Upgrade your G1 android phone

Note: This post is always work in progress as I will update the latest and greatest details to make upgrades smoother! (:

The general problem with people who reads forum to get information on how to upgrade their G1 android phone is that either 1) Instructions are not complete, or 2) they don't follow the instructions step-by-step. Furthermore, they don't read up enough on how to recover their phone if the upgrade fails and suffer a major PANIC.

Fortunately for me, I have done my upgrades successfully insofar. Here is a compilation of the upgrade instructions for my personal filing purpose.

Note: Your phone must be ROOTed to try the upgrades.

Step 1: Prepare your Installation

Good preparation is the key to success. Do all of these steps:

1. Prepare a microSD card reader.

2. Prepare a spare microSD card plus your primary microSD card. Your space microSD card can the stock 1GB card that comes with the phone.

3. For optimal results, have a class6 microSD card as your primary microSD card (the one that you are using on a daily basis).

4. If you have not already done so, partition your primary microSD card to:

• First partition: FAT32 -
• Second partition: EXT2/EXT3 - about 500 to 750MB
• Linux SWAP/SWAP2: 32-96MB

5. Download these files to your computer:

• Radio (latest 2.22.19.26I - download from http://code.google.com/p/sapphire-port-dream/)
• Recovery Image file (recommend Cyanogen's 1.3.1 recovery image - download from http://n0rp.chemlab.org/android/cm-recovery-1.3.1-signed.zip)
• Haykuro SPL (require for flashing HERO ROMs, cupcake versions (e.g. Cyanogen's ROM) do not need this SPL) - (latest 1.33.2005 - download from http://code.google.com/p/sapphire-port-dream/)
• The ROM which you want to upgrade to (see and download from here - http://www.simonwalkerphotos.com/android/default.asp)

7. Check your G1 phone's motherboard version.

• Power-off your phone.
• Press and hold CAMERA button and POWER/CALL-OFF button at the same time.
• The bootloader SPL should load, and the first line of SPL should tell you that the android motherboard is PVT version. If it reads "DVT..", DO NOT flash Haykuro SPL!!! If you do, your phone will 100% be BRICKED.

8. BACKUP your files.

a. Download nandroid (read the pre-requisites and instructions here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=459830 and download the file here http://dx.infernix.net/nandroid-2.0.zip). Use nandroid to backup your android phone's system fully (data.img, system.img and boot.img).

Alternatively, if you are already using JF 1.3 or Cyanogen's 1.3.1 recovery image, nandroid backup is available by doing a ALT-B at the recovery bootloader.

b. Download Backup for Root Users.apk from the Market. Use it to backup your installed apks, non-system data, market database, apn settings, browser bookmarks.

c. Update your ext2/ext3 partition manually to your desktop computer. Use these adb commands with usb connection:

• Backup:

adb remount

adb pull /system/sd/* path/to/backup/directory

• Restore:

adb remount

adb push pat/to/backup/directory/* /system/sd/

9. (Optional) Download the adb SDK and Fastboot Windows Binaries to your computer. If the upgrade fails, using this tool will be your fallback plan.

a. Fastboot Windows Binaries http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=3083753&postcount=1

b. adb SDK - search around http://code.google.com/

Step 2 - Upgrading your Phone

WARNING: Follow this step-by-step. If you can't follow instructions, DO NOT waste your hard earned money and bricked your phone.

2.0 Battery Power

ENSURE your phone has ample battery power or is plug-in to AC power. Upgrade installation that is halted because of lack of power will corrupt the system!

2.1 - Upgrade your RADIO

1. Rename the Radio file to update.zip and copy it to the root directory of your backup microSD card.

2. Poweroff your phone.

3. Press and hold HOME and POWER/CALL-OFF button until you see your recovery bootloader.

4. Do a ALT-S. Once the RADIO update is done, do a ALT-R to reboot the phone.

5. Wait 5-10 minutes for the phone to reboot successful. Go to Settings > About phone > Baseband version. It should read "62.505.20.17H_2.22.19.26I".

6. If the phone DOES NOT reboot successful and is struck at your bootloader screen (e.g. T-mobile G1 splash screen or the android splash screen), goto the RECOVERY section of this document.

2.2 - Upgrade your RECOVERY IMAGE

1. If you have already upgrade to Cyanogen's 1.3.1 recovery image, you can skip this section.

2. If not, rename the recovery image (cm-recovery-1.3.1-signed.zip) file to update.zip and copy it to the root directory of your backup microSD card.
3. Poweroff your phone.
4. Press and hold HOME and POWER/CALL-OFF button until you see your recovery bootloader.
5. Do a ALT-S. Once the recovery bootloader update is done, do a ALT-R to reboot the phone.
6. If the phone DOES NOT reboot successful and is struck at your bootloader screen (e.g. T-mobile G1 splash screen or the android splash screen), goto the RECOVERY section of this document.

2.3 - Upgrade your SPL

1. Once again, only upgrade your SPL if your phone's motherboard is PVT version and your RADIO is 2.22.19.26I or later. If you have already upgrade your SPL, you can skip this section.

2. Rename the SPL image file to update.zip and copy it to the root directory of your backup microSD card.

3. Poweroff your phone.

4. Press and hold HOME and POWER/CALL-OFF button until you see your recovery bootloader.

5. If you are using your existing microSD card filled with data from a previous ROM installation, do a ALT-W to wipe your microSD card now.

6. Do a ALT-S.

7. Once the SPL update is done, do a ALT-R to reboot the phone.

8. If the phone DOES NOT reboot successful and is struck at your bootloader screen (e.g. T-mobile G1 splash screen or the android splash screen), goto the RECOVERY section of this document.

2.4 - Upgrade your ROM

1. DO NOT upgrade to a HERO 1.5 ROM without a working Haykuro SPL installed. Haykuro SPL is required to have extra space in bootloader to accommodate the HERO ROM.

2. Rename the ROM image file to update.zip and copy it to the root directory of your backup microSD card.
3. Poweroff your phone.
4. Press and hold HOME and POWER/CALL-OFF button until you see your recovery bootloader.
5. If you are using your existing microSD card filled with data from a previous ROM installation, do a ALT-W to wipe your microSD card now.
6. Do a ALT-S.
7. Once the ROM update is done, do a ALT-R to reboot the phone.
8. If the phone DOES NOT reboot successful and is struck at your bootloader screen (e.g. T-mobile G1 splash screen or the android splash screen), goto the RECOVERY section of this document.

RECOVERY section

If you are reading this section, it means either you did not follow instructions written above, or that you are one in a million. Anyway, no point to cry over spilt milk. Let's hope you have not bricked your phone.