I am sorry if the following notes Greek to you, but if it is then you should probably get a bit more acquainted with the Android updating tutorials at the XDA Developers Forum. After all, you don’t want to brick your phone – not a pleasant situation I would imagine (knock on wood!)
So tonight I followed the instructions to update my HTC Dream’s radio in order to bypass having to install Roger’s extremely annoying 911 update. The ultimate goal is to get data functionality back on my phone and since everything worked perfectly I can now confirm I have the right radio version – no problem at all.
Here is the tutorial I used: Updating Rogers Dream Radio
The rest of these notes are based entirely on that tutorial which worked like a dream (pun intended). Also, you may wonder why the heck I published this… the fact is I don’t always recall all of my previous steps and this seems like a great way to post something like a journal entry for myself later while also showing (anyone interested) how my process went. Oh, and if you want to jump to the one little piece of help I provide in this post, just jump to the content in red.
Part 1- Prerequisites
- Rogers HTC Dream that has already been rooted using either the original EBI0 method or the EBI1 method on this wiki. If you haven’t rooted yet and are running a Rogers stock firmware version from before Jan 2010 see Full Update Guide – Rogers Dream EBI1 to CyanogenMod. If your build number in settings, about phone is 1.89.631.1 you are running Rogers latest firmware update which currently is not rootable.
- A computer with Windows, Linux or Mac and a USB cable to connect your phone to it for using fastboot.
- CyanogenMod 4.2.x, or you need to find a different compatible EBI1 kernel patch for your rom. Alternately, flash CyanogenMod onto your phone before continuing this guide.
I fit the bill perfectly; my rooted phone was running CM-4.2.12.1.
Part 2 – Preparations
You first must determine your SPL and radio version.
- Shut down your phone and, while holding the Camera button on the side of the phone, turn it on again. Do not release the Camera button until you arrive at a white screen with skateboarding androids along the bottom.
- If your HBOOT version is 1.33.2005, 1.33.2009, or 1.33.2010 this tells you that you have the correct engineering SPL and you can go on with the process. If your HBOOT version reads 1.33.0010, 1.33.0009 or similar, you are still on a Rogers stock SPL. You need to follow the steps in Full Update Guide – Rogers Dream EBI1 to CyanogenMod to flash an engineering SPL and CyanogenMod onto your phone. You can only do this if you have an older firmware as stated above.
- There are also two lines below that show your radio version. If you have 2.22.19.26I you are on EBI0 and will need to follow extra steps as shown below. If you have 3.22.20.17 you are on EBI1 and do not need to follow the extra steps below. If you have 3.22.26.17 you are already on the new radio and do not need this guide.
My HBOOT version is 1.33.2005 so all good there but unfortunately, my phone was on EBI0 so I was not happy to see I had extra steps to deal with. It was, however, nice to see the ultimate goal… to have radio 3.22.26.17 which would get Rogers to unlock my data!! Anyway, time to press onwards…
Set up fastboot on your computer:
- Download the fastboot utility from http://developer.htc.com/adp.html#s2 for your operating system and place it in a convenient directory.
- If using Windows, you also need http://hotfile.com/dl/21083613/a828c81/AdbWinApi.dll.html in the same directory.
- If using Windows, install the USB Driver from http://www.anddev.org/download.php?id=449.
- If using Linux see http://developer.android.com/guide/developing/device.html#setting-up.
I already had this all installed from back when I rooted my phone – so all is good here.
Download Radio Image:
- Download the 3.22.26.17 radio from here, rename it to radio.img and place it in the same directory as fastboot. (Mirror 1)(Mirror 2)
Extra files to download only if you are coming from EBI0:
- Download Amon_RAs Rogers Dream Recovery (recovery-RA-dream-v1.5.2R.img) from here (Be sure to download the one with a “R” at the end) (Mirror 1) (Mirror 2)
- Rename this file to recovery.img and place it in the fastboot directory.
- Download the EBI1 port file for your version of CyanogenMod. The version for the latest version of CyanogenMod is at: latest version. Older versions can be found at the development thread at xda forums. This is required to allow the CyanogenMod ROM to boot on a phone with an EBI1 kernel.
- Copy this to the root of your sd card (not in a folder).
All pretty straightforward stuff… unfortunately I could not find the EBI1 port file on the link provided. SO, if you are in the same position I was, here is a link to an XDA forum page where there is a comprehensive list of CyanogenMod port files including the EBI1 port file I needed for CM-4.2.12.1
Next, I followed the great step-by-step instructions presented in “Flash the Radio (from EBI0)” and after it was all done the phone took A LONG time to boot up but now it is live and all is good 🙂
After I was sure everything worked okay, I checked the radio version and was delighted to see that my phone was, indeed, running the necessary 3.22.26.17 radio that Rogers will happily recognize and unlock my data!!