[Fascinate Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] droidstyle:
Follow The direction I am going to provide... this will put you on powerwashed 1.2 rooted. This is a great daily driver rom and is a great starting point for new users. I would stay away from mtd based gb roms such as cm7, vgb, miui, aosp until you get the basics down!

Step 1: Download odin on your computer here, http://www.mediafire.com/?5y0vkhz85w3j4cz

Step 2: Download samsung drivers to computer here,http://dl.dropbox.com/u/25089906/Generic_CDMA_i500_Showcase_USB_Driver_V1.3.550.0.msi

Step 3: Download this stock rom to you desktop and unzip with 7zip or winrar, http://api.viglink.com/api/click?format=go&drKey=1359&loc=http%3A%2F%2Fxdaforums.com%2Fshowthread.php%3Ft%3D1178544&v=1&libid=1314478703518&out=http%3A%2F%2Fbit.ly%2FnfYusQ&ref=http%3A%2F%2Fxdaforums.com%2Fforumdisplay.php%3Ff%3D721&title=%5BROM%5D%5BODIN%5D%5BFACTORY%5D%5BED05%5D%20VzW%20full%20factory%20froyo%20restore%20with%20radio%20and%20kernel%20-%20xda-developers&txt=http%3A%2F%2Fbit.ly%2FnfYusQ&jsonp=vglnk_jsonp_13144787558901

Step 4: Download cwm 2.5 to computer, http://www.mediafire.com/?6x5utoca59et7o9

Step 5: Download power wash 1.2 rom and put it on the sd card of your phone,http://api.viglink.com/api/click?format=go&drKey=1359&loc=http%3A%2F%2Fxdaforums.com%2Fshowthread.php%3Ft%3D1199851&v=1&libid=1314479113334&out=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mediafire.com%2F%3Fdbjb599rt1o8urz&ref=http%3A%2F%2Fxdaforums.com%2Fforumdisplay.php%3Ff%3D721&title=%5BROM-8%2F16%5D%5BKERNEL-8%2F23%5D%5BED05%5D%20PowerWashed%20ED05%20ROM%20%5Bv1.2%5D%20-%20xda-developers&txt=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mediafire.com%2F%3Fdbjb599rt1o8urz&jsonp=vglnk_jsonp_13144791735003

Step 6: power off phone and pull battery

Step 7: open odin on your computer

Step 8: plug in factory usb cable and hold the volume down button. Yellow triangle should appear saying "download mode"

Step 9: click on PDA and find the vzw_official ed05.tar file(rom) you downloaded to your desktop in step 3

Step 10: click on pit and select the atlas 2.2 pit, it's in the file you downloaded in step 3

Step 11: click start and wait 5min, box in left hand corner of odin will say PASS, then click reset.

Step 12: unplug usb cable put battery back in and boot phone.

Step 13: Once phone is fully booted up, power off and pull battery again.

Step 14: plug the usb cable back in and hold down on volume, get back into "download mode".

Step 15: click PDA in odin and select cwmall.tar you downloaded in step 4, hit start, should only take 10 sec, then say pass. Click reset.

Step 16: Unplug usb cable insert battery.

Step 17: with three fingers hold the power, and both vol. up/down until you see the samsung logo appear the second time and let off. you should be in red recovery 2.5.1.x.

Step 18: Wipe data, wipe cache, then scroll down and select advance, select wipe dalvik, scroll down and select yes in secondary menu

Step 19: use soft menu key on bottom left of phone and get back to main page in cwm. Find and select install zip from sd, then select chose zip and find the powerwash 1.2 rom you pushed to your sd card in step 5. Select it and it will take you to a secondary menu, arrow down select yes.

Step 20: once it finishes install, reboot and enjoy your new rooted rom!

*If you ever want to change rom's

Replace step 4: with the correct Clock Work Recovery for the rom you are trying to flash!

Replace step 5: with the new rom your flashing.