How To: Load a Custom ROM, Load Hero, and/or Setup Apps2SD onto Your G1 or MyTouch 3G (Best Method)
August 22, 2009 in Featured
UPDATE! PLEASE READ BEFORE CONTINUING! -
This procedure has been updated and simplified, please use one of the below procedures instead of this one:
How To: Root the HTC G1 / Dream
How To: Root the MyTouch 1.2 / Fender
(use this one if your MyTouch has a 3.5mm headphone jack at the top).
I. Load a Custom Radio (For G1 – Mandatory, For MyTouch – Skip) -
1. Check what Radio you have first!!! Turn the phone off and then back on by holding down Back and Power. At the top you should see your radio version at the top of the screen. If it says 2.22.19.26I then SKIP section this section and procedure to section II. (You do NOT want to load the same radio twice, it can cause issues).
2. Download the custom Radio for your device:
T-Mobile G1 -Â Here
MyTouch 3G - Unneccessary, skip this section and proceed to Section III.
3. Plug in your phone and mount the SD card (pull down on the notification bar and select the SD card notification then click Mount in the pop up window).
4. After the SD card shows up on the computer, put the radio zip file on to the memory card (NOT in any subfolders on the memory card, just on the memory card itself) and then rename the file to update.zip (most computers, you do not type the .zip part, it automatically puts it in for you so just as long as the file is called update and there is a Zip folder icon to the left of it still, you are fine. Leave it like that).
5. Once it is done transferring to the memory card and you have renamed it, unplug the phone from the computer.
6. Turn off the phone and then turn it back on by holding down the Home and Power button to get to recovery mode (keep holding it until the recovery screen with the writing and black background come up).
7. Once the recovery screen is up, click on Wipe Data. Once that is done, click on Apply Update.zip and wait for it to finish.
8. Once it is done, click Reboot Device (if it doesn’t reboot and shuts off instead, hit the power button as if to turn it on. WE NEED IT TO REBOOT AS IT LOADS SOMETHINGS DURING START UP).
9. Once the device has finished starting to boot up and gets to the G1 or MyTouch logo (make sure that it has rebooted once, but not all the way to the homescreen) then take out the battery and the memory card.
10. Put the memory card into the SD adapter it came with and then put that into the computer so we can load files onto it and goto the next section…
II. Load a Custom SPLÂ (For G1 – Mandatory, For MyTouch – Skip) -
1. Check what SPL you have first. Turn the phone off and then back on by holding down Back and Power. At the top you should see your SPL version at the top of the screen next to the word HBOOT. If it says 1.33.2005, then SKIP section this section and procedure to section III. (You do NOT want to load the same SPL twice, it can cause issues).
2. Download the custom SPL for your device:
T-Mobile G1 – Here
MyTouch 3G – Â Unneccessary, skip this section and proceed to Section III.
3. Plug in your phone and mount the SD card (pull down on the notification bar and select the SD card notification then click Mount in the pop up window).
4. After the SD card shows up on the computer, put the SPL zip file on to the memory card (NOT in any subfolders on the memory card, just on the memory card itself) and then rename the file to update.zip (most computers, you do not type the .zip part, it automatically puts it in for you so just as long as the file is called update and there is a Zip folder icon to the left of it still, you are fine. Leave it like that).
5. Once it is done transferring to the memory card and you have renamed it, unplug the phone from the computer.
6. Turn off the phone and then turn it back on by holding down the Home and Power button to get to recovery mode (keep holding it until the recovery screen with the writing and black background come up).
7. Once the recovery screen is up, click on Wipe Data. Once that is done, click on Apply Update.zip and wait for it to finish.
8. Once it is done, click Reboot Device (if it doesn’t reboot and shuts off and shows a black screen instead, hit the power button as if to turn it on. WE NEED IT TO REBOOT AS IT LOADS SOMETHINGS DURING START UP).
9. Once the device has finished starting to boot up and gets to the G1 or MyTouch logo (make sure that it has rebooted once, but not all the way to the homescreen. Also it may reboot to the recovery image, that is fine). Take out the battery and put it back in if it tried to goto the homescreen but got stuck at the logo.
10. Goto the next section…
III. Parition Your Memory Card for Apps2SD or Hero
1. Get into recovery mode by holding down Home and Power to turn on the phone (if you are not already there).
2. Click on Wipe Data. Once that is done, click on Format Fat32+Ext2+LinuxSwap and wait for it to format.
3. Once it is done, take out the battery and memory card and put the memory card into the SD adapter it came with and then put that into the computer so we can load files onto it and goto the next section…
IV. Load a Custom ROM (including Hero)
1. Download any custom ROM for your device (G1 ROMs for the G1, and 32B Magic ROMs for the myTouch 3G) from either our Android Downloads > ROMs Section or from Forum.XDA-Developers.com
2. Plug in your phone and mount the SD card (pull down on the notification bar and select the SD card notification then click Mount in the pop up window).
3. After the SD card shows up on the computer, put the ROM zip file on to the memory card (NOT in any subfolders on the memory card, just on the memory card itself) and then rename the file to update.zip (most computers, you do not type the .zip part, it automatically puts it in for you so just as long as the file is called update and there is a Zip folder icon to the left of it still, you are fine. Leave it like that).
4. Once it is done transferring to the memory card and you have renamed it, unplug the phone from the computer.
5. Turn off the phone and then turn it back on by holding down the Home and Power button to get to recovery mode (keep holding it until the recovery screen with the writing and black background come up).
6. Once the recovery screen is up, click on Wipe Data. Once that is done, click on Apply Update.zip and wait for it to finish.
7. Once it is done, click Reboot Device.
8. DONE! ENJOY!
*IF YOU WANT TO SWITCH TO A DIFFERENT ROM AFTER THIS, then do NOT do sections I – III, ONLY do section IV and that’s it! Easy!
Reported Issues
Issue: Internet and MMS do not work…
Solution: Goto Settings, Wireless controls, Mobile network settings, Access point names, then click Menu and click New APN.
In the appropriate fields, type the following (leave any field that is not mentioned blank).
Name: TMo
APN: epc.tmobile.com
MMSC: http://mms.msg.eng.t-mobile.com/mms/wapenc
MMS Protocol: WAP 2.0
MCC: 310
MNC: 260
Issue: I get the ! screen when I hold Home and Power instead of the recovery screen with the writing…
Solution: Go back and redo the 1 click rooting procedure. Make sure you flash the custom Amon Ra recovery image we give you to download and NOT the cyanogen image. Also make sure it says Flashed Successfully or whatever before turning off the phone.
Once it does, then turn off the phone and turn it back on holding down Home and Power. You should eventually see the custom recovery screen, if you don’t and you get the ! screen, then it didn’t work start over.
If you are using a G1, then once you get the recovery screen, leave it on the recovery screen.
Take out the memory card and put it into your computer, do Section II and load the SPL onto the memory card and rename it to update.zip.
Then put the memory card back in and while still on the recovery image, hit Wipe then hit Apply Update.zip and wait for it to finish. Once done, reboot the phone and wait until it goes back to the recovery image or gets stuck on the logo.
Once that happens take out the memory card, put it into the computer and put a ROM on it and rename it to update.zip like before. Put it back into the phone and on the recovery screen hit Wipe then Apply Update.zip. Once it is done, reboot and let it boot back to the home screen. All done!
Issue: Stuck at a logo screen or phone won’t boot up…
Solution: Boot the phone back into recovery mode (home and power) and then wipe and apply the update.zip again.
If that still doesn’t work then boot into recovery (home and power) then format SD Fat32+ext2+swap and take out the memory card once it is done, put it into your computer and load the rom onto it again. Put the sd card back into the phone, wipe and apply update.zip.
Issue: Screen goes fuzzy on a custom ROM on the myTouch…
Solution: Noone knows why this happens (we have tried a lot of different scenarios). It just seems that it happens to some phones and not to others (might be a kernel issue). So until someone figures out the issue, then do Section IV again and try to load a different Hero ROM. (*If Qtek gives you fuzzy issue then use JAC 1.5, located in our Downloads section on this site, do NOT use 1.6 it has same issue as Qtek).
Issue: I can’t find Format Fat32+Ext2+LinuxSwap.
Solution: This means you are using Amon Ras latest recovery image, he has put this option under Partition > Partition SD > then it asks you what values you want for the different partitions. Here are the standard values, but feel free to change them according to what the ROM you wish to use recommends.
LinuxSwap – 32MBs
Ext2 – 512Mbs
Fat32 – Remainder
warren said on April 25, 2010
How do I do these steps if my phone was one of the ones that had to use the gold card method to root it? My recovery screen doesn’t have the fat: files so what do I do now. I want to ad a custom rom to bypass the errors I’m getting about the kernel when trying to use the wifi tether app. Please advise. thanks
TheUnlockr said on April 25, 2010
Warren,
What phone do you have? If your have a mytouch with a 3.5mm headphone jack on it, you have a mytouch 1.2 NOT a mytouch. So look for the MyTouch 1.2 procedures in our How Tos section at the top of the page.
warren said on April 25, 2010
I have a mytouch 3g without the 3.5mm jack, but I had to go through all the GoldCard procedures to get mine rooted. Now I need a rom that with work with the wifi tether that I can add without unrooting it. Is it possible?
warren said on April 25, 2010
is there any other way to get around the kernel error when downloading the wifi tether app to create a hotspot on your mytouch 3g, other than updating the rom?
warren said on April 25, 2010
my phone came standard with the 1.6 software on it.
TheUnlockr said on April 25, 2010
Warren,
You have the new mytouch with the 3.5mm headphone jack at the top. I dont believe their is a kernel that will work for that phone and allow wifi tethering. You have to wait until someone creates the kernel then you can flash it or a rom that is based on it.
Google Wifi tether and the google code page that comes up is the home of the wifi tethering app people, they should put the kernel there once someone makes it.
warren said on April 25, 2010
Thanks for the update. I’m still a little confused though, I know the mytouch 3g I have doesn’t have the 3.5mm jack built into the top of the phone. It came with an adapter so I could use 3.5mm headphones but no hardware that is built in. I’m not sure if they just updated all of the most recent mytouch 3g’s with the new software or not, but my def doesn’t have the jack. I have been unlocking phones for some time now (iphones & Blackberry’s) So when I was going through your tutorials I was really confused because my phone was acting like the 3.5mm jack mytouch , without actually having one on it. If you think there is anything else I can try to get the tethering going please let me know, If not I appreciate all the help. Thanks
TheUnlockr said on April 25, 2010
Warren,
Interesting… thanks for the info. I’ll look into it.. These procedures need to be updated a bit anyway this week.
Can you goto your phones About in settings and post some of the info there? (Firmware version baseband etc, dont post your imei or phone specific info).
Marc said on April 27, 2010
i have the mytouch 3g. All i need is a 32b ROM or is there more specifics needed? Thanks for the first answer you gave me
TheUnlockr said on April 27, 2010
Marc,
32b roms will work, you can see our top favorites list by clicking on downloads at the top of the site, then click on android then the mytouch (not mytouch 1.2).
Jose Luna said on May 2, 2010
I can’t get past the Vodafone screen when tryint to get in recovery, i used to goldcard method to root my phone
Sapphire PVT 32B
H-boot 1.33.0009
Radio-3.22.20.17
Not sure if this is relevent, kinda new to this rooting
Jose Luna said on May 2, 2010
I am using the original mytouch 3g with software V1.5
gridlock1024 said on May 8, 2010
Hey,
I was using superD rom and decided to flash to the MLIGN rom…I got a new memory card and partitioned it to 96mb Swap, 512 ext2 and rest for Fat32 then wiped data and wiped ext, the repaired ext and flashed rom. Halfway through I got a Failure at line 80 error and installation was aborted….PLEASE HELP!!
lmt125 said on October 27, 2010
I was wondering if you got a solution to this problem? I have the superD but don’t have apps2sd on my current sd card. Wanted to switch to a bigger capacity and was thinking exactly what you have but keeping the superd…any suggestions?
David Cogen said on October 27, 2010
Search the site for How To Swap a MicroSd and you’ll find what you need
Bri said on May 24, 2010
PLEASE HELP ME
I’ve used your website for rooting my Mytouch 3G and even uploading the hero ROMS and everything has worked great!
I wanted to change ROMS to I tried the Eclair and I followed your instructions on how to add a ROM but now my phone wont let me get pass the green mytouch 3g screen…..
Taten said on May 26, 2010
I used your updated more simplified way of setting my phone but the update way does not show how to make it so you can save your apps on your SD card should I use this process?
SO SO VERY CONFUSED!!!!!!
Just want to save apps to SD card that’s all.
michael said on June 15, 2010
help me pleaseeee when i try to load the radio it says 1 finging update package
2 opening update package
E:cant open /sdcard/update.zip(no such file or directory)
installation aborted.
TheUnlockr said on June 15, 2010
Michael,
That means the file isn’t on the root of the SD card or it is not named update.zip…
If you are rooted with a custom recovery image then you should be clicking flash zip from SD and choosing the radio .zip file.
Jay said on June 19, 2010
I notice that there are alot of hero roms for the my touch 3g but i wanted the one with multi touch and with multi touch on the home screen are any of the 4 on the section of my touch roms like that?
Jay said on June 19, 2010
o well i guess its just android 2.1 with sense ui so are there any you suggest?
Ted said on June 21, 2010
Great instructions guys,
I have a question after I loaded the new rom my phone got really slow, is this normal or do I need to do somthing else?
Ted said on June 22, 2010
Why is my wi-fi not working and my phone will not rotate key pad horizontal?
David Cogen said on June 22, 2010
Ted,
Depends on the rom you loaded. You’d have to check the developers rom page for their known bugs etc. All else fails, flash a different rom.
Oscar said on June 30, 2010
ok so i just flashed the hero rom onto my mytouch.,..
but i did it a different way.. i didnt go to the command prompt and did the steps.. i just clicked on the option that it came with to update from sd card..
it all went succesfull until the phone came up to the setup screen….the screen comes out blurry unable to read it…
do u guys have any idea what it could be??? do i have to follow the steps on the vid???
mistrdirt said on July 12, 2010
quick question what radio and spl and used in this?
Breck said on July 14, 2010
Unlockr I just loaded same radio what do i do downgrade back to 26i or just keep going
David Cogen said on July 14, 2010
Breck,
Just keep going.
Hieu said on January 16, 2011
after flashing the spl, my phone is bricked. can even go onto the recovery screen when press power and home. cant downgrade when press camera and power.
Hieu said on January 16, 2011
after flashing the spl, my phone is bricked. can even go onto the recovery screen when press power and home. cant downgrade when press camera and power.