Update: Though this guide is written for updating to RC29, it should work for any official update. We have tested it up to RC33.
If you’re constantly glancing at your G1 to check if T-Mobile has graced your handset with the oh-so-slow-to-roll-out RC29 update (”By November 11th”? Pah!), you might be glad to find out that there’s now a way to expedite the process. All you need is a computer, internet connection, a way to transfer the firmware to your Micro SD card and half a brain.
Mandatory warning: Updating firmware can be a delicate procedure, so continue at your own risk. Always back up everything. Unless you’re able to check the hash or otherwise verify a firmware’s source, downloading it is your own risk and not the responsibility of anyone else. Whenever possible, download it directly from Google (as you will in this tutorial). Also make sure that your battery is charged so as to keep it from fizzling out mid-update, and that you don’t have the G1 hooked up to your computer while updating.
1. Grab the RC29 update from Google here RC33 update from Google here.
2. Rename it from signed-PLAT-RC33-from-RC30.f06aa9b3.zip to update.zip, and place it in the root of your Micro SD card.
2.5. If you added the file to your microSD card by connecting the handset to your computer via USB (rather than using a microSD card reader), make sure to unplug it now. (Thanks for the tip, Cole!)
3. Turn off your G1, then turn it back on by holding the Home+End keys until you see an icon popup after the T-Mobile G1 logo.
4. From the icon screen, open the keyboard and hit Alt+L. This will display the log saying what is happening (although you can skip this step).
5. Now press Alt+S to begin the update. Remember, the update needs to be in the root of the Micro SD card and needs to be named update.zip.
6. Once it finishes, just follow the onscreen instructions and press Home+Back to finish.
7. The G1 will reboot a few times to flash different parts of the firmware.
If all went well, you should now be running the latest update, RC33. To make sure all your hard work wasn’t for nothing, hit Menu > Settings > About Phone > scroll to Build Number. You should see RC33 in there somewhere. Congrats!
Notes:
- According to this post, some folks are having issues with the microSD card which came in the box, while it works for others just fine. If you have mounting issues with one card, try another.
Update -T-Mobiles official word on the matter:
While I understand that many of you have downloaded this update and seem to have it working, T-Mobile cannot support you in doing so. If you download and attempt to install this or any other update (regardless whether its from Google or not) to your device, and it is rendered unusable, you are out of luck. Even if we do exchange it, you will be without a device for several days (or possibly even weeks).
It’s sick you need any update at all ;)
I disagree with Zec. I’m glad to get updates. As a developer, I realize that NO piece of software is perfect out of the gates regardless of how much time and energy is put into it prior to release, not to mention the need to improve and expand it over time to meet the evolving needs and environment. I still wish the OTA were prompter though. :-)
OTA at all is a great thing… Much better than with my iPhone and having to plug into iTunes and backing up for 2 hours and then updating.
You forgot to mention step 2.5: unplug the usb data cable to release the sd card to the phone. I got “E:Can’t mount /dev/block/mmcblk0p1 (No such file or directory) E:Can’t mount SDCARD:update.zip”
I keep trying to install this but get the error “E:Can’t mount /dev/block/mmcblk0p1 (No such file or directory) E:Can’t mount SDCARD:update.zip”. I have detached the USB cord and doing the step, but this comes up when i do alt+s. I even reformatted the SDcard and update.zip is the only thing on the SD card now. I also checked and unchecked the “Use mass storage” option for this but still no go. Any ideas? email me timothy.c.davis@gmail.com
ended up using the 1GB SD card that came with it and put the update in root and BAM it started working…wonder why it doesn’t like my 2GB SD card. All well, thanks for the info!
You guys stole my post from androidcommunity.com and my picture. At least give me credit…
Actually, I took that picture myself. Just tracked down the shot you mean on AC – feel free to compare the skew of the text, or I could upload the uncropped version.
This came directly into our tip line yesterday, linking to the T-Mobile forum post – which is why we linked to that first. We dug around on both HoFo and XDA-Dev to try and find an earlier version, and found the link we edited the post to contain.
So – that’s my picture, and we’re linking to both the tip link that clued us off and the first copy we could find. Credit is given where credit is due.
DL’D IT. INSTALLED IT. EASY SQUEEZY QUICK AND EASY, TOOK A PICTURE BY PICTURE STEP BY STEP, UPDATE IF ANYONE WANTS IT.
i m getting .. no such file or directory .. cannot mound update.zip error as reported above ..
let me know the steps u followed
thanks
Make sure you unplug the USB cable from the G1, have named the update to update.zip, and try using a different MicroSD card if you are still having troubles.
I am getting an SSL error when I try to go to the link to download the update…
Try it again a couple of times, see if it works. It’s working for me.
Also: try changing the https to http instead.
The mounting partition issue appears to be because of how HTC formatted the 1GB sd card. Linux supports using a block device with and without partitions. The firmware upgrade utility assumes that the file system will be on a single FAT partition on the flash drive. If you want the transcend flash to work as advertised you will have to copy off all the data, repartition and reformat the flash with a single FAT partition and then copy all your data back.
where is root like i dont kno, i puthe file into my documents and into dcim and still nothing keep gettng errors. any help??
What does this update offere that I should run the risk of installing it??
Didn’t evev get pass step one.
Tried to download it and it say content cannot be supported on phone. It says it with EVERYTHING I try to download SOMEBODY HELP ME
While installing the update I am getting the error…E:Failure at line 1:assert file_contains (”SYSTEM:build.prop”……..
Anyone else come across this?