Develop Bugs

SIM Unlock

I know its probably a "no no" to post HOW to SIM unlock this phone but I just want to know if there is a way to unlock it for free without calling t-mobile...i'm NOT asking for a how-to, i'm just asking if this information is out there somewhere...a how-to would be GREAT but totally understandable if it can't be posted...i just don't want to be out there on a wild goose chase trying to unlock this thing without having to pay $38 or calling t-mobile...
i saw an application in another subforum on this site but it says it is for PPC only and this is a smartphone so i don't think that'll work...

There's no free unlocker at the moment. My guess is someone will come up with a way to do it but I wouldn't hold my breath for it. If you are going to be using this phone, I suggest you pony up the cash for it.
You can't call T-Mo if you aren't a subscriber. If you are a subscriber, there's no problem in getting the unlock code, I got it within a week.

monakh, can you please provide more info about getting the unlock code from T-Mo? Did you purchase the phone from T-Mo? It surprises me that they would be willing to do this.

hassan-dash said:
I know its probably a "no no" to post HOW to SIM unlock this phone but I just want to know if there is a way to unlock it for free without calling t-mobile...i'm NOT asking for a how-to, i'm just asking if this information is out there somewhere...a how-to would be GREAT but totally understandable if it can't be posted...i just don't want to be out there on a wild goose chase trying to unlock this thing without having to pay $38 or calling t-mobile...
i saw an application in another subforum on this site but it says it is for PPC only and this is a smartphone so i don't think that'll work...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What is wrong with paying $38 to get the phone SIM unlocked as well as CID unlocked (T-Mobile won't CID unlock the phone for you). The phone is useless unless you do it. I did mine through IMEI-CHECK and it took 2 minutes and I was up and running. It was well worth the $38

Dan, I think for most people not having the phone CID-unlocked is not a huge deal so I disagree with you that the phone is 'useless' without it. Very few people go through with the tinkering the way you and I do. Frankly, so far I have not come up against this limitation and I have tweaked the phone to my satisfaction.
Someone mentioned that there's a way to downgrade the bootloader to install (at least) the new HTC test ROM that's been mentioned lately in this forum. I am not sure how true that is but if it is, then CID unlock is unnecessary at the moment. I do agree though, that $38 is a small price to pay to be able to have the freedom to do as you like with your phone. I keep wondering how IMEI-check does it. I have a feeling they have someone working with them over at HTC to make this work. It's not technical ability, it may be something else. They had an unlocker within a day or two of the Dash release. Corporate espionage or internal collusion or technical expertise, I am not sure what it is but somehow I don't think this has anything to do with the technology. We saw similar behavior with the Universal unlock application earlier this year.
maddog, it's a well known/enforced T-Mo policy that if you have been a customer in good standing with them for 90 days and have not made a similar request in that period (this is my 7th year with them), they will handily supply you with an unlock code upon request. For most people it's not a problem but if you are switching to T-Mo just to get a phone then you will obviously have to wait. I have had several phones unlocked through them since Y2K and have never had a problem.

monakh said:
Dan, I think for most people not having the phone CID-unlocked is not a huge deal so I disagree with you that the phone is 'useless' without it. Very few people go through with the tinkering the way you and I do. Frankly, so far I have not come up against this limitation and I have tweaked the phone to my satisfaction.
Someone mentioned that there's a way to downgrade the bootloader to install (at least) the new HTC test ROM that's been mentioned lately in this forum. I am not sure how true that is but if it is, then CID unlock is unnecessary at the moment. I do agree though, that $38 is a small price to pay to be able to have the freedom to do as you like with your phone. I keep wondering how IMEI-check does it. I have a feeling they have someone working with them over at HTC to make this work. It's not technical ability, it may be something else. They had an unlocker within a day or two of the Dash release. Corporate espionage or internal collusion or technical expertise, I am not sure what it is but somehow I don't think this has anything to do with the technology. We saw similar behavior with the Universal unlock application earlier this year.
maddog, it's a well known/enforced T-Mo policy that if you have been a customer in good standing with them for 90 days and have not made a similar request in that period (this is my 7th year with them), they will handily supply you with an unlock code upon request. For most people it's not a problem but if you are switching to T-Mo just to get a phone then you will obviously have to wait. I have had several phones unlocked through them since Y2K and have never had a problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you are on this forum you are probably interested in changing ROMs and modifying your Excalibur. I'm just dumbfounded that people are willing to buy this phone and then have it just sit there and not work because its not SIM unlocked and they don't want to pay an extra $38 to have it unlocked.
You still need to have your Dash CID unlocked to install the test ROM from HTC.

monakh said:
Someone mentioned that there's a way to downgrade the bootloader to install (at least) the new HTC test ROM that's been mentioned lately in this forum. I am not sure how true that is but if it is, then CID unlock is unnecessary at the moment.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's right, if you flash the bootloader (SPL-1.11) published here, you will be able to flash any ROM without CID checking, so you don't need to CID-Unlock your device.
monakh said:
I keep wondering how IMEI-check does it. I have a feeling they have someone working with them over at HTC to make this work. It's not technical ability, it may be something else. They had an unlocker within a day or two of the Dash release. Corporate espionage or internal collusion or technical expertise, I am not sure what it is but somehow I don't think this has anything to do with the technology.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They buy preproduction units to start investigation earlier, disassemble them, take all the flash chips out, read them... and I'm sure they kill several devices before they can release an unlocker.
DanITman said:
You still need to have your Dash CID unlocked to install the test ROM from HTC.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, you just need to flash the RUU_Excalibur_SPL-1.11_UpgradeOnly.exe first, no need to CID-Unlock, really!

Wow, great info, thanks pof.
Dan, I think one year ago you could have said that 'if you are on this forum, you are tinkering with ROMs and the like' but I daresay this is no longer true. Nowadays (thanks to Google and word of mouth), you will see many a newbie coming here looking for free unlockers and hoping for a silver bullet to solve all their problems. Just look at some of the posts in the newer device forums from people who *just* signed up and you will know what I am talking about. I think it would be fair to say that this site is no longer limited to incredibly hard-core geeks the way it was 12-18 months ago which is a lifetime in Internet time. That's probably a good thing and a bad thing. It's good because it drives traffic to this site and keeps them afloat but it's bad in the same a small mom & pop shop grows to the size of a Walmart losing the focus on the individual.
It's just the nature of the beast.

monakh said:
" I keep wondering how IMEI-check does it. I have a feeling they have someone working with them over at HTC to make this work. It's not technical ability, it may be something else. They had an unlocker within a day or two of the Dash release. Corporate espionage or internal collusion or technical expertise, I am not sure what it is but somehow I don't think this has anything to do with the technology. We saw similar behavior with the Universal unlock application earlier this year."
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Almost all of your unlocking software is conducted by using an a pattern matching check sum. If you are a programmer of any sorts and understand how a GUID data type is constructed then the concept of unlocking is similar. A GUID is a data type that is a globally or guaranteed unique identifiable value that can be traced down to the exact machine, date and time the value was created. This is done be cause of an algorithm that uses the date time, machine name and computes a value.
SIM Unlock apps do the same thing, it uses the IMEI number as part of it's alogrithm. There have been documents published on how Motorola does it's sequencing for Locking and Unlocking devices. Once you have that pattern it is just a matter of knowing where in the ROM's flash memory the check sum value is stored, with that the IMEI number and the pattern algorithm you should be able to unlock your phone.
Why do you suppose IMEI-CHECK was able to produce an unlocker only two days after the Excaliburs Release?, and not only for the Excalibur, but simular phones from the same manufacture? like the T-Mobile MDA and SDA?

RazrV3 said:
SIM Unlock apps do the same thing, it uses the IMEI number as part of it's alogrithm. There have been documents published on how Motorola does it's sequencing for Locking and Unlocking devices. Once you have that pattern it is just a matter of knowing where in the ROM's flash memory the check sum value is stored, with that the IMEI number and the pattern algorithm you should be able to unlock your phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That might be true for Motorola, but it's completely different in HTC phones.
HTC phones are NetLocked and SimLocked using vendor specific AT command "[email protected]". The MSL code is a 8 digits string and has nothing to do with the phone's IMEI. If your phone is unlocked you can lock it to any MSL using this [email protected] command through the GSM AT command debugger ('rtask 7' or 'rtask b' bootloader command depending on which HTC device you're using).
imei-check only requests your imei to make sure you don't use their unlocker with other devices, but that's it, it is not used for computing the unlock code nor the radio patch.
Read here if you want understand it more deeply:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=280819&p=1046444

This was a great thread. Thanks pof for re-educating those that need it--not even a "thank you" from them. Especially those in denial of spending or "wasting" $38. I got my FREE unlock code from TMO (took about 5 business days) and have no problems with CID checks for at least the current HTC Excalibur ROM. Hopefully, the same will be case with future ROMs.

pof said:
That's right, if you flash the bootloader (SPL-1.11) published here, you will be able to flash any ROM without CID checking, so you don't need to CID-Unlock your device.
They buy preproduction units to start investigation earlier, disassemble them, take all the flash chips out, read them... and I'm sure they kill several devices before they can release an unlocker.
No, you just need to flash the RUU_Excalibur_SPL-1.11_UpgradeOnly.exe first, no need to CID-Unlock, really!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think so. My Dopod c720w is the Excalibur, as you all know, but I still can't downgrade my bootloader. It says : Invalid Model ID.
And by the way, my dopod is not SIM Locked. I don't know if it is CID Locked or not.
Any one have ideas?

HTC's "Developer Friendly" Image

Not sure if this is the correct forum, but wondered what everyone thinks HTC are doing regarding the Unlocking of the HTC One X using HTCDev.com.
To me, on one hand its great that they are providing this service but on the other the downsides (warranty void & no updates) goes against the whole "Our phones are for Developers/Power Users".
On top of that, even when unlocking the phones using their service, there is no "easy way" to root the phones (without flashing a new/custom rom) and the inability to S-Off further goes against the whole mentality.
Either I really don't understand what HTC are trying to achieve? The cynic in me thinks this is just a "buy our phone its great for developers/power users" without actually giving away what we REALLY want.
IMHO, unlocking through HTCDev.com should unlock the bootloader, give S-Off and all that lovely stuff. I understand why they would void the warranty (bar any hardware faults of course!) but if I paid for the tech, I do feel I should be able to do what I want with it!
Just my 2 pence.

agento said:
IMHO, unlocking through HTCDev.com should unlock the bootloader, give S-Off and all that lovely stuff. I understand why they would void the warranty (bar any hardware faults of course!) but if I paid for the tech, I do feel I should be able to do what I want with it!
Just my 2 pence.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can understand what you mean, and i agree, but from HTCs point of view, they just don't want idiots going and bricking their phone, and then sending to HTC and expect them to fix it for free under warranty, if they didn't state that it may void your warranty, this would 100% happen. And would cost HTC a lot of dough.

lawrence750 said:
I can understand what you mean, and i agree, but from HTCs point of view, they just don't want idiots going and bricking their phone, and then sending to HTC and expect them to fix it for free under warranty, if they didn't state that it may void your warranty, this would 100% happen. And would cost HTC a lot of dough.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Absolutely, but anyone wanting to do this should be able to. People wanting to do this on XDA the percentage is high, but in general (ie vast majority of people) will never even know whats possible, let alone want to do it. It does take a certain amount of skill/knowledge to go through the process. If it were as straightforward as a menu option on the phone to S-Off it would be a nightmare for HTC.
Secondly, how is using HTCDev.com to unlock your bootloader THAT DIFFERENT from using HTCDev.com to unlock your bootloader AND get S-OFF? They still track your Device ID for warrantly issues (not a problem for me, not sure about others) so wether you screw up your phone using one or the other, its still not at an expense to HTC?

S-OFF allows you to alter the baseband and settings. You can do things you're not legally allowed to do in most countries and you can near enough permanently brick your phone. It isn't too surprising that htcdev doesn't give you full unlocked S-OFF.
It would be nice if htcdev didn't affect your warranty and gave you S-OFF but I can understand why they don't do it. The existing htcdev unlock gives you most of what a developer or user would want.

agento said:
Absolutely, but anyone wanting to do this should be able to. People wanting to do this on XDA the percentage is high, but in general (ie vast majority of people) will never even know whats possible, let alone want to do it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just take a look at the amount of threads with the same questions concerning flashing/root/unlocking in the General and Q&A forum and you'll see that what you just said is actually very far from reality
With that said, if HTC didn't provide HTCDev, we would still be figuring ways to crack the thing right here, and nobody would be working on ROMs as they are now~

It's like HTC wants to be the "cool" dev-friendly phone builder, but are scared of the financial repercussions of millions of customers bricking their phones. It ends up being half-assed.
Yeah, they give us HTCdev.com, but why not just ship the phone with the bootloader unlocked? The people who will never hear about htcdev.com won't be doing anything with their phones that concerns the bootloader, anyway.
Why is rooting HTC devices so scary? Both my SGS1 and SGS2 were rooted in about 10 minutes with no skipped heartbeats or hours of waiting for a battery to charge with no indication that it's done charging!
Rooting this thing was terrifying. Maybe because it's been a LONG time since I paid completely out of pocket for an unlocked international device. All my other phones after the G1 were carrier variants and I was covered by insurance if anything happened.

nooomoto said:
The people who will never hear about htcdev.com won't be doing anything with their phones that concerns the bootloader, anyway.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Like the majority of smartphone users, they do not care to read up nor care about the differences of S-Off/unlocked bootloader/root.
Just ask any iPhone user who has a jailbroken device. Why do they do it? To pirate games mostly. People will do things just cos it's there, even when there's nothing that they actually want.
Other HTC devices had their bootloaders hacked and unlocked, S-Off'd and rooted without HTC's help. Give it a little time, and HTCDev will just be an afterthought for most of us here.
Personally, I'm just waiting for unofficial way to unlock bootloader and S-Off so HTC does not have a record of me doing it through HTCDev, hence voiding my warranty

[Q] Cant get s-off ??

Did the firewater method for S-off and it keeps saying " device has been patched by HTC, your out of luck!!!." is there any way to get by this? im new to HTC devices so im a little thrown off

elvisp0129 said:
Did the firewater method for S-off and it keeps saying " device has been patched by HTC, your out of luck!!!." is there any way to get by this? im new to HTC devices so im a little thrown off
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe htc patched the last update, so would need to downgrade but not sure how you can downgrade when s-on.

There is a Bounty thread for a fix. Check my signature.

Someone correct me, cause I'm sure I'm wrong, my idea can't be right because it seems too easy/logical...
If HTC is the one who patched out firewater, wouldn't the next stop on the logic train be to assume that they want you to s-off on the HTCdev site so they can note the warranty voided??
I've been s-off since before this device even hit the market locally, so firewater worked fine...I'm just throwing darts to try and help.
Thoughts?

Exactly, it's not that easy. HTCDev will only let you unlock the bootloader, which is enough for many things, but is not the same as S-OFF. HTC doesn't provide any official way to the public for setting the device to S-OFF.

AGKdrOId said:
Someone correct me, cause I'm sure I'm wrong, my idea can't be right because it seems too easy/logical...
If HTC is the one who patched out firewater, wouldn't the next stop on the logic train be to assume that they want you to s-off on the HTCdev site so they can note the warranty voided??
I've been s-off since before this device even hit the market locally, so firewater worked fine...I'm just throwing darts to try and help.
Thoughts?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It seems that way, but I don't use logic when it comes to large corporations.

Black Antitoon said:
HTC doesn't provide any official way to the public for setting the device to S-OFF.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They should though... Why deny it just so that people go with "questionable" means to exploit a system in order to do the things they want to do with the device they paid a crap load of money for.
One would think by now that companies would realise that they'll never be "fully" in front when it comes to "battles" like these, whenever they implement a new security measure, there's already someone out there with the skills to exploit it! If they exploited it by "unofficial" means, then logically they would want to cover their tracks as well leading to a form of fraud i.e hiding flags/banners that show that you did S-OFF and Unlocked, it causes problems for other users if they were to buy a device like that(2nd hand for example) or even if you handed it in as such to HTC and they refurb and resell a device that says it's one thing where in fact it's something entirely different.
Why not grant unlocked bootloader, S-OFF AND Root access on all devices and sell it as is? You can put plenty of security warnings up to warn someone about the potential danger and/or damage they can cause if they don't use it properly.
Software related issues and/or bricks can be covered seperately with warranty(perhaps a small increase in price to cover it, if it's software related, HTC can fix it easy), hardware problems on the other hand won't necessarily come about because some wanna be couldn't read a ROM installation thread properly.
It's silly if you ask me. You should be able to buy the device with the ability to have an unlocked bootloader, root access and S-OFF, out of the box! You should then be well aware that IF something happens as a result of your own negligence that you'll have to pay a bit more to get it fixed, period. There should be a warning and agreement, if you agree to those terms then you can't cry to anyone if you mess up.
But that's my opinion though.
End of rant.

BerndM14 said:
It's silly if you ask me. You should be able to buy the device with the ability to have an unlocked bootloader, root access and S-OFF, out of the box! You should then be well aware that IF something happens as a result of your own negligence that you'll have to pay a bit more to get it fixed, period. There should be a warning and agreement, if you agree to those terms then you can't cry to anyone if you mess up.
But that's my opinion though.
End of rant.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree with you - in principle. The problem is that you expect users who click that "I agree" button to actually accept responsibility for their actions if they sc*** up. And often they don't.
I have seen it again and again in the Asus Transformer forums. You can download an apk from Asus to unlock the bootloader but that app also phones home and voids your warranty (which is clearly explained in the agreement). Quite a few users who mostly didn't bother to do enough research blamed Asus for providing a tool to unlock the BL, but then refused to support them if they bricked their device. Some sent it in for warranty repair and some actually succeeded - probably because the tech did not pay attention to the unlocked bootloader - basically making Asus pay for a mistake they made. These things happen and people just tend to try to find someone to blame for their own shortcomings.
So I do understand that they make it difficult - and I do agree: They can't win this game... Someone will find a way

berndblb said:
I agree with you - in principle. The problem is that you expect users who click that "I agree" button to actually accept responsibility for their actions if they sc*** up. And often they don't.
I have seen it again and again in the Asus Transformer forums. You can download an apk from Asus to unlock the bootloader but that app also phones home and voids your warranty (which is clearly explained in the agreement). Quite a few users who mostly didn't bother to do enough research blamed Asus for providing a tool to unlock the BL, but then refused to support them if they bricked their device. Some sent it in for warranty repair and some actually succeeded - probably because the tech did not pay attention to the unlocked bootloader - basically making Asus pay for a mistake they made. These things happen and people just tend to try to find someone to blame for the own shortcomings.
So I do understand that they make it difficult - and I do agree: They can't win this game... Someone will find a way
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed. The main issue is the common person not doing research on these things and even IF they do some reading they don't even read properly. Most of the problems they encounter are self-made problems.
Perhaps giving an option in store for those things would be better then, like I said they could even "increase" the price a bit for the warranty/insurance IF you choose to go with an unlocked, rooted and S-OFF'd device...Oh well, pure speculation though, it's not like it'll ever happen.
Oh and you have an awesome name Bernd :good:

BerndM14 said:
Oh and you have an awesome name Bernd :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree! So do you! Also German immigrant? :victory:

berndblb said:
I agree! So do you! Also German immigrant? :victory:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes and no... Parents are Germans and came to South Africa, I was born here.

S-off with HTC

We all know sunshine is the (paid) method to achieve s-off as of right now...my question has anyone thought about contacting HTC to have them do this exploit?25$ is not an option for me at this point...not sure about the rest of the m8 world...and thanks for all answers...postive or negative

215Aphillyated said:
my question has anyone thought about contacting HTC to have them do this exploit?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No. HTC made the phone s-on intentionally. There are simply things they don't want you to access. HTC goes to great effort and expense to plug existing exploits (like firewater). They aren't going to make an exploit for their own security flag!

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2948595

So what would the most likely result be if one were to contact them for this exploit?I mean people who know what they are doing should have access to those phone exploits if they know what they are doing...idk...just doesn't make sense why they would patch an exploit...it's like they want control

215Aphillyated said:
So what would the most likely result be if one were to contact them for this exploit?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The likely result is that they will laugh in your face, or tell you to go pound dirt.
No seriously, they will probably just respond is some polite manner like "we do not intend to support it at this time".
215Aphillyated said:
I mean people who know what they are doing should have access to those phone exploits if they know what they are doing...idk...just doesn't make sense why they would patch an exploit...it's like they want control
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Control, that is exactly it.
As I already said, HTC has already determined that there are some things they don't want you to access; and other things they will only allow you to do if you (potentially) void your warranty (bootloader unlock).
For one thing, s-off means that all safety checks are off. Meaning you can flash a mod meant for an entirely different device and brick the phone. This is obviously something HTC does not want.
They also have carrier interests to worry about. US carriers, in particular, don't want you to flash the radio from another carrier and migrate the phone to that other carrier.

Maybe its just me...been doing unlocking and rooting for awhile...and s-off'd plenty of my own devices and have not bricked one yet(knock on wood)guess they have to protect the ones who don't know what they are actually doing...just mad I can't pay 25$ for an app..

215Aphillyated said:
Maybe its just me...been doing unlocking and rooting for awhile...and s-off'd plenty of my own devices and have not bricked one yet(knock on wood)guess they have to protect the ones who don't know what they are actually doing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Of course, if you are careful and do your research, you will most likely be fine doing any mod. But its the ones that don't do these things that ruin it for the rest of us. The worst, is the ones that brick their phones by trying to mods, and claim warranty service. This is really the main reason for locked bootloaders and the like. If it didn't cost HTC money, they likely would not care what you did to your phone.

Makes sense...but it sucks for us

I have modified my share of devices as well this is actually my first HTC device came from a n5 the m8 has great hardware and has a damn good ROM community.

When root arrives what model do i flash h812

Like the title says I have a h812 from Canada and I seen all the American models ready for threads and I didn't see one for the mines sobi was wondering which American model will be related to the h812 thanks

*When
Sent from my A0001

Lol be nice I had to flash int s4 recovery and modify updater script and build prob to flash custom roms so probably will be the same for this not much love for us Canadians on custom rom front @Spudnubs
Sent from my LG-H812 using Tapatalk

As long as the hardware is the same on the phone, which basically all g4's are, then you shouldn't have a problem. Canadian models have always had a us counterpart. People should know that by now and if they don't and this is their first phone they have no business rooting it in the first place.
Sent from my LG-H812 using Tapatalk

You don't really learn anything until you brick a device though.
Sent from my LG-H812 using Tapatalk

Wow guys this is terrible...
To answer the question, usually I always root and modify my canadian device with T-Mobile's. Never had a problem, since they use the same bands as my carrier (Videotron).
EDIT: Of course they come with the usual T-Mobile crap that I cannot use, but with root, there's nothing you can't remove.

Tmobile doesn't always have the same phones as the Canadian carriers.... That's a stupid thing to say. You don't just pick up a phone, see there's no forum for your device specific and head over to the Tmobile one. That's how you brick it. When root comes to our phones I am sure there will be 100% clear instructions on how to flash and which device it applies for. Stop worrying about root so much, be patient and know what you're doing.

True that and att phones are usually our counter part well atleast for all the phones I owned before
Sent from my LG-H812 using Tapatalk

Unfortunately i don't think root will ever arrive for G4. Not unless LG and carrier allow unlock of the bootloader. I know people are working on it but it seems like an impossible task for anybody other than LG. I had similar experience with Xperia Z2 and had to sell the device at a loss just to get one that i could unlock/root.
I really do hope it happens but i doubt it ever will.

Well they did eventually release it for the G3....

Why are people going around saying that there isn't a possible root when we've clearly seen proof of it happening.
The has barely been out for a while now and you're all expecting it to come instantly right on release date. Relax. Seriously. If you wanted something you can root instantly go buy another phone.

Mod Edit
Thread Cleaned - Friendly reminder to stay on the topic of the thread.
ronnie498
Forum Moderator