[G1 Android Development] sleepy3194:
Read this #11

Alternate Rooting Method

This method is based on the guide available at theunlockr.com. It takes a bit longer than the telnet method described above, but removes some of the risk if you plan on flashing Danger SPL, which is required for CyanogenMod 5.x, since you will already have a compatible radio at the end of the process.

For this method you will need the following:

1. Cupcake update.zip

2. flashrec

3. Amon_RA Recovery 1.7.0

(note. there are several versions of Amon_RA Recovery available in the thread above. Read through the original post and decide which one is best suited for you. For simplicity reasons, it is recommended you rename this file "recovery.img" and it will be referred to as such in this guide.)

1. After downgrading to RC29/RC7 as described above, move the Cupcake update.zip file to your SD card and rename it "update.zip". Be sure to move it to the root of the card and not into any folders.

2. Turn off your phone and boot into recovery mode by holding down the Home and End (power) buttons until the recovery screen appears (the /!\ screen).

3. Slide out the keyboard and hit Alt+S to apply the Cupcake update. This will take a little while. Let the phone reboot on its own.

4. Once the phone has rebooted, go through the setup process and sign in to your Google account.

5. Go to Settings ->SD Card and Phone Storage and select Unmount SD Card

Then select Format SD Card. The card should remount after this (this WILL erase everything from your SD card, so make sure you back up anything important first)

6. Connect your phone to your computer with your USB cable and pull down the status bar/windowshade.

Select USB Connected and hit the button labeled Mount. You should see your SD card become available on your computer.

Move the files "flashrec.apk" and "recovery.img" to your SD card.

unmount/eject/"safely remove" your SD card from your computer through your OS.

On your phone, pull down the status bar/windowshade again, select Turn Off USB Storage, and hit the button labeled Turn Off.

7. Go to Settings ->Applications and enable Unknown Sources.

8. Go to the Market and download a file manager, such as Astro or Linda.

9. Open the file manager you just downloaded, select "flashrec.apk", and install it.

10. Open your newly installed flashrec app and hit the button labeled "Backup Recovery".

Once that is complete, type in the full path to the recovery image file on your sd card, which most likely will be "/sdcard/recovery.img" and hit Flash Custom Recovery Image.

Once that is complete, exit the app and turn off your phone.

11. Boot into recovery by holding the Home and End (power) buttons until the new recovery screen appears. This time, instead of /!\, you should see a menu with several options appear. Stay on this screen. Do not reboot or turn off your phone. If you do, you may lose your custom recovery image. At this point you should already have radio version 2.22.19.26I, so you will not be at risk of bricking your phone while flashing Danger SPL due to an incompatible radio. However, it is recommended that you flash radio version 2.22.23.02 before flashing Danger SPL so you will have the most up-to-date radio and make double-sure that you have a radio compatible with Danger SPL.