security hole so that your phone can not be rooted (don't worry, we can still root it!).
To check your version, go to the Home Screen, click your menu button, choose "Settings", and then click "About phone". You will then see the following screen:
[IMG]file:///C:/Users/David/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image001.gif[/IMG]

If you have US-RC30/UK-RC8 or higher, you will first need to downgrade your phone to a previous version. (Skip these steps otherwise)

1. Format your phone's SD card to FAT32 mode:
   
   • Hook your phone up to your computer using a USB cable and then wait for the notification to show up in your title bar of your phone.
   • Click the notification, and then click "Mount".
   • A new removable disk should show up on your computer. Right click it and select Format, and select FAT32 as the file system type.
2. Download and unzip the RC29 or RC7 image file. Copy the DREAMIMG.nbh file to the SD card. (RC29 for US, RC7 is for UK)
3. Turn the device power off.
4. Hold Camera button, and press Power button to entry bootloader mode. You should see a gray/white screen with instructions to flash your phone with the update on your SD card. If you don't see that, make sure you followed the instructions properly.
5. As per the on-screen instructions, press the Power button to start upgrade procedure. DO NOT DO ANYTHING TO INTERRUPT THIS PROCESS.
6. After it is finished, perform the restart your phone.

Rooting your RC29 or lower phone:
On RC29 phones and lower, anything you type into your keyboard is also being run in a hidden console with root permissions. More information regarding that at the bottom of this post. But, to get root access, do the following:

Instructions:

1. Download recovery.img and copy it to your SD card (see the previous instructions on how to copy from your computer to your Phone's SD card).
2. Download the Hard SPL and copy the zip file to the SD card.
3. All files must be on the root of your SD card.
4. Restart your phone. Wait for your phone to start up fully and show the home screen.
5. After your phone starts up, hit the enter key twice, type "telnetd" and press enter. (Yes, it will start up a contact search, don't worry. Just type it.)
6. Download an Android "Telnet" application from the Market and connect to localhost.
7. If you connect successfully, you will have a root prompt "#".
8. Type the following into Telnet (these commands will give you root access easier in the future):
   
   • mount -o rw,remount -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock3 /system
   • cd sdcard
   • flash_image recovery recovery.img
   • cat recovery.img > /system/recovery.img

Now you have root!
Most people get stuck on step 8, if you do, don’t worry just use unlocker.
Heres the link for unlocker, once you are on RC 29 or RC 7 if you are not in the U.S. you can use this, it has helped many people root from here.
http://theunlockr.com/2009/08/22/how...-in-one-click/
Now time for the real stuff.
Get Amon RA’s recovery
This is a custom recovery based on Cyanogen's recovery source.
The purpose of this recovery is to avoid using the console by accessing all features directly from the menu.

Use the trackball (up+down) to navigate through the menu, press the trackball to select items.
You can also use the volume keys (vol-up + vol-down) to navigate, and the CALL-ANSWER key to select items (in case your trackball is broken).

DO NOT USE the recovery command to return back from console to recovery! Use the reboot command instead! Some scripts (like nandroid) will not work properly if you do so!

Always check recovery.log before posting your issues!

Features

• full ADB access in recovery mode
• Busybox v1.15.2 *UPDATE
• HW-Key navigation (volume keys + CALL-ANSWER) option
• Extended menu (with keyboard-shortcuts):
  
  • [HOME+Back] Reboot system now :: reboot your phone
  • [Alt+X] Go to console :: bring up the console
  • [Alt+T] USB-MS Toggle :: enable/disable USB mass storage (use when the phone is connected to your PC) *UPDATE
  • [Alt+B] Backup/Restore
    
    • [Alt+0] Nandroid backup :: Make a Nand backup (including Splash) *UPDATE
    • [Alt+1] Nandroid restore :: Restore a Nand backup
    • [Alt+2] Nand. rest. no recovery :: Restore a Nand backup without restoring the recovery (prevents restoring old recovery) *NEW
    • [Alt+3] BART backup :: Make a BART backup (Nand + ext)
    • [Alt+4] BART restore :: Restore latest BART backup
  • [Alt+F] Flash zip from sdcard :: Flash a zip update file from your sdcard
  • [Alt+W] Wipe
    
    • [Alt+0] Wipe data/factory reset :: Wipe /data and /cache
    • [Alt+1] Wipe Dalvik-cache :: Wipe Dalvik-cache both on /data and ext *UPDATE
    • [Alt+2] Wipe SD:ext partition : Wipe the ext partition on your sdcard
    • [Alt+3] Wipe battery stats : Wipe the battery stats in /data
    • [Alt+4] Wipe rotate settings : Wipe the sensor settings in /data
  • [Alt+P] Partition sdcard
    
    • [Alt+0] Partition SD :: Interactive SD partitioning
    • [Alt+1] Repair SD:ext :: Repair the ext partition
    • [Alt+2] SD:ext2 to ext3 :: Convert ext2 to ext3
    • [Alt+3] SD:ext3 to ext4 :: Convert ext3 to ext4
  • [Alt+O] Other *NEW
    
    • [Alt+0] Fix apk uid mismatches :: Does extacly that
    • [Alt+1] Move apps+dalv to SD :: Moves all apps and Dalvik-cache to sdcard (This will NOT enable apps2sd!) *NEW
    • [Alt+2] Move recovery.log to SD :: Moves the recovery log file to your sdcard. (Use when you want more detailed recovery log information) *NEW
• Scripts available from console :
  
  • BART v1.0.1 (Backup and Restore Tool) : enter "utility" to start.
  • switchrom.sh V1.1 : enter "switchrom" or "u" to start.
  • sdparted v0.6 : enter "sdparted" to start. *UPDATE

Install

There are several ways to install a custom recovery, choose the one that suits you most (I probably forgot a few).
Just ignore the errors you get with the "mount -a" command, those are normal.

via adb -> Requires a custom recovery (with test-keys) like Cyanogen's v1.4 or my previous recovery
Code:
Copy recovery-RA-dream-v1.4.0.img to the root of your sdcard
Boot into your current custom recovery (boot while holding HOME)
Connect your G1 via usb to your pc/mac/...
adb shell
$su (not required if you have root already)
#mount -a (ignore errors)
#flash_image recovery /sdcard/recovery-RA-dream-v1.4.0.img

via console -> Requires root
Code:
Copy recovery-RA-dream-v1.4.0.img to the root of your sdcard
Boot into your current custom recovery (boot while holding HOME)
select console from the menu
$su (not required if you have root already)
#mount -a (ignore errors)
#flash_image recovery /sdcard/recovery-RA-dream-v1.4.0.img

via terminal -> Requires root
Code:
Copy recovery-RA-dream-v1.4.0.img to the root of your sdcard
start the terminal app
$su (not required if you have root already)
#mount -a (ignore errors)
#flash_image recovery /sdcard/recovery-RA-dream-v1.4.0.img

via fastboot -> Requires engineerings SPL!
Code:
Copy recovery-RA-dream-v1.4.0.img to a location where fastboot can find it.
Boot your G1 into fastboot mode (boot while holding BACK)
Connect your G1 via usb to your pc/mac/...
fastboot devices (to make sure that fastboot "sees" your device)
fastboot flash recovery recovery-RA-dream-v1.4.0.img

Download

ALWAYS check the md5sum to make sure the zip isn't corrupted.
Click on the Mirror-link if you don't like rapidshare

Latest :

• recovery-RA-dream-v1.4.0.img (Mirror) - MD5Sum: 205CF07102FE5074DD9262914BD793EF

Old versions :

• recovery-RA-dream-v1.3.2.img (Mirror) - MD5Sum: c43e871e1df1bfafb280825289bed099
• recovery-RA-dream-v1.2.3.img (Mirror) - MD5Sum: 28FE7CDD202EE7F25E7ECD43456ED3BD
• recovery-RA-dream-v1.2.2.img (Mirror) - MD5Sum: 6638ef97b9a251558c8f3eba79333d46

Once you have this spl you need to partition your sdcard into 3 parts
1.Boot into recovery by powering on while holding the home button
2.Choose Part SD:fat32+ext2+swap
3.If it ask you what size to make your ext make it 500mb
4.If it ask you what size swap make it 128mb
5.Once that’s done choose Convert ext2 to ext3
If it did it for then you have 32mb and that is not enough for Hero and you have to make custom sizes: This will format your card and erase everything on it.
Example for 8GB card (this example plays it safe and will leave a small amount leftover regardless of the 8GB card)

Reboot and enter recovery
Enter console
#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
rm 3
mkpartfs primary fat32 0 7200
mkpartfs primary ext2 7200 7700
mkpartfs primary linux-swap 7700 7828

#print (to verify we have the 3 partitions)

Example for my 4GB card

#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
rm 3
mkpartfs primary fat32 0 3420
mkpartfs primary ext2 3420 3932
mkpartfs primary linux-swap 3932-4060

Example for a 2GB card playing it safe

#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
rm 3
mkpartfs primary fat32 0 1200
mkpartfs primary ext2 1200 1700
mkpartfs primary linux-swap 1700-1828

Example for a 1GB card

#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
rm 3
mkpartfs primary fat32 0 392
mkpartfs primary ext2 392 892
mkpartfs primary linux-swap 892 1020


"End?" you need to place the last value for the linux swap eg.4060 for my 4GB card

#print (to verify we have the 3 partitions)

Next we need to "quit" parted and upgrade our ext2 partition to ext3

#upgrade_fs

Install the latest radio Most phones have it but be safe and install it anyway
http://sapphire-port-dream.googlecod..._22_19_26I.zip

Get the sapphire spl

1.Make sure you have a PVT board in your phone DVT will surely brick you.
2.While the phone is off, power on while holding the camera button.
3.The top line should read: Dream PVT 32B ENG S-Off
4.If your read different you are ok as long as you see PVT, if it says DVT do not proceed.
5.If you have a PVT download the sapphire SPL http://sapphire-port-dream.googlecod...spl-signed.zip
6.Boot into recovery mode by holding the home button while powering on the phone.
7.Choose Apply sdcard:update choose zip and the select the spl you just downloaded.
Now you can download and flash Hero, I recommend SenseHero
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=574526

When flashing any new rom to avoid problems:
wipe data
wipe ext
wipe dalvik cache
repair ext
wipe data again
then flash

all of this can be done from amon ra's recovery

[djunio]

I know this may look like alot but its really not. Its essentially 5 steps
1.root
2.upgrade to amon recovery
3.partition your sd into 3 parts, fat32, ext and swap
4.get the spl
5.and flashing hero

If you need help I will be monitoring this thread and there are many people here that can help. Or if you have a magic or mytouch we can get you hero as well and you will have all the features including bluetooth.

[cmbarry1]

A nice all in one wrap up of things to do for the noobs..they get confused when you send them the 5 different links separately :P

well done djuino

[danguyf]

fash - noun. A worry; trouble; bother.

fash - verb. To worry; to bother, annoy.

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fash


^_^

[djunio]

A nice all in one wrap up of things to do for the noobs..they get confused when you send them the 5 different links separately :P

well done djuino

Thanks, all those different places does confuse alot of people.

fash - noun. A worry; trouble; bother.

fash - verb. To worry; to bother, annoy.

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fash


^_^

lol, I was moving too fast, um sure a staff member can add the l in fashing

[quint9]

Thanks for the info djunio. I tried this process but I must have done something wrong. The first thing I know I did wrong was that I partitioned the SD card right from the recovery menu, then I also tried to do it manually (I know, im a dummy). I felt like that is what you were telling me to do in your instructions until I read it more carefully. Anyway, I ended up with a formatted SD card. Then, I got the card partitioned like you described and flashed the SenseHero 1.4 Theme on the phone but it just didn't want to boot up right. I kept getting a black screen and several force close errors. I don't know what I did. Am I supposed to install one of the no wipe updates? What am I doing wrong?
I am trying to go back to Cyanogen 4.2.6 now so I have a place to start over again. I hope that works but I am stuck at the G1 screen now. Help please

[djunio]

Thanks for the info djunio. I tried this process but I must have done something wrong. The first thing I know I did wrong was that I partitioned the SD card right from the recovery menu, then I also tried to do it manually (I know, im a dummy). I felt like that is what you were telling me to do in your instructions until I read it more carefully. Anyway, I ended up with a formatted SD card. Then, I got the card partitioned like you described and flashed the SenseHero 1.4 Theme on the phone but it just didn't want to boot up right. I kept getting a black screen and several force close errors. I don't know what I did. Am I supposed to install one of the no wipe updates? What am I doing wrong?
I am trying to go back to Cyanogen 4.2.6 now so I have a place to start over again. I hope that works but I am stuck at the G1 screen now. Help please

the card partitioning is from me, before you flash, boot into recovery, wipe the data, wipe ext, wipe dalvik then repair the ext then wipe data again

[quint9]

Ok djunio. I think I've got it now. The problem I had, along with the mistakes on the SD card, was that I didnt do a wipe before I flashed the SenseHero. It seems to be working now. Thank you for all the help. As I said before, You're The Cat's Ass, lol.

[djunio]

LOL, might put that in my sig 2, let me know how it go, um on my way to the SenseHero thread

[djunio]

if there is any staff around can u please edit my title, i left out the l in flashing(this is becoming a daily thing lol)