Bought an older version My Touch w/ 2.1 installed and having issues

Apology in advance, but I've searched and read and searched some more and didn't find an answer to this problem.  

Long story short, I'm a new Android user. This is my first Android phone and I know very little about them...so please be gentle on me.  lol!

I've had a Behold for almost 2 yrs and it finally quit.  I bought a very clean condition mytouch from a guy who said it has 2.1 installed.  The file info on the phone lists 2.1 in several locations so I kinda believe him.  Although I've never spent any time on a mytouch I feel there are some things missing.  

For starters, which happens to be the biggest issue, I can't use/find/operate the Android marketplace to download apps.  While this may be all user error, please let me explain first.  There isn't any icons for the marketplace.  There is nowhere to access it and every time I try and launch it from the Android market website I get nowhere as well.  It's almost as if the phone doesn't have the ability to access the Android market at all.  Now, all the other functions of the phone seem fine...or at least fine to me.  I'm not exactly sure what faults I'm supposed to be looking for.  Well, it does lag between functions but I'm not sure how fast this phone is supposed to be in the first place.

Now, on to the important part.  After getting no where on my own I called T-Mobile and told them the entire story.  Of course they told me 2.1 isn't available for this phone and so on and so forth.  After debating it I finally said I'd like to reboot the system back to the factory original specs and operating system.  Better to be safe than sorry, especially not knowing what the heck I'm doing here.  The tech gave me all the correct steps to put it back to the factory settings.  Now, after following the steps it did reset the phone...kind of.  It wiped some of it.  No call history, no messages, texts, etc.  BUT, I did find out the 2.1 is still on there.  It didn't change any of the operating system at all.  So now I'm really scratching my head. The tech did have me try an account sync and google sync and mentioned I'd have to enter my gmail account info.  I tried all of those and it wouldn't let me do any of it.

I realize there's a chance this is all an easy fix and I could be just doing something wrong, but I also feel I'm way in over my head here.  The tech referred me to this website to search for the answer.  What he didn't know is that I've been reading threads on this site for a couple months now trying to learn a little bit as I go.  All preparation for when I finally buy a really nice handset and need to know what to do with it.

Anyone out there have solutions?  What are the beginning steps on this phone to get underway with the full Android experience that I hoped for?  Thanks a bunch fellas and sorry ahead of time for the novel.


***Update***


Anyone?  T-mobile said this was the place to go...

FYI, I took the phone into a T-mobile store today and they tried a couple times to re-set it back to factory specs and it never worked. Still looking for ideas on what to do.  The phone seems to be working fine as far as normal functionality, just no android market or way to DL apps to it...even with a gmail/google account.

Apology in advance, but I've searched and read and searched some more and didn't find an answer to this problem. 

Long story short, I'm a new Android user. This is my first Android phone and I know very little about them...so please be gentle on me.  lol!

I've had a Behold for almost 2 yrs and it finally quit.  I bought a very clean condition mytouch from a guy who said it has 2.1 installed.  The file info on the phone lists 2.1 in several locations so I kinda believe him.  Although I've never spent any time on a mytouch I feel there are some things missing. 

For starters, which happens to be the biggest issue, I can't use/find/operate the Android marketplace to download apps.  While this may be all user error, please let me explain first.  There isn't any icons for the marketplace.  There is nowhere to access it and every time I try and launch it from the Android market website I get nowhere as well.  It's almost as if the phone doesn't have the ability to access the Android market at all.  Now, all the other functions of the phone seem fine...or at least fine to me.  I'm not exactly sure what faults I'm supposed to be looking for.  Well, it does lag between functions but I'm not sure how fast this phone is supposed to be in the first place.

Now, on to the important part.  After getting no where on my own I called T-Mobile and told them the entire story.  Of course they told me 2.1 isn't available for this phone and so on and so forth.  After debating it I finally said I'd like to reboot the system back to the factory original specs and operating system.  Better to be safe than sorry, especially not knowing what the heck I'm doing here.  The tech gave me all the correct steps to put it back to the factory settings.  Now, after following the steps it did reset the phone...kind of.  It wiped some of it.  No call history, no messages, texts, etc.  BUT, I did find out the 2.1 is still on there.  It didn't change any of the operating system at all.  So now I'm really scratching my head. The tech did have me try an account sync and google sync and mentioned I'd have to enter my gmail account info.  I tried all of those and it wouldn't let me do any of it.

I realize there's a chance this is all an easy fix and I could be just doing something wrong, but I also feel I'm way in over my head here.  The tech referred me to this website to search for the answer.  What he didn't know is that I've been reading threads on this site for a couple months now trying to learn a little bit as I go.  All preparation for when I finally buy a really nice handset and need to know what to do with it.

Anyone out there have solutions?  What are the beginning steps on this phone to get underway with the full Android experience that I hoped for?  Thanks a bunch fellas and sorry ahead of time for the novel.


***Update***


Anyone?  T-mobile said this was the place to go...

FYI, I took the phone into a T-mobile store today and they tried a couple times to re-set it back to factory specs and it never worked. Still looking for ideas on what to do.  The phone seems to be working fine as far as normal functionality, just no android market or way to DL apps to it...even with a gmail/google account.

It sounds like your phone has been rooted since the MT3G shipped with v1.6.  T-Mobile does not have the v2.1 Android ROM for the MT3G yet.

When you reset the phone it will only reinstall the version of android that is flashed on it, in your case v2.1.  To get back to v1.6 you will have to find an original version of android for your MT3G and flash it.

What gets me is the version you have on the phone (v2.1) should have access to the Market.  Since the Market needs to have internet access I have a question for you.  When you switched from the Behold to the MT3G did you get your account changed too an Android data plan?  The MT3G needs an Android data plan for it to access the internet via the cell towers.  You should be able to access the Market via WiFi without any data plan though.

What ROM do you have loaded on the phone?  If you go to:
Settings>About Phone> Software Information:
Can you list all the information there?  It should have which ROM is flashed to it, or at least give enough information that someone here can tell were the ROM came from.

I'm guessing CyanogenMod 5 without GApps. Do you have GMail installed? Get ROM Manager installed onto your phone from your SD card if it's not in the app drawer already. Here's ROM Manager. Then follow this guide to get CyanogenMod 6 and the GApps package installed onto your phone. GApps is Market, Voice, Gmail and all the other Google stuff.

Place both the CM6 and GApps files onto your SD card after you've installed ROM Manager. Then run ROM Manager, boot into ClockWork Recovery manually. Wipe your data/cache, then "flash .zip from SD card." Flash CyanogenMod 6 first, then after that is done, flash the GApps package. After that, reboot. It'll take a while for first boot but it's smooth sailing from there.

The MT3G is serviceable with CM5/CM6 (CM6 is Android 2.2 for the MyTouch 3G.) I'd get a G2 ASAP since it sounds like you've got an upgrade available, or should have one very soon (Behold came out in November 2008.) CS will probably be a little lenient on it, letting you get full upgrade a little earlier.

Whew...you just schooled me.  LOL!  I have a slower learning curve when it comes to this stuff...especially since I've had an android phone about a grand total of a week now. 

Long story short, found a friend that is an Android nut and spends his time rooting phones for all his friends for the price of a pack of sigs.  In a nutshell, it did have 2.1, but was missing some things.  It did access the internet but couldn't assess any part of the market.  He kinda explained to me the reason it didn't work but most of his info kinda went right over my head.  After all, I've been using a Behold for the better part of two years (as you stated, purchased in Nov '08).  lol!

To answer your question about my data plan, I already had an unlimited web plan and all Tmobile had to do was switch it from a smart phone to a PDA in their system...or at least that's what they said.  They said the G3 is considered a PDA and they switched everything over seamlessly over the phone and it didn't cost me anything. It took all of a min or two.

As for the ROM information, no idea.  It's gone now so I can't even look back at that info.  I had the guy wipe it back to 1.5 and then the automatic 1.6 upgrade from Tmobile's network came on its own just a few hrs later.  So, now it's currently running just fine on 1.6.

We ran out of time and had to leave it this way, but next week when I go to see him he's gonna put 2.2 on it for me and clock it to be a little faster.  He has a MT3G currently running on 2.2 and says he can switch mine in 30-40 min no problem.  That's probably the route I'm gonna go.  He said it'll be setup so that it can easily be set back to 1.6 when the time comes to sell it. He has a process for all this stuff which again, is kinda over my head.

As for the upgrade to the G2, that'll more than likely happen.  The MyTouch was a "get me by for awhile" phone, purchased on craigslist.  Tmobile already bumped my upgrade to anytime I want.  I told them about my Prem Tech job for AT&T and how I might as well utilize my company discount so they moved to upgrade date to immediately and gave me free mobile to mobile minutes.  Now that's customer service!  As of now it's just a waiting game for the G2 or something better to come along.  Any idea when the G2 is gonna be released?  Tmobile won't give me a strait answer.

Thanks so much for the input...all great stuff!  Unfortunately I don't trust myself to do this rooting stuff alone and was just lucky enough that I have a friend that's fully capable of all this Android stuff.  I no longer own a $125 paperweight. 

^^ G2 has been out for a month now.. do u have it now?

Nope.  A friend bought it and showed it to me and I was not impressed with the hinge opening.  Decided a slider is not going to happen.  Now everything is on hold since my current my touch was upgraded to froyo 2.2...I'm just not in a super hurry for a new phone.  I like the my touch 4G, but curious to see what's on the horizon.  The Defy would really suit my lifestyle but I don't want a phone that's gonna be stuck on 2.1 forever.

oh ok.. gotcha.. but yea, 2011 should be REALLL nice for the next gen phones.. can't wait for the next leaks.