What's wrong with the instructions?

Mark every item as cleared. Then go to bank code maintenance and set the balance there to the correct number to get the bank rec to balance.

Run the bank reconciliation report for the single bank account with options to print all items (cleared and uncleared) and a date range from blank to 12/31/2099 (note selecting ALL will not work). Print and you should get a prompt to clear purged transactions.

After this you will have to readjust your running balance in bank code maintenance so as to match up to the g/l.