Database Develop

Help The Noobs

Will someone be kind enough for all the noobs out there and post a complete video of how to get from a completely stock firmware to (well in this case) this hero build, or the newest, latest, or best working hero build. While showing the order to flash radios, spls, and such using the ADB. It will help out a lot of people trust me. And from the looks of all the noobs right now youll have so many views, subscribers, followers or whatever your motive is. Please help noobs out.
If you need it you can find some free desktop recorders to enhance your video here: http://download.cnet.com/windows/vid...ftware/?tag=bc
Completey safe downloads from cnet.
Remember stock to hero!
I would do this myself but i myself do not know how and am on my second g1.
Thank you!

i will have a go at making that over the weekend.

milestone.it said:
i will have a go at making that over the weekend.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks a billion. You dont know how much this will help people. Post a link here when your finished please

Since this thread is for the "noobs", I have a couple of questions to ask.
Excuse my not using the search fully. There are just so many threads and so many responses and none of them are completely clear.
If I were to root my phone with the latest Hero ROM that has flash playet 10, will I still need to upgrade the firmware to 1.5 or is this particular ROM built on 1.5 or what??
Also, does this latest Hero ROM have the famed HTC virtual keyboard or no??

OutstandingO said:
Since this thread is for the "noobs", I have a couple of questions to ask.
Excuse my not using the search fully. There are just so many threads and so many responses and none of them are completely clear.
If I were to root my phone with the latest Hero ROM that has flash playet 10, will I still need to upgrade the firmware to 1.5 or is this particular ROM built on 1.5 or what??
Also, does this latest Hero ROM have the famed HTC virtual keyboard or no??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Honestly idk but maybe someone will see this thread and answer that for you or you can start a new thread

There are quite a few videos out there already that show you how its done. Maybe not directly toHero but the whole process is the same - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDPFhJ9noLA
So instead of using JF 1.31, simply use the Hero ROM of your choice, rename it as "update.zip" and put it on the root of your SD card. Turn off your G1, hold the HOME button and press POWER to get into the Recovery image. Press ALT+W (to wipe) then ALT+S (to flash the ROM).
EDIT: I forgot some very crucial information >_< IF you are going to Hero from Stock you do require a few other things. Namely the new Radio and the new SPL (depending on which Hero ROM you pick). Make sure though that whatever you do, you upgrade the radio first to avoid bricking your G1. Look at my signature for links to what you need, like the Radio, SPL etc.
Wait patiently and all should be well...
@OutstandingO
Hero is basically Cupcake (1.5) but with a different interface created by HTC using custom code. So you just flash the Hero ROM of choice and that's it.

root video
OutstandingO said:
Since this thread is for the "noobs", I have a couple of questions to ask.
Excuse my not using the search fully. There are just so many threads and so many responses and none of them are completely clear.
If I were to root my phone with the latest Hero ROM that has flash playet 10, will I still need to upgrade the firmware to 1.5 or is this particular ROM built on 1.5 or what??
Also, does this latest Hero ROM have the famed HTC virtual keyboard or no??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
YouTube has plenty of view on rooting that's where I learned how to do it, they also have the files u need to root it right there for u to download. Just search it and u will find it. The guy who's vid I followed is tony moreno look for his bids. I don't recommend jumping from 1.1 to hero. Go from 1.0 to 1.1 then jump to 1.5. Also hero is built from 1.5. I myself have tried it but even with all the optimizing its not fast enough for me. It also has the famed HTC IME keyboard. I myself use JF 1.5 APD. With the Hero theme in the themes section with the HTC keyboard. Flash would be nice but it still has issues with speed and force closings. Like I said YouTube the rooting process and search around the thread for other stuff like and and how to use fastboot.

I forgot some crucial information, namely to upgrade the Radio first and that you might need to upgrade the SPL. Have edited my post.

That is in part something that threw me for a loop.
I've seen multiple vids for rooting but none of them seem to address this whole "Radio" issue that you brought up and the steps surrounding that. From what I have been reading this is the most important part.
I love this site but the type of people that post here are guys that already know what their doing in most cases and they speak and post as such.
So have I ever developed an app for the G1, no, but I'm not Danny Dunderhead either. I can read a set of instructions if laid out for me.
So I ask you more experienced gentlemen, can someone either post a link or give me step by step help in checking my "radio", upgrading my "radio" and then installing the ROM??
I would greatly appreciate it.

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.

a little nervous to rrot

First of all I'd like to apologize because I'm sure this has been covered already but I just feel more comfortable asking myself.
I have had my g1 for a couple of months now and I'm starting to get all itchy for root for all the obvious reasons. I hoping someone can answer some questions or point me in the right direction.
I have ota CRB43 build on my phone. I see LOTS of different instructions for rooting.. I'm wondering what one I should go by. I also notice some people say to take out the SD card instead of mounting to prevent possibly bricking your phone... should I do that or is it better to mount with the usb? And after following whatever instructions is there anything else necessary to do?
I was also interested in what themes people are using. Can I jump right into that after rooting or is there something else I will need to do. Any links for themes you are using would be great also.
Thanks so much… I really appreciate it.. Thought I had more questions.. If I remember anything else I’ll update.

I used Gizmodo's guide - very simple and clear.
http://gizmodo.com/5146797/how-to-hack-android-for-multitouch-web-browsing-on-the-t+mobile-g1
If you follow it step-by-step you'll wind up with an old build, but you'll have root and be ready to step up to any new build. New builds are easy once you've rooted - rename to update.zip and flash using recovery (explained in the guide above).
You'll also want to get the newest radio (after rooting per directions above) - Download the ota-radio-2_22_19_26I.zip file from http://www.htc.com/www/support/android/adp.html#s3 -- Rename to update.zip and flash as usual.
And I had absolutely no problems mounting the SD Card via the phone itself. Just make sure you cleanly eject the card from your PC every time, to avoid corruption.
And let me suggest CyanogenMod for your build.. Simply the fastest and most stable Android build out there - "official" firmware included.

Thanks a lot for your response! It was helpful and I checked out your link.. I was looking at -
http://androidsocialmedia.com/root-access/android-g1-root-access-why-how
originally, but I think they look similar. Thanks for the radio info as well.. anything else besides that I'll need to update?
let me ask one more thing- what's the difference between CyanogenMod and the others available?
thanks again for your help!

sole3s said:
Thanks for the radio info as well.. anything else besides that I'll need to update?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I did skip the SPL - Some ROMS require a different SPL (Secondary Program Loader/Launcher, I think..) to free up additional space on the device. Mostly the Hero based ROMs. I haven't touched any of those, need someone else to help there.
sole3s said:
let me ask one more thing- what's the difference between CyanogenMod and the others available?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cyanogen is tweaking the heck out of Android - endlessly enhancing it for performance and stability. Cyanogen has a few visual tweaks but mostly it looks like stock Android with all the improvements under the hood.
The other builds.. Mostly visual, in my opinion. They all have fans though, check out the threads under Development for more details. Also, the Android ROM Database - http://www.simonwalkerphotos.com/android/android_build_information.asp

Dude, thanks so much for all this info.. http://www.simonwalkerphotos.com/and...nformation.asp was really helpful.
last question I'm gonna ask.. if i hard reset do is it going to unroot my phone?
Again.. you were really helpful! I appreciate it so much!

Nope it will not unroot you're phone

No, you'll just go back to a fresh version of whatever ROM you have installed. However, some ROMs (Like Cyanogen) put some apps in the /data folder, so a wipe could break the ROM. Typically it is better to flash after a wipe. But you won't loose root either way.

Only way I know how to loose root is to flash a none rooted ROM.
The only thing I would do is avoid the DangerSPL until you either need it or know what you are doing. Otherwise its pretty much hard to brick your phone unless your trying to with a low battery.

I'd just like to take a second to thank everyone for their help, especially Saiboogu. Like I said in the first post, I'm sure this stuff was covered somewhere but this really made me feel a bit more confident. Thanks for not flaming me... I'm actually a bit surprised at the friendly responses... again thanks everyone.
Most likely I'll be able to get around to rooting on monday or tuesday.. I'll post updates just for the fun of it.
Take it easy guys

Lol well you posted it in the right section. Of course you are going to get help

What alritewhadeva said .. You ask in the right place, we'll help. You're off to a good start.

Help a newb get on his way w/ Rooted G1

My G1 is rooted and I have updated it to RC33. (during the process, I used HARDSPL)
1. If I plan on using a theme from Drizzy (champion V2) do I still need to do the cupcake update AND the radio update?
2. Is installing this theme as simple as renaming the .zip to "update" and dragging it to SD card. THEN, do I Alt+W, or only Alt+S when I get to restore screen?
Please help if I am way off.

stevedawg85 said:
My G1 is rooted and I have updated it to RC33. (during the process, I used HARDSPL)
1. If I plan on using a theme from Drizzy (champion V2) do I still need to do the cupcake update AND the radio update?
2. Is installing this theme as simple as renaming the .zip to "update" and dragging it to SD card. THEN, do I Alt+W, or only Alt+S when I get to restore screen?
Please help if I am way off.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you are going to use a theme, you need to make sure the theme is intended for that specific rom. You should always update your radio, without updating it you will have BT problems and possibly dropped calls. If you have Cyanogens recovery 1.4 you don't have to rename anything to update any more cause it can flash any .zip file. And you don't have to wipe before flashing a theme.

Thanks for the help.
How do I find out which rom I have and which rom's the .zip support?
I followed a youtube tutorial from anthonymoreno24 and these are the files I used:
Recovery image & HARDSPL from:
http://koushikdutta.blurryfox.com/G1RootWalkthrough/
I will update to cupcake during lunch (I have to use friends SIM cuz I have no data plan )
--------------
EDIT:
Just found this, do I follow these instructions after I update to Cupcake?:
Download image (right-click, save as): http://n0rp.chemlab.org/android/cm-recovery-1.4.img
MD5Sum: f5135a878c705215f4012786e4261cfe
To install image: copy it to your sdcard and run:
Code:
flash_image recovery /sdcard/cm-recovery-1.4.img
If you have problems with a "no space on device" error, try using fastboot and erasing first:
Code:
fastboot erase recovery
fastboot flash recovery cm-recovery-1.4.img

So have you not even loaded any rom yet? If you go to about phone under settings whats the info say?

Sorry, Im a newb, I'm literally following step by step instructions from the youtube vid
FW: 1.1
baseband: 62.33xxxx_1.22xxxx
kernel:2.6.xx-xxx-gfea
[email protected] #1 (kool!!! just noticed this )
Build: kila-user 1.1 PLAT-RC33 126XXXX-xxxwordsxxx
This help? what specific info you need?

Bud, you are a long way off. Drizzy's is not a theme, it is a hero rom which I would not suggest you try since it needs the danger spl and I can see a brick happening already, download cyanogen 4.02 rom and flash that and stick with it before you consider anything else, read the sticky's at the begining of each forum here to get an idea of how android works instead of relaying on a couple month old out of date video. A lot has changed since that was made. Oh and make sure that your file you want to flash is in the root of your sdcard and not in a sub folder otherwise it won't work, biggest thing make a nandroid backup in cm-recovery 1.4

gridlock32404 said:
Bud, you are a long way off. Drizzy's is not a theme, it is a hero rom which I would not suggest you try since it needs the danger spl and I can see a brick happening already, download cyanogen 4.02 rom and flash that and stick with it before you consider anything else, read the sticky's at the begining of each forum here to get an idea of how android works instead of relaying on a couple month old out of date video. A lot has changed since that was made. Oh and make sure that your file you want to flash is in the root of your sdcard and not in a sub folder otherwise it won't work, biggest thing make a nandroid backup in cm-recovery 1.4
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Took the words right out of my mouth.
OP: If you want to flash anything hero related you need to read read read, if you are asking questions like this, and are this confused then you shouldn't/aren't ready to go hero. Try cyanogen or jacxrom (if you want a different look, it has a nice theme built into it) and after a week or 2 of studying them give hero a shot.
Has anyone else noticed how many people have been posting sh*t like this lately? It seems like noone can read anything anymore and wants us to give them specialized instructions instead of using the GUIDE's like we all did.

crpercodani said:
Took the words right out of my mouth.
OP: If you want to flash anything hero related you need to read read read, if you are asking questions like this, and are this confused then you shouldn't/aren't ready to go hero. Try cyanogen or jacxrom (if you want a different look, it has a nice theme built into it) and after a week or 2 of studying them give hero a shot.
Has anyone else noticed how many people have been posting sh*t like this lately? It seems like noone can read anything anymore and wants us to give them specialized instructions instead of using the GUIDE's like we all did.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed. I've noticed that people are like how to I root!?!? I'm such a n00b. There is plenty of literature out there and should learn how like the rest of us did. If you need to be babied into root maybe you shouldn't have root.. or let someone else do it.

agreed
I rooted my phone a couple months ago without asking any ?s, I have still not asked a ? Yet, before I even got my phone, I studied up on it, there is a ton of info and a lot is in the stickysand has been covered countless times. Now it is even easier to root and flash your phone than ever but the problem is people are following videos and blogs that do not provide enough info. I was lucky to find xda back when I had my wing so I knew right were to go from the begining. If people just took notice to the info here they would have no problem at all

gridlock32404 said:
I rooted my phone a couple months ago without asking any ?s, I have still not asked a ? Yet, before I even got my phone, I studied up on it, there is a ton of info and a lot is in the stickysand has been covered countless times.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I completely agree, I too read the tutorials many times before I got my phone !
And when I got the phone, I invested almost 2 days ( around 20 hrs) to try different things (Thanks to all for providing guides to everything) and now I am running a fantastic ROM with root.
It feels much better now that instead of asking "How, Why,etc), I am writing "THANK YOU ALL" for fantastic guides and tutorials !

crpercodani said:
Took the words right out of my mouth.
OP: If you want to flash anything hero related you need to read read read, if you are asking questions like this, and are this confused then you shouldn't/aren't ready to go hero. Try cyanogen or jacxrom (if you want a different look, it has a nice theme built into it) and after a week or 2 of studying them give hero a shot.
Has anyone else noticed how many people have been posting sh*t like this lately? It seems like noone can read anything anymore and wants us to give them specialized instructions instead of using the GUIDE's like we all did.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
FYI, JACxROM requires Haykuro's SPL to run properly as well. If you're using the HardSPL, then your best choice is Cyan's 4.03 or enomther's rooted version of the stock Cupcake CRC1 build.

my bad, I guess since I flashed haykuros spl and the new radio when I first rooted I never relized you needed it for the xrom.

crpercodani said:
my bad, I guess since I flashed haykuros spl and the new radio when I first rooted I never relized you needed it for the xrom.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, actually even the devs didn't realize this until a couple of us did some experimenting. Fortunately, I had two G1s and the only difference with them were the SPLs... one worked and one didn't.

simplest way to switch from JF 1.5 to current Cyan?

I bought a g1 off of craigslist and it already had root. JF 1.4 ....
Around the time cupcake was released I updated it to jf 1.51
Now since there will be no more JF updates I wish to switch to Cyan builds.
I'm unsure of the proper way of doing this?
Should I go back stock .. unroot and then go thru the steps to load cyan?
Or is there a better way? A wipe?
I'm asking to be clear because internet access is strictly from my g1.
Although I can download all the files I need, I do not have constant access.
I'd appreciate any tips or pointing me to the proper thread.

Check the threads in Dream >Dream Android Development look for Cyanogen's thread on his release of 4.1.999, follow the instructions and you will be fine. I'd also suggest at least flashing Cyanogen's v1.4 Recovery Image over JF's, easier to flash any .zip on sdcard. So, new recovery image (use search option in forums, or look in the same thread i mentioned for cyanogen recovery image 1.4) then update to cyanogen's latest rom build

So simply flash a new recovery, then follow the cyan steps?
Cool, easy as pie.
I certainly appreciate it.
Thank you

Yup. just be careful that you dont boot off the htc recovery rom, or the steps to get to cyans rom become much, much harder

B-man007 said:
Yup. just be careful that you dont boot off the htc recovery rom, or the steps to get to cyans rom become much, much harder
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that is why there is a full update made for it.

haha o right i forgot about that one... no one asked questions about a bad all-in-one flash, only those who messed up while flashing the htc rom
i need sleep lol

B-man007 said:
haha o right i forgot about that one... no one asked questions about a bad all-in-one flash, only those who messed up while flashing the htc rom
i need sleep lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
sleep is for the weak. also it is really hard to flash two things while in recovery it causes hemorrhoids and anal fissures.

haha trust me...someone somewhere will make something incredibly easy look like rocketscience

B-man007 said:
haha trust me...someone somewhere will make something incredibly easy look like rocketscience
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you mean rocketsurgery

david1171 said:
you mean rocketsurgery
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
*sigh*
yes its true.

B-man007 said:
*sigh*
yes its true.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lmao me went to smart person learning place

I'd like to chime in here as well since I'm having such a hard time searching for info on the conversion from jf1.51 to the latest build of CM. The amount of posts are staggering!
So, I vaguely remember setting up apps2sd following the guide at the bottom of this page - http://yokohead.com/2009/06/how-to-root-android-g1-with-cupcake-and-appstosd/
Will CM automatically detect this partition?
Also, will I lose the google experience? I'm still confused as to where we are on that.
Thanks for your time! If anyone knows an updated post on this process, please point me to it.
TJ

Well the sticky by fingerlickin at the top of this section is a good place to start....
all you have to do is find the singleflash update in the dev section, backup and clear everything off your ext3, and wipe+flash the single update. you can restore the ext backup then.
also you should upgrade to cyan 1.4 recovery
to do so
su
cd /sdcard
wget http://n0rp.chemlab.org/android/cm-recovery-1.4.img
flash_image recovery /sdcard/cm-recovery-1.4.img
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you wont lose the google experience

Thanks B-Man007,
After a couple attempts, all is working well. I'm thoroughly impressed with the snappiness of this build. Although it's only my second time updating a ROM, I'm going to blame the amount of posts for my hesitation and confusion. It was easy to just go in and do it.
I actually updated to the latest Amon-Ra(sp?) recovery. At first my Rom was running real slow and the recovery allowed me to update my ext2 to ext3. Loving it now!

The amount of posts does make it quite confusing i agree, especially with the high amount of conflicting posts
Ya ext3 is a must, but you could have upgraded from cyans too haha
cyan usually has the fastest builds out there though at times it can get very slow.

Another noob here. A few months ago I rooted and flashed to xrom 1.5. When I do a reboot, my recovery screen tells me its "CyanogenMod v1.4 + JF".
Since xRom is experiencing some problems w/ updates, I figured I might try the latest build of Cyanogen. I re-booted, went to recovery mode. Wiped. Then flashed the latest Cyan and even found the 1.6 ota on another site. Flashed both zips, then did a re-boot and it hangs now.
I tried it over and over a few times, wiping then flashing again. Wiping, then re-booting, then flashing the rom, etc. Over and over with the same results.
Then as a test, I tried flashing back to xRom... perfectly fine.
As another test, I tried wiping and flashing to another rom, the rooted stock option (the HTC rom version)... and got the same results as when I tried Cyan... just hangs.
Wiped and flashed again back to xRom... works fine.
So at this point, I'm thinking I need a more updated recovery rom? Any other possible problems? Yes, I did a search all over and this was the best thread that matched my problem.
If it helps... I have a T-mo G1, firmware 1.5, JACxROMv1.5, kernel version 2.6.29.6-jac-ski root. And I know many will slap their foreheads when I say this: But the SD is NOT partioned at all (kept trying and trying with zero success, so I eventually gave up).

Samsung Captivate Noob Help!

I updated to froyo 2.2 (leaked version) on my samsung captivate, and I was wondering if there was a possible way to downgrade back to 2.1.
*The only reason im not liking froyo 2.2 at the moment i cant seem to learn our find out how to root it...
Wanted to root to rom a custom rom?
"noobie question"--> if i was to downgrade to 2.2 back to stock 2.1 and root it to have super user, i could then be able to install a custom rom? OR what would other people suggest doing?
Could someone point me in the right way with a link or two maybe, or some suggestions?

bummmpppp! this is all so new to me!

Here's a link to the SuperOneClick to root and enable non-market apps.
And here's a thread for new captivate users.
You might have an easier time finding answers in the Captivate forum.

DiGi760 said:
Here's a link to the SuperOneClick to root and enable non-market apps.
And here's a thread for new captivate users.
You might have an easier time finding answers in the Captivate forum.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks so much for these thinks, I can use this SuperOneClick user on my Captivate with froyo 2.2 correct?
I like the froyo 2.2 just couldnt figure out how to get superuser, im trying to install a custom rom on it, never done it before just wanted to try one out and see! New to all this so probably have more questions haha !

Also another noobie question(s).
What does "flashing" mean?
lol

You have to be rooted to have superuser privileges.

Flashing a phone rom is like installing a new OS on a PC. Be careful on doing so and watch some videos and read up on it if you get brave to try flashing custom roms onto your device. Usually ppl use a windows app called Odin to do so. Make sure phone always charged 100% before flashing any new rom also. It could mess up battery stats otherwise and could risk brick if its almost dead then dies LOL. Assuming that's the context of flashing you meant.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

try bookmark this page 1st if anything wrong u can recover to original rom.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=10056254&postcount=36

Go to this link
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=884364
It has everything you need to know about installing a custom ROM. Started like you all, found this post and now I have flashed like a 100 times Enjoy!

Mac4Wii said:
Also another noobie question(s).
What does "flashing" mean?
lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Flashing in simple terms means to install a new OS version/Updates/Themes etc on the phone. The most common method found here in XDA is to use something called as Clockwork Recovery Mod.
Seriously, go to this link http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=884364 you will know what you need to do to flash a custom ROM. And may I suggest Firefly 2.1 found here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=914284 as your first ROM. It is a good ROM. You will enjoy it. There are some other ROMs, if you ask which is the best, clearly there is none, it is purely on preference. Once you have flashed one ROM, and then a few, you will know which one you like.

1. installing a custom rom does not require a rooted phone, you can copy the update.zip to your sdcard and get into recovery, select the custom rom zip file and flash from there.
2. have you flashed a bios on a computer? flash a phone's rom is very similar to that.