Droid 2.1 Update Notes and News

We’ll attempt to use this post as a spot for people to drop tips, news, tricks and/or anything related to their 2.1 update.  If you had a bad experience, tell us how you fixed it.  If had download issues like I did, let us know.  If there is anything out of the ordinary that you experienced during the process, please drop it in the comments so we can share with everyone else and I’ll be sure to add as much of the important stuff as I can…

1.  First off, here are the manual instructions to update including the update.zip file.

2.  If you are still rooted and running a custom ROM, here are the manual instructions for returning to stock.

3.  When renaming the file to update.zip, make sure it does not get renamed to update.zip.zip or the update process will be aborted.

4.  If you get the following messages during install, it could mean you have not placed the file in your root:

E:Can’t open/cache/recovery/command
–Install from sdcard…
Finding update package…
Opening update package..
Verifying update package…
E:signature verification failed
Installation aborted.

5.  If you receive a cache error, try booting back into recovery and “wipe cache partition.”

6.  You can perform this update without a computer.  Download the file from your phone browser, open Astro File Manager, find the file in your “downloads” folder, move it to your root or /sdcard and perform update instructions.

7.  If you want a great alternate launcher, download HelixLauncher from the market.  Just do not attempt to use HelixLauncher2 or you will run into force close issues.

8.  The process can take some time.  BE PATIENT.  Mine sat at the Droid Eye for almost 2 minutes. If you follow these steps exactly, the process should work flawlessly.

9.  Many experienced initial 3G Market download and Gmail issues.  I fixed this by enabling wifi for at least 30 minutes before disabling again.  3G issues seem fine now.

10.  When you are finished, you should be on 2.1 Update 1.

11.  If you think you are stuck at either the M or Droid eye boot screens, be patient.  The update definitely takes time to complete.

12.  If you ran into an issue with Swype, uninstall your version and install the version we have at our downloads page.

13.  Right now there is no root for this official build.  However, if you are still rooted and using a custom ROM, there are versions of ESE81 already floating around.  (More on those later tonight.)

14.  Once you update using this method, you will not get the OTA notification.  This is the official update so you are good.

15.  There is no FLASH included in this update.  We’ll hopefully see that in the next month or 2.

16.  Verizon is tweeting that the update will void your warranty.  They have to say this since the broader rollout of the update does not start until tonight.  You are fine if you’ve gone through the manual process.

More coming!