Root 2.3.9 to 2.2 OTA then custom ROM

[Miker]

I'm still on the ancient 2.3.9 Froyo leak from years ago, and though I've been meaning to get back into the Android scene, I've been really busy, so I haven't kept up with all the leaks (2.3.13, 2.3.15).

I was wondering how to upgrade to the OTA update (2.3.15, I think) -- not the official one, but rather just its guts/kernel. I've taken a look around and there are a number of custom ROMs, but I assume that trying to flash them on my older kernel will probably result in a brick.

Can someone link me to the (preferably rooted) OTA update for me so I can get in on some custom ROM goodness? Thanks.

 

[luca992]

You need to restore the phone using the 2.2 sbf to upgrade to ota...

 

[Miker]

I don't intend to upgrade to the official OTA update. I just want the guts of it, i.e. the 2.3.15 kernel.

 

[Travisimo]

As far as I know, as long as you are running some version of 2.2 right now, you should be able to use any of these custom ROMs that you see available from the forums. For example, I was running 2.3.9 and upgraded to a ROM running 2.3.15 and it worked just fine. However, if you want the new radio, bootloader, etc then you'll have to SBF. These 2.3.15 roms using the 2.3.15 "guts" as you say, but do not update your radio or bootloader (which is what you want, apparently?).

So in summary, just read the instructions for installing the particular rom you are interested in and you should be fine. Make yourself a nandroid backup beforehand and you'll be covered if something goes wrong.

The one thing that DOES cause a bricked phone is if you are upgraded to the OTA 2.2 and then try to sbf using the old 2.1 sbf file. However, now that we have the full OTA 2.2 sbf, people have even been recovering from that as well. So as long as your bootloader doesn't get corrupted, you should always be able to recover from a problem using the newer 2.2 sbf.

Hope that helps!