[Vibrant Android Development] nickmcminn60:
Lets get this out of the way first. I am not responsible if you screw up your phone, but you are probably here because you already screwed up your phone. I have now been through this several times over the last few days. Some will say this process is overkill, but there is no denying that it always works, so please refrain from stating the obvious.

If you have installed or updated CM7/MIUI and lost your baseband, IMEI, or both, this should help you. Due to the amount of people currently having this problem, I would recommend this be stickied at least temporarily until things are straightened out, so people can find it easily.

For Windows only, I do not have a Mac.

Step 1 - Read the entire post and understand everything involved before you attempt this. This is a long ride, probably 30-40 minutes from start to end. This is not for new people, and will assume you have a certain amount of knowledge because you attempted to flash CM7/MIUI.

DO NOT SKIP OR SHORTCUT ANY STEP IN THIS PROCESS, UNLESS I SPECIFICALLY STATED YOU MET THE CRITERIA TO DO SO. DO NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT TRYING THIS UNLESS YOU CAN REACH DOWNLOAD MODE AND RECOVERY USING BUTTONS WITH THE PHONE OFF!

Step 2 - Gather what you need...

1 - The AIO Vibrant Toolbox : http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=954509

Install according to directions in the post. Donate to this guy. He spent alot of time making this easy for you to do.

2 - The old CM7 install files : http://www.mediafire.com/?gn4qoonoe3cjyp6

Unzip to a location that is easy to get to.

3 - The new version of CM7/MIUI you want to install, from the thread of your choice. Donate to the developer you are using, they spend alot of their free time making your phone better. They don't get paid for it, and they dont charge you for it.

4 - Your phone, with a full battery.

Step 3 - Odin to JFD and install Clockwork 2.x

1 - Fire up the AIO Toolbox. Do not connect your phone yet, but power it down and pull your battery. See that sticker under it that says IMEI? Write it down! You will be referencing it a few times throughout the process. Start Odin and select your pit and pda files, they should automatically come up if you are using the toolbox. Hold down your volume up and down buttons, and insert your USB cable, then insert your battery. You should go to download mode, and see Odin connect. Hit start and let it fly. Once it reboots, unplug your phone. Go to settings/about phone and you should have a JFD baseband. Hit status, and check your IMEI. See how it matches the one you wrote down? Yay! Move on to the next item. If it does not, you have some reading to do because you really screwed something up, and it is beyond my power to help you...

2 - Mount phone and put the following files on the root of the sd card:

vibrant-efsbackup.zip (if you already have a backup/efs folder on your sd card you do not need this)

cm7-vibrant-initial-20110224.zip

The zip file of the new CM7/MIUI rom you want to flash.

3 - Download ROM Manager and install clockwork recovery 2.x (if you already have the update.zip on your sd card, which you should, you can also skip this) and power down your phone.

4 - Boot into recovery using the 3 button method (holding volume up and down and power, releasing power when the word VIbrant appears on your screen), hit reinstall packages, you may have to hit it twice to get to clockwork recovery. Choose to install zip from sd card, and select vibrant-efsbackup.zip. Let it do its thing. Then select reboot, and when it does, check your sd card for a backup/efs folder. Got it? Good. Power down the phone. (Obviously, if you already have the efs backup completed, you could have skipped this step.)

Step 4 - Install Clockwork 3.x and Old CM7

1 - Fire up the AIO Toolbox. Do not connect your phone yet, but pull your battery. Start Odin and hit the pda button, select the file cm7-vibrant-initial-kernel.tar from the CM7 package you unzipped (Remember, in a place that is easy to find). THIS IS IMPORTANT - UNCHECK AUTO REBOOT!!! Hold down your volume up and down buttons, and insert your USB cable, then insert your battery. You should enter download mode, and see Odin connect. Hit start and let it fly. Once it is finished, pull the usb cable. With the download mode screen still on your phone, boot into recovery using the 3 button method. You should now be in clockwork recovery 3.x. Move on to the next item! If you did not get in, you can try to pull your battery, replace it and boot into recovery from there. If you still can't get there, you get to go where the people who do not properly follow instructions go... back to Step 1.

2 - In clockwork 3.x, choose factory reset, and let it do it's thing. Then go to mounts and storage, and format system, data, and cache. Choose install zip from sd card and choose cm7-vibrant-initial -20110224.zip. As it is installing, one of the last things you see should be "restoring efs". Hit reboot when finished, and boot into CM7. When it boots, make sure you toggle the lockscreen a couple times so it connects to service. Check baseband and IMEI again. Baseband should have changed, but it does not matter until we get to where we are going. IMEI still the same right? Awesome! Power down the phone, move to the next step! It's not? You my friend, get to meet all your other friends back at Step 1.

Step 5 - Installing what you really want...

1 - Boot into recovery using the 3 button combo. Do a factory reset, wipe cache partition, go to advanced and wipe Dalvik cache. Choose install zip from sd card, and pick that shiny new version of CM7/MIUI you picked out. You are almost there. Flash it! Reboot, and when it comes back up, take note of what time it is and DO NOT TOUCH THE PHONE FOR 15 MINUTES. You have no idea the amount of bugs this squashes. After that, check the baseband and IMEI, even though you already know it is right anyway. If it is not, do i have to say it again? You know where you are going...

2 - Destroy the paper you wrote your IMEI on, you would not want that info in the wrong hands...

3 - Enjoy your new rom

FAQ:

Q: I did everything you said, and it did not work!

A: You either skipped a step, or did not stop at the point I told you you were screwed.

Q: No, seriously, I did everything you said!

A: Seriously, I have done this 5 times in the past 3 days, and it worked every time.

Q: I installed CM7 nightly #9,10,or 11 with this method, and I have no sound on calls. What gives?

A: These builds have known issues with in call audio. Flash CM7.1

Q: Once I am on CM7/MIUI, do I have to do this every time or can I update normally?

A: Once you are on CM7 or MIUI with the proper IMEI and a good baseband, you should be able to update via the rom posting instructions. If you decided to switch from CM7 to MIUI or vice versa, I would go back to this process to get your initial installation.

Q: I installed CM7.1 and then tried to go to MIUI, and lost everything again, what happened?

A: There are changes betweeen CM7 to 7.1 that have made this difficult due to compatability issues, which is why I recommend doing this process again if you want to switch between the two.

Q: I thought there was an easier way to do this, why so many steps?

Read the first paragraph of the post, but I guess that is also asking too much...

There are many ways to install you just have to read and have an understanding of what you are doing. Not being mean that's just the way it is (it is still beta)