[How-to] Prep Nexus One for Gingerbread

[Phil Nickinson]

So you want to make sure you can get Gingerbread on your Nexus One, eh? There are a couple of things to consider:

1. Rooted versions will quickly follow any official (unrooted) update. So if you're rooted and don't mind waiting a little bit, you might just want to sit back and relax.
2. If you're running a stock (unrooted) Nexus One, you also can relax. You'll be able to manually apply the update once it's out.
3. If you're rooted and want to roll back to stock so that you can apply Gingerbread as soon as possible, read on -- THIS IS FOR YOU.

BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING ELSE -- BACK UP YOUR ROOTED NEXUS ONE. This will wipe your phone back to the factory state!

1. Make a Nandroid backup of your current system. Do it from ROM Manager, do it from recovery -- either way, just do it. In fact, make two backups, just in case. You can always reload these Nandroid backups later if you want.
2. Back up your SD card. I just mount my phone and copy the entire thing to the computer.

Thanks to the collective genius that is XDA-Developers, rolling back to stock is pretty painless. They have directions in their wiki, but we're going to break them down into a few simple steps that work for both the T-Mobile and AT&T versions of the Nexus One. When you're all backed up and ready to go:

Step One

1. Download this file. It's the flashable, stand alone version of FRG33. You can't go straight back to FRG83 using this method. Just trust us.
2. Rename the file you just downloaded to PASSIMG.zip. Double check to be sure it's not PASSIMG.zip.zip, or PASSIMG.zip.jar. Windows will do that sometimes, and this only works if the file is named PASSIMG.zip
3. Place the PASSIMG.zip file on the root of your SD card. That means don't place it inside any folder, just mount your SD card and copy it over.
4. Power off your Nexus One, then hold volume down while pressing the power button.
5. Your phone will spend a minute or so looking for an update file (the PASSIMG.zip file). When it has the info it needs, it will ask if you would like to install it. Press the volume up key to choose to install the file.
6. Your Nexus One will take another few minutes installing the update, then it will reboot. Let it reboot the whole way, then go on to step two.

Step two

1. Delete the PASSIMG.zip file from your SD card. We don't want to try to update this file again.
2. Download this file direct from Google. It's the official signed update to FRG83, and will flash right over your current system.
3. Rename the file to update.zip. Again, double check that it's update.zip, not update.zip.zip or update.zip.jar.
4. The file you just renamed goes -- you guessed it -- on the root of your SD card.
5. Power your Nexus off, and hold volume down while pressing the power key to reboot.
6. Use the volume keys to navigate, choose the option that says recovery, and use the power button to select it. Your phone will soft reboot and you'll see a warning triangle with an adorable green robot.
7. Now hold the power button, and press volume up. You'll see a small menu in green text.
8. Choose "Apply SD card: update.zip" from that menu.
9. Sit back and watch your phone load and install the FRG83 update, including the radio and all the partitions. It will reboot more than once during this process, so don't be alarmed.
10. When your Nexus reboots back to the lockscreen, you're ready to go!

EDIT -- with the FRG83D update we now have a third step
After you have completed the steps above, you SHOULD be notified of an OTA update for your N1. If so, follow the prompts to install it. If not:

1. Download this file: http://android.clients.google.com/p...signed-passion-FRG83D-from-FRG83.ecb21b75.zip
2. As above, rename it update.zip
3. The file you just renamed goes on the root of your SD card.
4. Power your Nexus off, and hold volume down while pressing the power key to reboot.
5. Use the volume keys to navigate, choose the option that says recovery, and use the power button to select it. Your phone will soft reboot and you'll see a warning triangle with an adorable green robot.
6. Now hold the power button, and press volume up. You'll see a small menu in green text.
7. Choose "Apply SD card: update.zip" from that menu.
8. Sit back and watch your phone load and install the FRG83D update.
9. When your Nexus reboots back to the lockscreen, you're ready to go!

That's it. You're now at the latest version of stock Android 2.2.1 for the Nexus One and should be able to manually update to Gingerbread once it leaks out, or when the official updates start to push. (We say *should* because until we actually get Gingerbread, we won't be 100 percent sure.)

 

[zenguppy34]

Hey Phil,

I'm kinda of a noobie with the whole rooting thing...

anyhow, i thought if you rooted your N1 but did not flash a custom ROM, it would still receive automatic updates?

Can I simply unroot with superoneclick and not go through the hassle of reflashing the N1?

 

[sumyunguy]

@ zenguppy34

Don't mean to be rude, but did you read the article above?

Point #1 On the second line is: "Rooted versions will quickly follow any official (unrooted) update. So if you're rooted and don't mind waiting a little bit, you might just want to sit back and relax."

In the words of C&C music Factory "chill baby baby chill baby baby wait"

 

[zenguppy34]

@sumyunguy

not rude at all.

I inferred "rooted version" as those individuals who flashed with a custom rom. I just rooted to save battery with setcpu custom profiles. Otherwise, its more or less the factory.

I guess I can try superoneclick to unroot.

 

[mehal88]

I doubt that you will able to use the one click root methods with gingerbread. I currently have my n1 rooted with androot and I havent even gotten the frg update yet, I believe because of the root. However I was told that FRG will not allow for androot anymore, I doubt that Gingerbread will be any different.

 

[spltngheadache]

Is there any difference between this and just wiping and using fast boot to flash userdata, boot, system, and recovery images in the FRG83 system image download from HTC - Developer Center

This booted frg83 stock clean for me... Followed instructions on xda reverting to stock Nexus one image just used FRG83 files..

Basically like I said.. Wipe cache and user data.. Flash userdata.img boot.img system.img and recovery.img (in that order).. Reboot.

Any problems with this method?

Update: I see now on the xda wiki that the fast boot method is just an alternative. Sorry I should have read first.

 

[Tal Shterzer]

Using custom recovery (AmonRa 1.9.0.Alpha)

Hi everyone,

I'm using the custom recovery for me rooted N1. Current version is Amon Ra's 1.9.0.Alpha
If I understand it correctly, this version should not validate the signature on the passion update and I should have no problem with the Gingerbread update.

Am I right or should I revert back to stock recovery as well?

Thanks

 

[Phil Nickinson]

Same thing, more typing.

Is there any difference between this and just wiping and using fast boot to flash userdata, boot, system, and recovery images in the FRG83 system image download from HTC - Developer Center

 

[natehoch96]

it didnt work for me.. wouldnt let me flash the PASSIMG.zip

 

[baseballfanz]

I'm on FRF91, root and a few apps missing, ie Amazon MP3 (previous owner
deleted them I guess).

Will this method work for me? If not what method will get me to FRG83?

Kinda tire of the update messaging notice that keep popping up.

Thanks in advance

 

[cesarb]

What if before I flashed cyanogen I made a nandroid backup using rom manager right after I rooted my phone using universal androot and have it saved in my sd card. If I recover to that backup would it not work?

 

[isthistaken]

Phil,

After completing said steps I continue to get the "system update available" message. When attempting to upgrade the signature verification fails. Do I need to revert to the stock recovery rom as well? If so any leads on where to get the file and how to do so?

 

[ragebunny]

Hey.

I have the nexus one through Vodafone UK. In the past they have taken a little short of a lifetime to get updates rolling out. This is because they mess around with the code to optimize it for running on the network.

I was wondering if i wanted to get the update straight from Google and not have to worry about waiting for Vodafone to get round to it what would I have to do?

If this has already been discussed on this forum or somewhere else could someone please point me in the right direction?

Thanks.

 

[ju12zo]

Followed this guide and still got the error. This guide stops at FRG83D. The update is for FRG83G (2.2.2) to GRI40 (2.3.x)
AC post on update from D to G.
Nexus One Android 2.2.2 update pushing out -- Build FRG83G | Android Central

 

[mukarram1]

Followed this guide exactly. Twice. Still didn't work. (getting that status 7 error)
Currently trying to update to FRG83G first, then gingerbread. Lets see if this works

-update- It worked! Oh man, I thought I was gonna have to wait for the OTA

So yeah, that guide is missing a step. You also have to update from FRG83D to FRG83G (as indicated in this AC post). Then you can install gingerbread. Thanks to ju12zo for suggesting that

 

[derfo]

I had to update my AT&T N1 to FRG83G before I could apply the Gingerbread update.
FRG83G is here: Nexus One Android 2.2.2 update pushing out -- Build FRG83G | Android Central

Please update the guide.

 

[hfm]

"Download this file. It's the flashable, stand alone version of FRG33. You can't go straight back to FRG83 using this method. Just trust us. "

You definitely can go straight to FRG83 .. I did from MIUI 1.2.19 and CW.. worked fine...

I just downloaded FRG83 from modaco, installed old radio from FRF90, boot, recovery, and system from FRG83 .. fastboot clear cache and userdata .. bam.. done..

Of course I still had to apply FRG83D and FRG83G before I could apply GRI40..

 

[ragebunny]

Followed this guide exactly. Twice. Still didn't work. (getting that status 7 error)
Currently trying to update to FRG83G first, then gingerbread. Lets see if this works

-update- It worked! Oh man, I thought I was gonna have to wait for the OTA

So yeah, that guide is missing a step. You also have to update from FRG83D to FRG83G (as indicated in this AC post). Then you can install gingerbread. Thanks to ju12zo for suggesting that

I had the same problem. I found the update for 2.2.2 and updated to that before trying to update to 2.3.3 and it worked a charm!

Heres the manual download link for 2.2.2 hope it helps.

http://android.clients.google.com/p...igned-passion-FRG83G-from-FRG83D.2854b06b.zip

Its just a matter of changing the name to update.zip and going into recovery like you dud before. let us know how it goes.

 

[ScotterMonkey]

Rooted but stock ROM

I think what Zenguppy was asking was more along these lines:

I'm rooted but I didn't go any further. Meaning I just have root permissions (via that app SuperOneClickRoot) but I'm still running stock FRG83G.

So... given that situation, two questions:
(1) Will the OTA Gingerbread still download and install as usual?
(2) And/or if I wanted to use the download Gingerbread, would that work as if I was not rooted?

Thanks!

 

[stillwind]

Any help is appreciated:
The FRG33 file won't update: Main version is older! Update fail.
I'm running FRG83 rooted from superoneclick.