Thanks to Kcarpenter over at XDA forums. This guy was really helpful and was patient even for a novice like me.... Thanks BRO!!!!
************These steps are ONLY if you have rooted your CDMA Hero***************
Alright here we go for those that want to do this but do not want to search and search for the steps through hundreds of threads. These were the steps I did based on the thread I posted here.
Noob trying to flash to 2.1d - xda-developers If anyone has any questions or comments or changes please let me know. I just want to help out those who felt the same as me with regards to this.
1. Download the file,
recovery-RA-heroc-v1.5.2.img
****There is an update to this IMG. 1.6.2 is the newest version with bug fixes. I actually did 1.5.2 first then did the newest on mine. You can get it here.
recovery-RA-heroc-v1.6.2.img
2. Copy this file to the root of your SDCARD. Do not put it in any directory. You can just right click the drive letter corresponding to your SDCARD and select paste.
3. Download the zip file,
Fresh 2.1d
4. Copy this file to the root of your SDCARD. Same process as STEP 2.
5. Unmount your CDMA Hero ( Sprint ) and unplug the USB cable.
6. Plug the phone into USB, DON'T MOUNT THE USB DRIVE!!!
7. Open up CMD prompt
8. Type:
or where ever your SDK was installed to
9. Type:
<enter>
10. Type
<enter>
11. Type
<enter>
12. Type
Code:
flash_image recovery recovery-RA-heroc-v1.5.2.img
<enter>
FLASHING TO THE RECOVERY TAKES SEVERAL SECONDS-- BE PATIENT. ENTER THE NEXT COMMAND ONLY AFTER THE COMMAND PROMPT RETURNS TO THE # (ROOT SYMBOL).
13. Type:
<enter>
Congrats. You have now flashed the recovery and are ready to do a NANDROID backup.
14. The screen that follows is this.
Code:
-reboot system now
-USB-MS toggle
-Backup/restore
-Flash zip from Sd card
-wipe
-partition sdcard
-other
15. At this point you want to select "Backup/Restore"
Once the backup is complete, reboot and mount your Hero and navigate to the SDCARD and copy the NANDROID directory somewhere on your computer so if you have to restore you have a copy other than that of the SDCARD.
16. Unmount your HERO and power it off
17. Power the phone back on whilst holding the home key. When you feel the vibration (let your girl hold it if she wants ROFL - Kcarpenter wrote this.) let go and it will boot into recovery
18. Go to Wipe and do Factory Reset
19. Wipe dalvik
20. Wipe everything except for SDCARD EXT.
21. Go back to Flash Update from SDcard.
22. Select the updated file ( fresh-cdma-hero-2.0d.zip ) and hit the home key to flash it. The phone SHOULD install and go back to the main screen of recovery.
23. Select Reboot
24. Wait a long time 10+ minutes is NOT uncommon (it has to rebuild dalvik and other stuff)
25. When the phone boots hit "Always Allow" for the memory settings app.
26. Setup your Google info and enjoy away.