I spent the last week hacking, rooting, flashing, and unrooting my T-Mobile G1 to try and see if I could break my phone. I have been able to freely jump between any version of Android I want and never been at a point I couldn’t revert the changes. With that being said, rooting your phone should not be taken lightly. It is super easy to format your phone and erase everything, so always backup your data before attempting any hacks.
I updated one of our older root guides to show the differences between the two popular hacking methods. The older method required you to downgrade, types numerous commands, and reflash your radio and SPL updates. I would guess it took about 1hr for the average person on their first attempt.
The new hack was developed by ZenThought and uses a known exploit in the current version of Android. It simplifies the root process by replacing your recovery image with a single click. This allows you to load Cyanogen’s recovery image and flash a custom version of Android.
To demonstrate the ease of this hack, we captured the entire process on video. I was able to execute the recovery hack, wipe the phone, and install Cyanogen’s latest experiment Android build in about 6 minutes.
For more information on rooting your Android phone see our article on the cons and pros of rooting and then read our updated root guide. G1 owners will probably want to flash a new SPL file to free up more system space, but be warned it erases everything. Make sure you always read the full instructions and ask questions when you don’t understand what you are doing.
I recommend Cyanogen roms because he releases the most updates, adds new features (some from Donut), and has optimizations for speed. He maintains stable and experimental builds of his roms. Do not flash an experimental rom on your phone if you need to use it every day. The experimental builds are for testing purposes only. The current stable build is 3.6.8.1 but he is expected to release stable version 4.0 later this week.
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Clark Wimberly
Clark is a web designer and developer living in Austin, Texas. He runs ClarkLab, a small web firm with an ever-increasing Android focus. He's a big fan of usability, standards, and clean design.
90 Comments
nice
i have one mytouch 3g and i want to flash it.
Any mytouch can be flashed?
what files i to to flached?
where i download the linda file manager ?
i need something elsE?
please if you can help me. email me!
don’t flash your phone if you have to ask these questions, you’ll break it o_O
I am having some issues to root mytouch 3g. I am trying to follow all your steps.
1) I loaded linda manager.
2) Formatted SD card.
3) Copied Fash recovery pack and Any ROM zip file to SD.
3) installed Fash recover app.
4) started back,
I get error message backup failed. Let me know what to do now.
Thanks,
VJ
did you ever get it to work i keep on getting the same error message
Wow. Super Easy…..
Updated to Cyanogen 4.0 Works great on MyTouch.
Oh, and that’s only the beginning. After that you’ll find new themes and all kinds of goodies to make your android pwn iPhones.
UPDATE!!!
stable version 4.0 was just released
4.0 is out now! Also BTW what is that clock/timer running n the background?
I just got 4.0 but it doesn’t seem to have the GLOBAL SEARCH. Am I missing something?…
Global search is only in the experimental builds for now. It was causing some problems so he decided not to include it in the stable release.
That’s not sound, it’s GPS, noob. :p
Lovin the new boot logo of the past handfull of roms, but starting to miss that advanced launcher. may have to try to manually put it back in.
Does the new cyanogen rom have the multitouch capabilities in texting?
Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but I do not believe that any multi-touch keyboard has been made available yet. It would be really awesome to have, so maybe someone will whip one up.
JesusFreke’s latest ROMs have multitouch, as do a number of others.
issue with multitouch keyboard is the way MT works on the g1. it does great with diagonals at more than an inch apart, and fails when its closer than that or on a parallel or perpendicular point. When it fails, it snaps in one direction or another, sometimes to places where you arent even touching.
Just not really workable. It does GREAT for pinch zoom, but thats about it. write your congressman, see if we can get a decent MT screen with our snapdragons and 32gb internal drives.
I am having problems before I even start. App manager doesn’t see the recovery.apk program; I have stored it on the root of my sd- chris
Where can i find that wallpaper?? I’ve been looking for that for ages!!
you can get it from the Hero theme on jf’s 1.5 rom. at least that’s how i got mine.
If you install a new rom on an unlocked g1 will it get locked again?
Two quick questions. 1. Do i need to do anything to the sdhc card before i begin. And 2. will this give my phone more internal memory to or will it put the operating system on my sd card so i can receive more updates in the future, because i know that there is no more room left in the system part of the internal memory of the G1.
Once you root your phone, you are no longer eligible for the updates that were prior mentioned a couple days ago, because those are Carrier+Google assigned over-the-air updates.
You do however have the option of installing updates manually(issued by the xda developers) and yes, if things are done proper you would have room for these future updates, they just won’t be from T-Mobile.
You don’t need to do anything to the SD card if you’ve already partitioned it. Otherwise I would recommend if your internal memory is full to uninstall all of your apps and keep a list of them on paper so you can reinstall them later, then get Cyanogen’s latest recovery image 1.4 from forum.xda-developers.com, and partition the SD card, after which you would flash the ROM 4.0.1 and reboot, then your apps should be on the SD card. The data stays in the internal memory though. Then you’ll have enough space in the internal memory. For now lol. I would recommend looking up some partitioning threads on xda dev
Thanks
Do you absolutely need a Class 6 SDHC for Apps2SD to work? My mytouch3G came with 4gb class 2 and I’ve read on some sites that they are too slow to work as swap memory… I don’t want to flash to CM 4.0 if I can’t get the full benefits of the optimizations… Please let me know.
hey i did the update as told on my mt3g its taking a while to reboot is that normal
Just installed this on MT3G without any problem, except I accidentally format the SD Card. And now it is always saying “Blank SD Card – The SD card is blank or using an unsupported filesystem”. I have tried to reformatted it a couple times, or using the repair filesystem under the Cyanogen’s recovery image. What is going on??
hey ive tried a couple times with your tutorial and advice. I live in canada and my phone is the htc dream g1, firmware 1.5, baseband version 62.52s.20.18u_3.22.20.17,
kernel version 2.6.27-9af60ed4u70000@android-xo1,
build number 1.85.631.5 146733 cl#33863 release keys.
ive download all the stuff, run the recovery flasher, restored, and flashed cyanogen rec 1.4, and restart but when i restart and hold the home key and the power button it starts up but just displays the ROGERS logo from my carrier, nothing else. ive tried it a couple times and doesnt seem to work, any advice, because i really want a rooted phone. thanks
Can u download roms strate to ur phone
I have a question, [I'm brand new to rooting]
I did the one click root and am smoothly running cyanogen 4.0.1
Question is,
4.0.1 says it does apps to sd automatically, yet I still only
Have 7mb left of internal memory….
Is this normal? Or is there a way to get more internal memory?
Also is there a way to know for sure if the apps are really going to the sd or not?
Thanks and sorry if I asked in wrong place,
Its my first poast haha
You would need to partition your SD card in order for the apps to be installed there. That’s a requirement. Follow the steps in this post:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=534714
It’s kind of involved… be very patient and spare some time before doing it and do a good amount of research on what’s being mentioned in the instructions
Oh wow that was confusing….
i found this vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhHHd7Fa8eM
which made it a bit easier to understand
also would anyone recommend partitioning the original sd that came with the phone? thats the only sd i have im afraid
Is it possible to “unroot” if you have deleted the backup recovery image from your SD card. If so, would anyone mind telling me how?
Yes, it is easy to “unroot” your phone but you will lose everything when you do it. If you have a G1, the easiest method is to flash the DREAIMG.nbh file which downgrades your phone to build RC29. It will restore the original recovery, radio, spl, and operating system.
Thanks Taylor. I have one more question. Do we flash this DREAIMG.nbh file in the recovery mode the same way we install custom roms. Other instructions i have seen involve something called “boot loader”? Your help is appreciated.
Hi….I successfully flashed my G1 with Cyanogen 4 ROM. No problems….Awesome how easy it was. the youtube video helped a lot.
Question: In future, when I want to clean-up, should I NOT use Factory Reset ? Is it just best to re-flash the same or another ROM?
I have only 20 MG left. Need to partition….SOON!
Same here, flashed my UK G1 with cyanogen’s 1.4 recovery & 4.0.1 build with apps2sd, now my phone is about a billion times faster, I can finally have all the apps I have purchased & all the apps I love installed. Thanks to everyone who made all this possible, I owe you all a cold one! Tried rooting a few months back & nearly bricked the phone, took me hours & hours to get it back to the stock 1.5
P.S. my girlfriend got the CRC 37 OTA update on her G1 the morning I rooted, I presume this was released to patch the security hole that allows one click root. She won’t let me try it on her phone tho… too scared.
Any luck with rooting a htc dream in canada, from rogers. I tried this method and when i reboot, i cant get to the recovery mode (home plus power) it just stays on a rogers logo screen. Please help
I have flashed my MT3G successfully using the 1 click method, and used the Cyanogen 4.0 ROM. Worked like a champ. Only problem is I can’t use the Better Keyboard app. I also tried to use the HTC keyboard found in Haykuru’s builds, but can’t get it to work either. Any ideas?
Actually allow me to clarify. I was able to redownload the Better Keyboard, was able to select it for use, and select the skin I wanna use for it. But when I go to type, it’s just the standard issue keyboard. I have tried rebooting the phone, it makes no diff
Same thing here… installed Cyano’s 4.0.4 stable ROM and the Better Keyboard functionality is not working. It installs fine every time, and I’m able to edit all the settings under tools>locale, but when I go to use the keyboard, it’s the original default keyboard. Any ideas?
My G1 says it is firmware 1.5 and CRC1
That “1″ seems odd — am I safe to do this hack on it?
thanks
Yes, the 1-click hack works on build CRC1.
Whatever happened to flashing a different SPL? Am I missing something here?
That’s EXACTLY what i’m trying to find out. In the XDA forums they all say you still have to flash a different SPL and a radio… How come they’re skipping that in this 6 minute video. Is it OK to skip it now if I’m gonna go straight from rooting to installing 4.0.1?
Is there an easy way to restore all of your Apps / Data after you’ve flashed a new ROM to your phone???
hey! did this and it worked perfectly. the cyanogen rom is unstoppable.
hey clark, where did you get the wallpaper from the pre-rooting section of the video?
so this includes everything in cupcake? & umm after this can you put the palm pre or hero rom up here without have to rooting first ? besides wallpapers, and a couple of widgets whats so different ? Email : delayynee@gmail.com THANKS !
Can someone give me a link or tell me exactly what files i need to save before i start this im confused and very new to this but just neet to know where i can find files someone email plz alvarez_juanita@sbcglobal.net thanx.
Hey Taylor,
My phone: G1, firmware 1.5 and CRC1. I followed the steps/video. Went to reboot to system and it hands after seeing the G1 logo and Android displayed as shown in the video. But that’s about it, nothing else? Thanks in advance.
-Mig
Quick question, will the apps I already paid for continue to work after I root the mt3g?
Yes, you can always re-download paid apps. They are tied to your Google account and you will always have access to them.
There is one hiccup with this process though- all your ringtones (including stock tmobile ones) get wiped out.
You need to download the audio package separately from the xda-developers site for cyanogen 4.0.1 and install it in your sd card after you are done with everything.
When I took a look at ZenThought’s website, I noticed that the exploit this 6 minute process uses has been fixed in Android post-August 2009. I have a MT3g that I bought on rollout day on 5 August. I expect that this is a pre-Aug. version, but I was curious if anyone who took delivery on 5 August from T-mobile has tried this method.
ok i installed the Recovery flasher easily but after it says done and it wont allow me to launch it? What do I do?
So I have a rooted G1 and I am running CM 4.0.1 with the Palm theme. When I try to update the recovery image it says “trouble parsing package,” which is a problem I havent run into before. Any thoughts? Do I need to rename the file? Thanks
Thank you for this article!
So, once I’ve done the steps and gotten cyanogen on the phone, does that mean the phone is truly rooted? Or just that I have another version of the OS on the thing and it’s not rooted? E.g. if an app or something is available for rooted phones, or I want to install something like Hebrew fonts, do I already now have root access? I’ve seen much more extensive steps for rooting and wanted to know whether this replaces those, or whether this is just an OS-swap.
Dont work for me! I have a Tmobile G1 Us and when I try to flash a Rom appears an error. Any Suggestion?
Having the same issue as brent.
Htc dream from rogers. Follow the steps but when I boot into recovery it freezes on the rogers screen. Reset phone to factory and formatted the sd card. Same result.
Friend in the uk was hacking his at the same time and it worked perfect. What’s going on?
Hello does this method works on UK T-Mobile G1??????
i have a g1 crc1. will this work?
Yes.
Will this method work to flash a Hero ROM to a t-mobile mytouch?
Ok i have a crisp un modded/rooted G1 and wish to do the process above but 1st I dont know how to begin being that i dont know the where to get the 2 files he speaks of in the beging well 1 of them actually i have the Rom i just dont know what to get before it
Get the FlashRec file here:
http://zenthought.org/content/project/flashrec
Tried this on T-Mobile MyTouch. But after flashing recovery image, then power off and power on holding ‘home’, it just freezes on screen with ‘Build: CyanogenMod…’ on the bottom, but the rest of the screen is blank! No options, etc.
Any ideas?
Just tried it again — but took out battery after power down — and it worked … on to flashing the cyanogen …
I got a problem and need some help i downloaded cyn program for the roms and i have the 2 things on my sd card but wen i open the flash thing on my g1 it force closes before i can even see the screen .. what am i doing wrong can some1 please email me and help me out at itsyaboywylie@gmail.com
hey can someone answer my question i bought a 4 gb class 2 sd card (idk why) and it is partitioned i hear people saying that you cant have cyanogens rom with a class 2 gb card so is this true or not will it still work good?
Helpp.. I just did all this and it worked perfectly, now i tryed to use jachero firm ware 2.7 and its taking for ever to boot is there a problem should i keep waiting if it wont boot what do i do?
can you update the video?
OK, i tried to do this root, but everytime i get to the reboot menu, and the “apply from any zip” there is nothing in there, but i was able to flash the build earlier. Can someone tell me what im doing wrong, or where to get the files that work on my G1 32B
thanks
Will this work on MyTouch 1.5 Build: C0C10 Kernel: 2.3.27?
And if you brick your phone can you still format and re-install something else? I know with BB you could.
hi, i have g1 rooted with the “Dude’s Cupcake 1.0″ rom: I read that to use this method i have to do the downgrade to rc29 (wait for the OTA update) and after that use this method… is it true?
I’m interested in change my Recovery image, can i use this method with the rom i currently run? Thanks in advance alex.clio@gmail.com
I was trying to figure out how to install apps to the sd card. Do I have to do this to be able to, or is there another way?
Thanks
Will this work for a G1 without a data plan, running the Donut 1.6?
Will this work with a G1 running donut 1.6? If not how do I downgrade back to 1.5?
do we need to partition a Untouch HTC MYTOUCH please help if it will make it faster????
Hi Can you flash a Hero ROM to a rooted Mytouch3G? If so can someone please point out the links?
Thank You
I need immediately help. rooted device and updated ROM. But device didn’t come up got stuck at mytouch 3g. I took out batter couple of times and started again. Now device doesn’t even power on. I need immediately help. I want to know if device has been bricked. Please reply on vijay_k@hotmail.com and let me know what to do and how to proceed.
Thanks,
Vijay
I need your help to unbrick my mytouch 3g. I bricked my myTouch trying to gain root access.
Now the phone wont even turn on. When I plug the usb cable to the phone and pc the led at the top of the phone turns orange and then I can do the volume down + power button.
So I can’t access bootloader or recovery. The only thing that works is the blue led trick when pressing trackball + power button.
I tried below procedure to recover but it didn’t work.
Step 1: Turned Phone off by taking out the battery.
Step 2: Prepared SD card
Put SD card in card reader and formatted it as FAT32, copied the DREAIMG.nbh onto it.
Step 3: Put SD card back in phone
Step 4: Hold Vol down + Power + track ball together and put batter to start phone
Step 5: Run update
Please reply on vakkaka@yahoo.com and let me know what to do and how to proceed.
Thanks in advance.
Steve
Hey, what is the light heart great background music?
Can anyone please help me root my a T-mobile My Touch 3G Phone or at least walk me through it. I will pay!! LOL I’m just so scared to do it on my own LOL Please help me
hey Alice its easy to do what i did was have two micro SD card one for the downgrade from 1.6 to 1.4 then i did the one touch rooting (new rom) it was easy. i have done it to a few other mt3g and never had any problems.
here read this link http://wiki.cyanogenmod.com/index.php/Main_Page
if this dont work email me, and i will help u with it from e-mail.