Android Glossary / How To Articles

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Android Glossary / How To Articles

Android Glossary

Android OS - Like Windows Mobile but based on Linux, using a Java based front end.

Linux - Open Source operating system used instead of Windows XP/Vista, Mac OSX etc... it's free (as in beer).

Open Source (From Wiki)
 
A--Install / Update SPL (For Dream)

How To: SPLs for Dream.


#1. About SPLs

This page contains information about SPLs for the HTC Dream (aka T-Mobile G1 and ADP1). What is a SPL? The SPL, or Second Program Loader, in conjunction with the IPL comprise a device's bootloader. Aside from bootstrapping Android, the bootloader also fulfills various diagnostic functions. One of these functions is the manipulation of data in the device's internal flash ram. Depending on the SPL installed, the user can apply a signed NBH file, flash nand images, and more. Note that the SPL is installed and operates independently of the Android build that runs atop it.

Currently there are three SPLs available. The G1 variant is the SPL that is installed in stock T-Mobile G1 phones. The Engineering variant is found in the Android Dev Phone 1. Finally, the HardSPL is a modification of the Engineering variant by cmonex, with additional hacker-friendly functionality. HardSPL is the recommended SPL.

#2. Installation

The SPLs are packaged in the familiar update.zip format and install from the recovery console in the same fashion as other update files:

1. If you are installing onto a G1, your G1 must have a modified recovery partition. If you have one of JesusFreke's Android builds installed, then you have a modified recovery partition2. Download the desired SPL zip file (SPL Downloads), rename it to update.zip and copy it to the root of your sdcard. As usual, remember to use a USB cable with a ferrite core and dismount your USB drive before disconnecting.3. Reboot the phone into recovery console and flash the update with ALT+S.4. To confirm it has installed properly, power on the G1 with END + Camera to enter the bootloader. When you are done, press CALL + MENU + END to leave the bootloader.5. To revert a G1 to its factory original SPL, simply use the G1 Original SPL.

#3. HardSPL (recommended)

VER: HSPL10.95.3000
ZIP: splhard1_update_signed.zip
MD5: 6502af25b9e9fbe1322cc405559af1ca
SHA1: 59485b21f69acb6e9f70a4cd5ff4aefea722fc50

HardSPL is a modification of the Engineering SPL by cmonex. In addition to the functionality of the Engineering SPL, HardSPL also allows NBH files to be used without matching the CID (carrier ID) check. At the current time the main benefit of this is to allow European G1s flash American NBH files and vice versa. All other features and attributes of the Engineering SPL (such as the ability to flash the mtds from nand backup images) are present. Using the Nandroid backup scripts to create nand backups for this purpose is recommended.


#4. Engineering SPL

VER: HBOOT-0.95.3000
ZIP: EngBootloader_v2_NoSigCheck.zip
MD5: 8008e01cb2c35e06b704e4dfb624ce4e
SHA1: d94f087b9eed8f59bc90d84c290ce475dbee07f9

The Engineering SPL is a custom SPL installed in devices intended for Android development. It has existed since before the launch of the G1 and is now available to the general public as preinstalled on the Android Dev Phone 1, the official development device sold by Brightstar Corp. This SPL, in addition to flashing signed NBH files, can also flash nand dumps through the use of the fastboot protocol (as defined in the legacy bootloader documentation). This is a convenient way to flash the mtd partitions and can be greatly useful in the event that an undesirable build of Android is advertently or inadvertently installed.
This SPL was first originally dumped from a G1 which dream_kill received as a replacement from T-Mobile by cmonex and JesusFreke.


#5. G1 Original SPL

VER: HBOOT-0.95.0000
ZIP: G1OrigBootloader_nocheck.zip
MD5: ae58b427b797707c453f3b3fa9d13c76
SHA1: aac5b75c348ee33c29aa24612d23a5e626a8c075

This is the original SPL which is installed in a stock G1. It is easily distinguished by the "trademark" red-green-blue bootloader screen which appears in many HTC phones. This SPL does not support the fastboot protocol and thus will not allow the user to flash nand backup images.
Before the leak of the TC4-RC29 and TC5-RC7 signed NBH images, users running stock RC30 and RC8 were unable to downgrade and install modified Android builds. xda-dev user chavonbravo leaked the aforementioned files, which allowed users to downgrade G1s through the original SPL. This SPL was dumped by damien667.


B--How To: Prepare your Phone to get Root

Android Root - All Questions answered here By Dear Subrata


C--How To: Install the Hard SPL

Installation of the Hard SPL

This will allow you to apply flash images from other regions (like UK on US phones, and vice versa), create full backups of your phone, install the latest build from the Android source, and usually resurrect your phone if it is "bricked".

Location of the Hard SPL: splhard1_update_signed.zip


1. Power off your phone.2. Press and hold Home and then press Power to boot up into recovery mode.3. You will now enter recovery mode. You should see an exclamation.4. If you do not see a menu / text on screen, press ALT+L to show the menu.5. Press ALT+S to apply the update from the SD card.6. After the update is complete, hold Home + Back to restart.
- You've now applied the Hard SPL to your phone -


D--How To: Install the Latest Custom ROM

Installing the Latest Custom ROM

Next we will install the latest JF Version.
1 Download the build.
2 Rename it to "update.zip".
3 Copy it to the root of your phone's SD card.
4 Turn your phone off.
5 Start up in recovery mode by holding Home and pressing Power.
6 Press ALT+W to wipe your device. (You need to do this, or the device may hang at the flashing Android screen)
7 Press ALT+S to apply the update.

Custom ROM's

1. JF's RC33 v1.42
Notes : USA T-Mobile Release Candidate, Root, Multi-Touch & Busybox
2. JF's ADP 1.1 v1.43 (Holiday)
Notes : Android Dev Phone 1 Holiday Release, Root, Multi-Touch & Busybox
3. JF's RC9 v1.43
Notes : Root, Busybox, Fancy Animations
4. haykuro's v5.0.2 Google (Cupcake) A2SD
Notes : Root, Busybox, Fancy Animations, Apps 2 SD
5. haykuro's v5.0.2 r5 HTC (Cupcake)
Notes : Busybox, Prettiest Build, HTC VK
6. haykuro's v5.0.2 r5 HTC (Cupcake) A2SD
Notes : Busybox, Prettiest Build, HTC VK, Apps 2 SD
7. haykuro's ADP 1.5 r3 (Cupcake)
Notes : Root, Busybox, Multi-Touch
8. haykuro's ADP 1.5 r3 (Cupcake) A2SD
Notes: Root, Busybox, Multi-Touch, Apps 2 SD
9. TheDudes v1.1 Lite (Cupcake)
Notes : Root, Busybox, AOSP + ADP1.5, No 3rd Party or Dev Apps
10. TheDudes v1.1 Full (Cupcake)
Notes : Root, Busybox, AOSP + ADP1.5, 3rd Party & Dev Apps, Manup Blue Theme
11. JF v1.51 CRB43 ADP (Cupcake) A2SD
Notes : Root, Busybox, ADP1.5, Apps 2 SD
12. JF v1.51 CRB43 US (Cupcake) A2SD
Notes : Root, Busybox, USA T-Mobile Release 1.5, Apps 2 SD
13. haykuro's 6.0HTC r1 A2SD
Notes : Root, Busybox, ADP 1.5, Apps 2 SD, Requires Radio 2.22.19.26I & SPL 1.33.2005


E--How To: Install a Radio Update.

Installing the Radio Update

Next you will want to confirm your Radio Baseband.
To Confirm this Press Menu - Settings - About Phone - Scroll down till you see Baseband version.
Compare the Baseband value to the table below to see if you are using the correct radio for your build or if you need to update.
To update the Radio:
1 Download the Radio zip.
2 Rename it to "update.zip".
3 Copy it to the root of your phone's SD card.
4 Turn your phone off.
5 Start up in recovery mode by holding Home and pressing Power.
6 Press ALT+S to apply the update.
7 Once the update is applied press Home+Back to reboot the phone. The Phone will start to boot up and then continue applying the update. Once this is completed the Recovery menu will ask you for the second time to reboot the phone via Home + Back

Once this is done double check the Baseband has been updated properly via:Press Menu - Settings - About Phone - Scroll down till you see Baseband version, you should see the radio version on this row if not you will need to update the Radio again. To Confirm which Radio you should be using check the table below:

1.22.14.11
JF's RC33 v1.42
JF's RC9 v1.43

1.22.14.1
JF's ADP 1.1 v1.43 (Holiday)

2.22.19.23
haykuro's v5.0.2 Google (Cupcake)
haykuro's v5.0.2 Google (Cupcake) A2SD
haykuro's v5.0.2 r5 HTC (Cupcake)
haykuro's v5.0.2 r5 HTC (Cupcake) A2SD

2.22.19.26I
haykuro's ADP 1.5 r3 (Cupcake)
haykuro's ADP 1.5 r3 (Cupcake) A2SD
TheDudes v0.92 (Cupcake)
TheDudes v0.92 (Cupcake) A2SD
TheDudes v0.93 (Cupcake)
TheDudes v0.93 (Cupcake) A2SD
TheDudes v1.1 Lite (Cupcake) A2SD
TheDudes v1.1 Full (Cupcake) A2SD
JF v1.50 ADP (Cupcake) A2SD
JF v1.51 CRB43 ADP (Cupcake) A2SD
JF v1.51 CRB43 US (Cupcake) A2SD
haykuro's 6.0HTC r1 A2SD
 
F--How To: Perform a NANDROID Backup.

Performing a NANDROID Backup

At this point you should backup your phone via NANDROID
1 Turn your phone off.
2 Hold Home, press Power button to boot into Recovery Mode
3 Press ALT+B to start the backup.
4 Once the backup has completed press Home + Back

Next your phone will reboot and load the OS, at this point you should copy the files your just backed up to your PC incase you need to recover your phone
1 Mount your SDCard to your PC
2 On your SDCard change to the nandroid/HT840GZ30985
3 Inside this folder you will see another folder the first 8 digits of this folder name is the date it was created in the YYYYMMDD format and the last four are the time.
4 Copy this entire folder to your PC and save it. As you make more backups to your phone repeat this process.

NOTE:I tend to append the build the backup is of i.e. 20090429-0421_ADP_Hv15_r2 So I know this build is the ADP build by haykuro version 2.


G--NANDROID_Fastboot (Restoring phone via backup).

Restore Phone Via NANDROID Backup & Fastboot -

So now you've just backed up your phone or bricked it and want to know how in the hell do I recover my phone with these backups I'm creating...

Things you will need:

Android SDK: Download the Android SDK | Android Developers
Fastboot Windows Binary: fastboot-win32.zip
Android USB Drivers: android_usb_windows.zip

Installing the SDK (Installing the SDK | Android Developers) Download the Android SDK (link above) extract the files to a location on your PC i.e. C:\sdk Next On Windows, right-click on My Computer, & select Properties. Under the Advanced tab, hit the Environment Variables button, & in the dialog that comes up, double-click on Path (under System Variables). Add the full path to the tools/ directory to the path.So using the example from above the path you would be adding is c:\sdk\tools - Note that, if you update your SDK in the future, you should remember to update your PATH settings to point to the new location, if different. -

-Once the SDK is extracted & the Environment Variables updated
-Download the Fastboot Windows Binary & extract it in the same folder as adb. So using the same example you will place the files in the c:\sdk\tools
-Reboot your phone
-Turn your phone on & hold both Camera + Power
-You should now see a white screen with three androids on skateboards (If you do not see this STOP, repeat the Hard SPL Installation above)
-Take out the usb cable & connect it to your phone, now press the back key on the phone.
-In the middle of the screen your phone should now say FASTBOOT, if it says SERIAL keep pressing back on the phone till you see FASTBOOT
-If it asks you to install drivers, then use the usb drivers above.

-If it doesn't ask you to install a driver, you need to figure out if the correct driver is loaded already.
-Right click on My Computer, & click Manage, then go to the device manager
-If you see an "ADB Interface" category at/near the top, with "HTC Dream" under it, then you're good to go. Fastboot should be working for you.
-If you don't see an "ADB Interface" category, then it's likely that windows loaded the USB Mass Storage driver for it automatically.
-In the device manager, go down to "Universal Serial Bus Controllers", & see if you have at least one "USB Mass Storage device". If you have multiple ones, you'll need to go through each to find the correct one.
-To find the correct one, right click on the USB Mass Storage device & click Properties. -Go to the Details tab.
-In the combo box at the top that says "Device Instance Id", bring up the pull down & choose "Compatible Ids".
-If that is the correct device, then you will see 3 entries:
USB\Class_ff&SubClass_42&Prot_03 USB\Class_ff&SubClass_42 USB\Class_ffOnce you find the correct device, go to the driver tab, & click "Update Driver". Choose "No, not this time", then "Install from a list or specific location", then "Don't search, I will choose the driver to install", & then choose the same usb driver that you used to get adb to work.
-Once you have completed this Open a Cmd Prompt (Windows Key + R, then cmd)
-fastboot devices
It should list a device in the list, if it does you are fine to flash images to your phone if not please repeat the process above. You may have to delete the android phone under the device manager.

From the NANDROID Backup you will only need to flash three files:

-data.img
-system.img
-boot.img


Copy the above three files to the directory on your Cmd Prompt or change directories through the Cmd Prompt to the location of the nandroid files either way will work.

Once the files are in the same directory that Cmd Prompt is accessing then type each cmd below followed by enter. The cmd will send & then flash the image.

fastboot flash boot boot.img
fastboot flash system system.img
fastboot flash userdata data.img
fastboot reboot


Your phone will reboot into the OS & your back to the image you just flashed!

H--How To: Remove Root / Stock G1.

Unroot your Phone / Place Phone Back to Stock

1 Download the DREAIMG.nbh: DREAIMG-RC29.zip
2 Place "DREAIMG.nbh" on the root of your SD card.
3 Turn your phone off.
4 Start up in bootloader mode by holding Camera + Power.
5 Hit power button to start the update.
6 Once the install completes hit action(trackball down) and your phone will reboot.

- You now have the stock RC29 firmware, now it will update on it's own in a bit -

I--How To: Recover your G1 from a bring Bricked.

Un-Brick Your Phone

(Method 1)
Ok so you're trying to put this really cool new custom ROM on your phone and then suddenly, your phone won't start up
 
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