Develop Bugs

Unlocking OTA 4.3 GN2 and Downloading Updates

Background:
2 weeks ago I jumped on-board Tmobile right after announcement of Uncarrier 4.0, didn't trade in my ATT GN2 so I can use it on Tmo. Prior to the switch I flashed the "official leaked " OTA ATT 4.3. Then right before I switched, I filed a request for unlock code to which ATT supplied me last night.
Since then I've been trying to plug the unlock code in, "Network Unlock Request Unsuccessful"- great. Reading the email again it says "Please allow 24 hours upon receipt of this notification to complete the unlock process." Some say 4.3 is simply unlockable. On top of that, I have been told that too many attempts can hardlock the phone and with my great enthusiasm last night, I don't want to make any more unnecessary attempts.
If all else fails, Im also ready to flash back to 4.1 following OTA to MK6 using LJ2. Problem is I only have a working tmo sim card and a no-service att sim, however, it requires me to download OTA updates with wifi, twice.
Questions: For those interested-
Has anyone unlocked their 4.3 with an ATT supplied-unlock code?
-Confirmed through repeated and desperate unlock attempts that 4.3 leaked OTA cannot be unlocked even with the ATT unlock code.
I've yet to come across a thread about hardlocking GN2. Is hardlock a thing for Note II? (I tried at lesat 5 times by now & no lock yet)
-I should have rounded up upward of 10 unlock code attempts and no hardlock.
Can I download ATT OTA updates with a no-service ATT sim or tmo sim card? Both? Neither?
-Official updates have yet to pop up throughout the duration so Its a no-no.
Afterword:
First I'd like to thank dicksteele and perez6991 as I downgraded to LJ2 using their instructions. My phone was then unlocked using the *#197328460# menu. Happily using Tmobile sim now.
Thanks for reading.

How to sim unlock the trac phone sgh-s970g galaxy s4...and possibly others

Ok so this is still a work in progress but it works, and lte works on my att and tmobile sims. Ill post as many screen shots and be detailed as I possibly can so bear with me.....
So i have a samsung galaxy s4 the sgh-s970g, and a customer needed it unlocked so I thought I would give it a try. Its been a fun phone to mess with. So I am on 4.2.2 and this is the only version I have tested on. I havent tested on 4.3 so let me know if it works for you.
So my baseband is MH3. I used saferoot to root the phone and then I used the twrp for the m919 version to get a custom recovery. after this i went into recovery and made a nandroid. I would advice you do the same if your going to try this, because I am in no way responsible for anything that happens to your phone it will trip your knox counter and your warranty is now void.
ok so I have a tmobile sim in the phone the whole time because it gives you a invalid sim message and when you get rid of that the phone is unlocked. Now I flashed the wicked v-8 4.2.2 custom m919 rom onto the phone. And after that i booted it up like normal and had no problems booting it. So when it finally boots up this is what I see....
know with the tmobile rom it is asking for a sim unlock code. This is where it gets a little tricky.. Youll need to download region lock.apk
you can get it from the play store or from the developer on xda, (great app by the way). So now is when i procedded to use spt box to unlock part of this but i believe you can do it without the spt. so just set your phone up and when your done your settings should look like this... youll still have straight talk radio but everything else including kernel is the tmobile m919.
Ok so now go ahead and open up the region unlock apk and instead of pressing unlock your going to lock it. when its done go ahead and reboot it and then its going to ask your for a password again but this time you know it.. Its going to be 00000000, or atleast it was for me but like I said i dont believe spt is needed to reset the efs i believe the region lock apk will do this and it shoould say unlock succesful like this...
the only kicker is anytime you reboot your phone your going to have to run region lock and lock your modem and then reboot and type in the 8 zeros to unlock if someone figures out a better way that would be awesome.. I also believe this method could be used to help unlock the s4 l720t and sm-n900p without the assisstance of sprint. Any feedback and help would be greatly appreciated and enjoy your unlocked phone....

hi bro
robhuffster said:
the only kicker is anytime you reboot your phone your going to have to run region lock and lock your modem and then reboot and type in the 8 zeros to unlock if someone figures out a better way that would be awesome.. I also believe this method could be used to help unlock the s4 l720t and sm-n900p without the assisstance of sprint. Any feedback and help would be greatly appreciated and enjoy your unlocked phone....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hi bro, my question is, i have one L720T for unlock this, i need root with m919 ? and unlock with SPT BOX ???

robhuffster said:
Ok so this is still a work in progress but it works, and lte works on my att and tmobile sims. Ill post as many screen shots and be detailed as I possibly can so bear with me.....
So i have a samsung galaxy s4 the sgh-s970g, and a customer needed it unlocked so I thought I would give it a try. Its been a fun phone to mess with. So I am on 4.2.2 and this is the only version I have tested on. I havent tested on 4.3 so let me know if it works for you.
So my baseband is MH3. I used saferoot to root the phone and then I used the twrp for the m919 version to get a custom recovery. after this i went into recovery and made a nandroid. I would advice you do the same if your going to try this, because I am in no way responsible for anything that happens to your phone it will trip your knox counter and your warranty is now void.
ok so I have a tmobile sim in the phone the whole time because it gives you a invalid sim message and when you get rid of that the phone is unlocked. Now I flashed the wicked v-8 4.2.2 custom m919 rom onto the phone. And after that i booted it up like normal and had no problems booting it. So when it finally boots up this is what I see....
know with the tmobile rom it is asking for a sim unlock code. This is where it gets a little tricky.. Youll need to download region lock.apk
you can get it from the play store or from the developer on xda, (great app by the way). So now is when i procedded to use spt box to unlock part of this but i believe you can do it without the spt. so just set your phone up and when your done your settings should look like this... youll still have straight talk radio but everything else including kernel is the tmobile m919.
Ok so now go ahead and open up the region unlock apk and instead of pressing unlock your going to lock it. when its done go ahead and reboot it and then its going to ask your for a password again but this time you know it.. Its going to be 00000000, or atleast it was for me but like I said i dont believe spt is needed to reset the efs i believe the region lock apk will do this and it shoould say unlock succesful like this...
the only kicker is anytime you reboot your phone your going to have to run region lock and lock your modem and then reboot and type in the 8 zeros to unlock if someone figures out a better way that would be awesome.. I also believe this method could be used to help unlock the s4 l720t and sm-n900p without the assisstance of sprint. Any feedback and help would be greatly appreciated and enjoy your unlocked phone....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great news, i read your post on gsmforum and i was waiting for this post. will try the same on other model.
pl share the download link for tmobile rom.
Thanks a lot for your great work.

here
javed91214 said:
Great news, i read your post on gsmforum and i was waiting for this post. will try the same on other model.
pl share the download link for tmobile rom.
Thanks a lot for your great work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
its the wicked v8 if your on 4.2.2 or lower and and its v10 if your on 4.3 or higher just look on xda under the m919 youll find it

robhuffster said:
its the wicked v8 if your on 4.2.2 or lower and and its v10 if your on 4.3 or higher just look on xda under the m919 youll find it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i tried wicked v8 and v10 both on L720T , but i am getting Invalid sim card error.

javed91214 said:
i tried wicked v8 and v10 both on L720T , but i am getting Invalid sim card error.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Region away app works only up to 4.3, so I guess you need to downgrade the baseband to L720T's MK3 modem.
No harm in trying.

Ive tried that
bigbyte.me said:
Region away app works only up to 4.3, so I guess you need to downgrade the baseband to L720T's MK3 modem.
No harm in trying.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the l720t was actually shipped with a 4.2.2 rom and if you could find that modem for the 4.2.2 it was originally shipped with you can unlock it

robhuffster said:
the l720t was actually shipped with a 4.2.2 rom and if you could find that modem for the 4.2.2 it was originally shipped with you can unlock it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can only find a 4.3 ROM for L720T not any version before it.

So, just to clarify, do we have to use the ROM or can we do this on stock? I have two of these LTE-T marked phones from Straight Talk that I'd like to use AT&T Straight Talk SIMs with.

tried this on a stock tmobile mdl firmware with the mh3 baseband with no go.. What am i doing wrong?

Has anyone been able to unlock these tracfone devices officially through a tracfone provided unlock code???

imzjustplayin said:
Has anyone been able to unlock these tracfone devices officially through a tracfone provided unlock code???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes i have, Tracfone will have to provide an update to fix the issue. Reason is that everytime you enter the code its accepted. But as soon as you reboot the phone it asks for the code again. So not sure how tracfone will handle this.

Well I returned my $250 Black Friday special as I just have no faith in getting an unlock code for these Galaxy S4s as I wanted to use it on AT&T and I had picked up the Tmobile version. I'll have to settled for a used item instead.

So will this phone work with a straight talk att Sim and a tmo Sim as long as its through ST?

After fallowing all the steps I get to the 8 0's hit enter and it just sits at the screen, and says unsuccessful. Sgh-s970g bb:mh3 av:4.2.2

Anyone know of a pay site to unlock this device. The one legit one was for over seas and I'm in US. I tried offering straight talk money and they said this phone needs to be active for 5 more months before they'll provide me the unlock code. I guess you need 12 months of active service to be eligible for the unlock program. The only thing is, is it will only work on a straight talk T-Mobile Sim until then. Tia.

It DOES work. I installed the wikid v8 rom on a SHG-S970G this morning, opened region lock, unlocked modem, relocked modem rebooted, and entered my unlock code and BAM, Successful unlock. Thanks a grand! By the way i bought the unlock code on a 3rd party site. Im now running ATT on the phone.

Straighttalk will only unlock phones purchased on or after Dec 2013, currently active on ST Service & have been active for 12 consecutive months, if you call the unlock department you will be transferred to their automated information center if your phone is not eligible for unlocking, this is just to inform you of the requirements to unlock your device.

ST unlock
I've had mine 6 months... Called them 5 times and they told me everytime they couldn't unlock my phone (sgh s970g). So.. I used CHIMURA to root for free. Installed the m919 twrp for recovery. Installed wikid v8 using twrp installed regionlockaway locked the modem rebooted, entered my unlock code and it gave me a successful unlock. As stated I'm running a Straighttalk AT&T sim on mine.

Extrapolate to S5?
james4117 said:
I've had mine 6 months... Called them 5 times and they told me everytime they couldn't unlock my phone (sgh s970g). So.. I used CHIMURA to root for free. Installed the m919 twrp for recovery. Installed wikid v8 using twrp installed regionlockaway locked the modem rebooted, entered my unlock code and it gave me a successful unlock. As stated I'm running a Straighttalk AT&T sim on mine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you think a similar technique can be applied to a Galaxy S5 from Net10/TracFone? I tried to use a S902L with my (Canadian ) Rogers SIM card and unsurprisingly, it didn't accept it

Sim unlock 4.4.2

Is it possible to Sim unlock 4.4.2? Maybe by flashing a 4.1.1 modem?

blu422 said:
Is it possible to Sim unlock 4.4.2? Maybe by flashing a 4.1.1 modem?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ive flashed over 24 gn2 and s3's through old modems and menu. There's a sticky about it.

blu422 said:
Is it possible to Sim unlock 4.4.2? Maybe by flashing a 4.1.1 modem?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
By Sim unlock, do you mean you want to use an AT&T phone on another carrier? If that's what you are looking for, give me a few minutes to test something.

creepyncrawly said:
By Sim unlock, do you mean you want to use an AT&T phone on another carrier? If that's what you are looking for, give me a few minutes to test something.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Isn't that what a sim unlock is? Correct me if I have it wrong.

emeianoite said:
Isn't that what a sim unlock is? Correct me if I have it wrong.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, of course.
But I am fairly new to the note 2 so I don't have much stored up information. I now see a post that indicates that flashing a certain 4.1.1 modem, MJ2 I think, gives the user a service menu where you can change the unlock setting. So now the OP's question makes sense. Only he should have been able to find the same post I did.
In a minute, as soon as my wife lets me borrow her phone, I'm going to test an unlock tool I know about to see if it works on 4.4.2 stock.

creepyncrawly said:
Yes, of course.
But I am fairly new to the note 2 so I don't have much stored up information. I now see a post that indicates that flashing a certain 4.1.1 modem, MJ2 I think, gives the user a service menu where you can change the unlock setting. So now the OP's question makes sense. Only he should have been able to find the same post I did.
In a minute, as soon as my wife lets me borrow her phone, I'm going to test an unlock tool I know about to see if it works on 4.4.2 stock.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, but that's for 4.1.2 idk if it will work with 4.4.2 I just don't wanna accidentally ruin my phone. And I think you mean LJ2 not MJ2 and thanks that'd be great if you could keep me posted

emeianoite said:
Ive flashed over 24 gn2 and s3's through old modems and menu. There's a sticky about it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Were any of them on 4.4.2?

blu422 said:
Were any of them on 4.4.2?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The dialer codes that worked on 4.1.1 to unlock the phone via the hidden menu. Does not work on 4.4.2 anymore. And being you took the ota update, there's no way of downgrading you firmware...
Sorry to tell you..
Another way is to contact AT&T by email, about unlocking the phone. Can't remember what the exact name is, but goggle search it. They'll send you the SIM code, if the phone is out of contact!!! Takes about 2-3 days when I did my skyrocket to run on TMO.
Just my 2¢®™
Sent from my T889 N2/N3/S5..

At one time, there was a free app on XDA called GalaxSim Unlock. For some reason, the developer pulled the free app download, and the only version then available was the paid version on Play. I have a copy of the free one from before it was pulled, and it works on the Captivate and the Galaxy S II, and some other galaxy phones, not sure which ones. So I tried it tonight on my wife's Note 2 which is running Stock NE5 with TWRP recovery and has the MC3 boot loader. However, the unlock failed, saying unable to read nvdata. So it's apparently a no go on this phone.

Bajanman said:
The dialer codes that worked on 4.1.1 to unlock the phone via the hidden menu. Does not work on 4.4.2 anymore. And being you took the ota update, there's no way of downgrading you firmware...
Sorry to tell you..
Another way is to contact AT&T by email, about unlocking the phone. Can't remember what the exact name is, but goggle search it. They'll send you the SIM code, if the phone is out of contact!!! Takes about 2-3 days when I did my skyrocket to run on TMO.
Just my 2¢®™
Sent from my T889 N2/N3/S5..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That only works if the contract the phone was in was not defaulted, and or you are the original owner of the phone.

re: sim unlock
I recently bought a soft bricked SGH-I317 (stuck on "firmware upgrade encountered and issue"). I tried flashing LJ2 firmware and got it to change to being hung on the "Samsung Note II" logo. I think this is when it changed as I was trying all sorts of flashing trying to get off the "firmware upgrade encountered an issue" screen (also Kies would not recognize that the phone was connected). Tried different recoveries and firmware without making any progress until I flashed the 4.4.2 (I317UCUCNE5) bootloader. The phone booted into Philz recovery after that. I then flashed the stock LJ2 firmware w/ LJ2 modem, sim unlocked the phone and then flashed Skynote Air 4.3 along with the 4.4.2 (NE5) modem. This is the setup that I am using on T-Mobile now with no problems except that the Knox counter is tripped. Hope this helps shed some light on the problem.
I discovered a problem with Skynote 4.3 with the 4.4.2 bootloader. If I try to charge it with the phone turned off, the phone will freeze at the empty battery symbol and requires a battery pull to get the phone to turn on. Everything else seems to work okay.

jsdad said:
I recently bought a soft bricked SGH-I317 (stuck on "firmware upgrade encountered and issue"). I tried flashing LJ2 firmware and got it to change to being hung on the "Samsung Note II" logo. I think this is when it changed as I was trying all sorts of flashing trying to get off the "firmware upgrade encountered an issue" screen (also Kies would not recognize that the phone was connected). Tried different recoveries and firmware without making any progress until I flashed the 4.4.2 (I317UCUCNE5) bootloader. The phone booted into Philz recovery after that. I then flashed the stock LJ2 firmware w/ LJ2 modem, sim unlocked the phone and then flashed Skynote Air 4.3 along with the 4.4.2 (NE5) modem. This is the setup that I am using on T-Mobile now with no problems except that the Knox counter is tripped. Hope this helps shed some light on the problem.
I discovered a problem with Skynote 4.3 with the 4.4.2 bootloader. If I try to charge it with the phone turned off, the phone will freeze at the empty battery symbol and requires a battery pull to get the phone to turn on. Everything else seems to work okay.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My sister sell her note 2 to me because she's gonna upgrade to samsung galaxy S5. It was an att and I'm using T-mobile.
I did check the baseband ver and It was i317UCUCNE5 (4.4.2 OTA). the question is it is safe to flash base band ver i317UCALJ2 using ODIN?
Can you do the step by step process and also links of the files and software did you use please? thanks

emeianoite said:
Isn't that what a sim unlock is? Correct me if I have it wrong.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's a network unlock, so you are free to use any GSM carrier. You can lock your sim card -- then a pin is required for your phone to connect to your carrier. It's the old skool method to stop unauthorized use, from the days before a lock screen pin.

I bought a SGH-I317M today off someone. It was locked to Bell Canada. I did the dumb thing by letting Kies update the firmware. And as i've read I'm pretty screwed for downgrading it. I tried unlocking it but the hidden menu didn't give me the 4th option in the network lock path. So i tried bunch of things which at one point required me installing Kies for drivers and thats when I i let it slip and update. So now I'm still searching for a method to unlock my phone. I've gotten philstouch recovery on and Skynote working. I just tried flashing the rogers_j2 modem.. hoping this will work.. you think I should just pay one of those sites or a retailer for the sim unlock ccode?

trunks10k said:
I bought a SGH-I317M today off someone. It was locked to Bell Canada. I did the dumb thing by letting Kies update the firmware. And as i've read I'm pretty screwed for downgrading it. I tried unlocking it but the hidden menu didn't give me the 4th option in the network lock path. So i tried bunch of things which at one point required me installing Kies for drivers and thats when I i let it slip and update. So now I'm still searching for a method to unlock my phone. I've gotten philstouch recovery on and Skynote working. I just tried flashing the rogers_j2 modem.. hoping this will work.. you think I should just pay one of those sites or a retailer for the sim unlock ccode?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please let me know if it works. mine is galaxy note 2 4.4.2 NE5 baseband and I've done some research and they said that if you upload your firmware thru OTA there is a possibility that it will soft brick you phone due to unknown security reason.
I'm just waiting for conformation from some one that it's safe to flash J2 modem on a NE5 OTA

in the US, if your phone is more than 6 months old and your contract is in good standing you can ask for the unlock code. I don't know if Canada is similar.

I was going to post the same question about unlocking I317 4.4.2, and found this post which is similar to what I'm looking for so just want to add to pump the question.
It's been a while but I have done unlocking for other At&t models (S3, S4) and learned that later versions don't with the option in hidden menu to unlock, and the work around is to downgrade. However with devices that have OTA updates, it's not possible to downgrade the bootloader.
Is this the same for Note 2 I317? If so, any other method available to unlock this device to use it on other GSM networks? (I just bought one and it's on Kitkat 4.4.2 UCUCNE5, and looking for unlock...)

It's only the modem that needs to be flashed. So whatever bootloader you're on doesn't matter.

I wanted to unlock my phone today. ATT website wouldn't let me do it until my contract was fufilled, so I did some web searching.
Started with 4.4.2 and NE5 baseband. Loaded original baseband via recovery, and used the debug menu to unlock the sim. After that, updated the baseband back to the latest. Tmobile sim seems to be working just fine.

dmrfresh said:
I wanted to unlock my phone today. ATT website wouldn't let me do it until my contract was fufilled, so I did some web searching.
Started with 4.4.2 and NE5 baseband. Loaded original baseband via recovery, and used the debug menu to unlock the sim. After that, updated the baseband back to the latest. Tmobile sim seems to be working just fine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What bootloader were u on?
Sent from the TermiNOTEr 2! ?

I just want to unlock the sim of my T-mobile SGH-M919 to be able to us it outside US

Hello,
I tried everything to unlock SGH-M919 - M919TMBFOK3 , The most popular way I tried was to downgrade to 4.4.2 then root it with chainfire, downgrading the modemsto MDL then using regionlock away and the *#0011# sequence as in this thread:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s4-tmobile/general/unlock-method-m919-m919n-t3138503
However, I still can't get my phone to work with other sim cards. Even though I don't get the interface asking for a code to unlock it after I reboot, it still says invalid sim card.
Is there any definite way to solving my problem? I would be very grateful for your help!

Is there a reason you can't use an unlock code from TMo? The phone being this old, plus you explaining you're doing it to use it outside the US, I'm pretty sure TMo will hook you up with a code that works in stock.
The reason I ask is because I had the same issue a year ago when I travelled to the UK for work. I felt naked without Google Maps :crying:

Once the phone is running 4.3 or newer bootloader, you can't use the dialler method.
Yes, downgrade to stock 4.4.2, downgrade modem, root, run regionlockaway, flash stock rom, and phone should be network unlock.

SGH-T889 SIM unlock issue

I've got T-Mobile SGH-T889 with Android 4.3, everything is fine but it's SIM locked. I checked ebay for codes and they are not widely available like the ones for this phone's twin brother SGH-I317 for just $1...
Oh, well since I have T-Mobile as a carrier I put in a request, they emailed me free 8-digit code in a couple of days.
Guess what - the phone does not take the code (yes I popped in the AT&T SIM card), says code is wrong, IMEI match, I've done it few times before - I'm puzzled...
Based on what I read here T-Mobile has a wrong calculator just for SGH-T889 model, since in the past they unlocked my Note 3 and Note 4 no problem.
I guess I can downgrade it to 4.1.1 (tripping the knox) and do it through the hidden menu but Sammobile link does not work reports "User not logged in" error.

Also what is the latest official Android version for SGH-T889? I've seen 4.3, do not see 4.4.2 like on AT&T one.

The T-mobile Note 2 is stuck at 4.3 while the sgh-i317 and sgh-i317m at KK.
You need to create a user account on sammobile.com in order to download firmware. It's free but the download is not that fast for non-paying members.

audit13 said:
The T-mobile Note 2 is stuck at 4.3 while the sgh-i317 and sgh-i317m at KK.
You need to create a user account on sammobile.com in order to download firmware. It's free but the download is not that fast for non-paying members.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok I never knew 4.4.2 was not available on T-Mobile on another side, it would have bugged me with the update like T-Mobile normally does.
Yes I have an account MK7 link does not work this is what I have in the phone, I don't know how different OH4 is...
Is it the same Knox as in AT&T one if you go down from 4.3 to 4.1.1?
I still wonder why T-Mobile sends out the wrong unlock codes.

Is the phone running a stock 4.3 ROM?
You cannot fully downgrade from 4.3 to 4.1.1 because the bootloader cannot be dowgraded. The stock 4.1. ROM from sammobile.com may include the 4.1.1 bootloader.
I'm not sure if T-mobile calculates the code or whether the code is stored in an imei/unlock code database.

Yes stock 4.3, LJ2 ROM from SM has modem bin only.
Hm... AT&T SGH-I317 downloads from 4.3 to stock 4.1.1 via Odin no problem, I did it a few times for SIM unlock only trips the Knox...
The most annoying part is that the official unlock code does not work, spoke to T-Mobile again they are clueless

The ROM on sammobile.com doesn't include a bootloader which is why a stock 317 can downgraded. You wind up with a stock 4.1.1 ROM on a 4.3 or newer bootloader.

And there will be no hidden menu? Have you seen this bootloader anywhere?

If I recall correctly on my i317m, the hidden menu will be there but WiFi and calls won't work. It may be the same for the T-Mobile note 2.

Were you able to unlock the phone by downgrading to 4.1.1?

Yes it worked like charm.

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