[Galaxy S I9000 General] rschenck:
OK, the CM7 ROM for the Samsung Galaxy S i9000 has now hit the CM7 Mainstream and has matured in leaps and bounds over the last few weeks. The installation method has therefore ALSO matured by leaps and bounds.

However, there has been a downside to all that advancement...namely that there are lots and lots of incorrect install procedures floating around out there and even more misunderstandings as to what/how/when/why you install CM7 on your SGS i9000.

Therefore, this is intended to be the definitive guide about how to install CyanogenMod 7 (or CyanogenMod 7.1 if you are a stickler for such things since that is the most recent stable version but for the purposes of this guide it is STILL CM7) on the i9000 right here, right NOW. As things change, the first post of this thread will be updated.

If you have any questions/comments about the CM7 install procedure, post them here.

If you have any questions/comments about CM7's features, capabilities, battery life or anything OTHER THAN installing it...look HERE or HERE.

Before we do anything....make sure of the following:

* Your phone is fully charged.

* You have confirmed you can get into download/recovery with the three button method.

* You have used Titanium Backup to backup your apps (yes, there may be some factory defaulting happening soon).

* You have taken a Nandroid backup via Clockwork Mod, just in case the early steps go south.

* You have used a third party program to back up your SMS messages (if so desired)

* You have made your peace with your loved ones and said all your goodbyes...maybe left a nice note or something.

Remember, this will be one of the most harrowing, horrific experiences of your life. Grown men have been known to gnaw off their own legs during this procedure, unable to face the deepening horror their feeble minds cannot hope to comprehend.

Are you SURE you want to install CM7?

Very, VERY SURE?

OK, its your funeral, I am just here for the open bar.

OK, here we go....

FIRST STEP!!!!! THE PRE-INSTALLATION TANGO!!!!

Boy are you lucky to be doing this now. Recently CM7 was improved so that it works just fine with either Froyo or Gingerbread Bootloaders. It used to be that when you installed CM7 with Gingerbread bootloaders, a puppy died in agony. Now, the cuddly little puppies are safe thanks to the hard work of the CM7 Devs.

However, if for some strange reason you have still have Eclair installed currently, smash your head repeatedly against a wall for being such a stinking Luddite. Once you wake up, update to Froyo or Gingerbread and then come back and start this again. Plenty of threads on XDA will help you do that. Go read one and flash froyo or gingerbread via ODIN, we'll wait right here with the car running.

Don't know how to use ODIN? Not sure about all those little checkboxes? Befuddled by those driver thingies? Unsure how to click on the links above while using a Commodore64? Well, we won't wait in the car THAT long. If this is the case then you absolutely shouldn't be flashing CM7 yet my poor lost child, educate yourself for awhile and then come back, or just buy a used iPhone.

OK, still with me? ONWARDS.

SECOND STEP!!!!! THE NITTY GRITTY DETAILS, AKA THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM!!!!!

Here is the point where you need to do all sorts of things that you may have already done.

If you have already done them, GOOD, you are very, very clever and ahead of the game. Give yourself a gold star.

If you don't know how to do any of these things, then you shouldn't be here yet. Go search for things you don't understand in the general and Q&A forums for the i9000 and when you feel you are better grounded in the arcane mysteries of flashing custom ROMS, come back and we will have a joyous reunion and try this again.

OK, so what do you do in STEP TWO?

* Doublecheck that you can indeed get into Download Mode using Vol Down+PWR+Home, and into Recovery with Vol Up+PWR+Home. If not, go away and search XDA for a way to fix that.

* Root your phone.

* Confirm you have Clockwork Mod recovery running. If not, use Odin to flash this Speedmod kernel if you are on Froyo. If you are on Gingerbread flash the TalonDev kernel using the v2.2 tar (yes I know the TalonDev kernel has lagfix automatically enabled, but as your file system will be grabbed and ripped out still beating and then replaced with a better one by the CM7 Installer, it really doesn't matter). There are two different versions of the v2.2 tar available but don't panic. Use TalonDEV-0.2.2R2-I9000-1200-JVP.tar first...if that doesn't work for you, try TalonDEV-0.2.2R2-I9000-JVP.tar. One of the two should work for you. (Thanks to chan1628 for testing them the hard way)

* Install ROM Manager (I STRONGLY suggest you buy the Premium version if possible to make flashing Nightlies easier. It is quite cheap with a lot of great features and is one of the core apps you will use on your phone from here on in...plus Koush deserves your support).

* Take another nandroid backup (even if you took one already) and confirm your Titanium Backup is up to date (and includes a backup of ROM Manager).

* Confirm that you are rooted.

* Backup your contacts to either Exchange, Gmail or your SIM card.

* Write down your correct APNs and your IMEI, just in case.

* Take a backup of your efs folder and save it somewhere.

* Post a note on your monitor reminding yourself to breathe.

* Say goodbye to your Samsung apps like Snap2Go and Daily Briefing, they won't work with CM7.

* Pour yourself a stiff drink

Confused? Not sure how to root your phone or worried about voiding your warranty? Really curious about what these APN things and where can you find them? Hoping to sync your phone with iTunes once CM7 is installed? Then go away, do some searching, get up to speed and I will see you later. I mean it...avaunt ye. Scram. Exeunt with all due alacrity. Happy reading.

Also, if you are getting errors concerning CWM, or cannot get into CWM3 Recovery, then search XDA (or the comments to this thread) for a solution. I cannot help you. I am not an expert on Clockwork Mod, I am just here to get CM7 running for you, or kill you and steal your girlfriend in the attempt. Clockwork Mod is YOUR lookout.

Still here? Did all that? CWM Recovery working properly? Crossed all your i's and dotted your t's? Forward then. Things get REALLY BAD from here on in. Whatever happens next, I am truly, truly sorry.

THIRD STEP!!!!!! THE COMPLEX, AGONIZING EXPERIENCE OF FLASHING THE ROM ITSELF!!!

Are you sure you are ready for this? Are you quite, QUITE sure?

It is not too late to turn back....and if you do no one will think less of you. I promise.

Positive you are where you want to be?

Brave, brave darling. Take my hand and lets do this then....there are two possible methods to use now that you are at the Third Step..Method the First uses the ROM Manager and is by far the simpler of the two. However if the ROM Manager doesn't work for you or if you have a sudden premonition of flaming disaster about it....don't cry. Man up and go to the manual method listed after Method the First, known quite coincidentally as Method the Second.

Method the First!

Open ROM Manager from your App Drawer.

Select Flash ClockworkMod Recovery.

When it asks you what phone you are using, scroll down until you find Galaxy S MTD and select it (Galaxy S is what CM7 calls the i9000 series...CM7 is weird that way).

When it asks what version to use, select CMW3.

By the way, if ROM Manager tries to argue with you during this process, or tells you your phone may not be supported, ignore it and click OK or Continue or whatever it takes. It just worries over what you may be about to do to yourself.

Confirm that under Flash ClockworkMod Recovery it now reads Current Recovery: ClockworkMod 3.x.x.x. This means that now you should be able to see CyanogenMod zips and nightlies (if you have ROM Manager Premium) in ROM Manager. Hoorah!

Now, the moment of truth arrives...select Download ROM.

Next close your little eyes tightly and select CyanogenMod or CyanogenMod Nightlies (if you see that one). Either one will do.

Down the road, you will use the CyanogenMod Nightlies files to update...assuming you survive the next 15 minutes. However when installing you can use the single file in the CyanogenMod folder (there for Free users) or the latest Nightly in the CyanogenMod Nightlies folder...same difference.

So click the file of your choice and stand back...well, not too far back because there is more stuff you have to do.

If/when you are asked if you wish to reinstall Google Apps, it is highly recommended that you do so, so check the little box. This saves many headaches and potential fc's down the line.

When you are asked what you wish to do to prepare for the new ROM, you can choose to do another Nandroid Backup, Clear Data and Cache (wiping the device) and/or Clear the Data Cache. No need for another Nandroid backup, but select the other two and hit OK.

Now let the ROM Manager make some magic. It will take a couple minutes but likely not nearly as long as you expect, so go out and make tea or paint the Sistine Chapel or something.

While you are gone your device will do all the wiping and installing, back up your efs folder and apply the new file system you will need. You will NOT need to apply any lagfix or mess about with tweaks or whatnot....CM7 does it all for you and no other options are possible....so don't ask.

Method the Second!

If for whatever reason you are having trouble working with ROM Manager in the previous method and are therefore stuck, you can do the following to flash CM7 manually.....but if you have a weak heart or tend to get squeamish...I implore you to look away.

Download this most recent version of CM7 from http://download.cyanogenmod.com/?type=nightly&device=galaxysmtd

Then download the most recent set of Google Apps from http://goo-inside.me/gapps

Place both on your SD card.

Go into Recovery using the handy-dandy Three Button Skidoo (NOT by using the command "Reboot to Recovery" found in ROM Manager...you have been warned).

Do a Factory Reset (wiping data so if you forgot to backup your apps before....whoops)

Wipe the Dalvik and Cache (just in case).

Select Install Zip from SD Card and flash first the CM7 zip, and then the gapps zip. No need to reboot in between. Finally fix permissions.

NOTE: If you are one of those people who have done some research and have also downloaded one of the CM7 custom kernels which you wish to flash as part of your install (if you haven't don't worry about it, I don't recommend using a custom kernel before you have spent some time with the stock kernel, but some people think they are 1337)...make certain you flash the Nightly BEFORE the custom kernel, otherwise you will totally confuse the installer and very bad things will happen which will require you to flash back to a Samsung ROM using ODIN and start all over again.

Once everything has completed, THEN reboot into CM7 (HOO-RAH) and continue to the Fourth Step. Hurry, hurry, scroll back up....

GO!!!

Oh, WAIT A MINUTE....When you have done all the stuff in the Fourth Step, do this too...go to ROM Manager, and select Flash ClockworkMod Recovery. ID your phone as Galaxy S MTD when it asks and select CWM3...it will tell you that your phone is not supported or some such but have it install it anyway. What the heck does it know. Doing so will ensure you can find your the Nightly updates using ROM Manager Premium in the future.

OK, now go on to the Fourth Step...really this time...

GO! GO!

FOURTH STEP!!!!! STEP OUT INTO THE LIGHT AND BREATHE THE FREE AIR

That's it, you are done. Throw back that drink now...or if you don't want it, I'll take it.

Your phone will show the CM7 SGS splash screen for a bit, then the CM7 boot animation for a while longer (spin, spin, spin)...and then you will be in CyanogenMod 7.

If you find that the boot animation never seems to end, or keeps restarting...DON'T PANIC. This happens to some people when flashing CM7 for the first time. Just go to recovery and flash the Nightly again, you should be fine. If you used ROM Manager the first time, the nightly will be in the ROM Manager folder on your SD card.

Where is all the pain, the agony, the brain bending complexity reducing scholars to madness that I warned you about?

OK, I lied...but I had to make sure you were serious.

Now restore your apps (remember that is best to do fresh from the Market, but if you use TB then be sure to reinstall just the APP, not APP + DATA, and NO SYSTEM APPS) and put all your contacts and email addresses back and so on.

Also, remember that your external SD card is now located in the /emmc directory. Why? Because that is how it is in CM7, so cope. It really is NOT that tough to get used to. However, if you want to have some kicks, go into the CM7 Dev thread and ask where your external_sd card has gone a few times to watch people go berzerk yelling at you. Fun, fun, fun.

From here on in, you can install nightly updates to stay on the bleeding edge of CyanogenMod, as well as to allow yourself to experience the terror of waiting for that boot animation to stop again and again and again. You can look at the Nightly Wiki for instructions on different flashing strategies.

You may also install custom kernels and alternate modems via Recovery if you wish, but be sure that they are CM7 compatible. The ones you used back on Samsung ROMs won't work for you any more.

Carry on, and enjoy your new ROM.

As always, if this procedure bricked anything or gave your dog syphilis, it isn't my fault. By God, I WARNED you. If you liked it, or it worked out well for you, feel free to click Thanks and heap praise in the comments.

Finally, all due honour and thanks to the incredible Devs and Maintainers of TeamHacksung and the SGSTEAM listed below. Find their profiles and donate to them, they have earned it.

* codeworkx - http://twitter.com/codeworkx

* atinm - http://twitter.com/atinm

* coolya - http://twitter.com/coolya