[G1 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Phoenix33:
I did it! I bricked my G1!

Yeah, well...what can you do. I read over the posts here, watched youtube videos, and searched the web as well. Read and viewed everything I could until I couldn't take it anymore. Then...I tried. Tried and failed? No, tried and died.

MAN, I WANT HERO! I am more jealous with every video I see. I don't care if it's a little slow. It is pure Android beauty. But...

There is so much information out there, not just at this forum, but all over the net. And although there are many similarities between the instructions (I use that term loosely for some), many have different steps so it's hard to tell which to follow. Apparently taking what you feel are the best from each is not the way to go. Really, I'm not stupid about these things...well...

So, here is where I started; a T-Mobile G1 running the latest OTA 1.5 update and the 2.22.19.26I radio software. Used Parted Magic to create a 5GB FAT32 and a 1GB EXT2 partition on the SD card. I downloaded everything I though I would need or could find. The original boot and recovery img's along with RC29, RC30, and Cupcake zips. Then I got HardSPL and a bunch of files from Hayruko. I got JeseusFreke, CyanogenMod, and JACHero stuff. Hell, someone said to download the Telnet.apk and put it on the SD card as well. Did that. I found a great thread for installing the JACHero, but it did not go into rooting your phone first. Did that need to be done? I guessed it did. So I started there. Downgraded nicely to RC29. That was easy. Then even went through the telnet and terminal emulator steps. Then trouble. Which recovery.img to use? Some instructions reference the testkeys and some don't when rooting. Figured I would do it that way. So I went through those steps. Loaded CyanogenMods 1.3.1 and 1.33.2005 SPL on the SD card. Flashed (I thought) the recovery.img. Rebooted to get ready to install the SPL. Stuck at t-Mobile G1 now! They really do call it a brick for a reason.

So now that I got that off my chest, a few questions. First, I want to run HERO. I want it! :) However, I would like to make a request this time. Could someone please post step by step instructions for taking a stock G1 to the JACHero 2.3.4 release. Not just "flash the recovery and SPL" files. I would like more detailed directions. If you know of a good link to send me, please tell me. I thank you in advance for your time. I know it's a real pain in the ---, but I promise I will pass your knowledge along to another such as I! :)

A few questions first. I believe the steps are something like this:

1. Downgrade to RC29.

2. Copy recovery_teskeys.img and some recovery.img along with some SPL update.zip file to the SD card and "load" them properly. Which files should you use (does it matter), which order should you do it and how?

3. How do I do a Nandroid backup at this point? Do I need/want to?

4. Do I wipe now? Need to ever? Doesn't the image overwrite everything anyway?

4. Copy update.zip (the renamed JACHero 2.3.4 zip file) to the SD card and load it. Do you need to load any other image first other than JACHero 2.3.4.?

5. Enjoy HTC Hero goodness!

I know I am asking a lot, but I need the steps so I can replicate this easily. I am going to want to do this a lot based on what I see out there. Always something new to try and a lot of great developers out there. Thank you in advance for all of your time and effort. I promise to pass it along.