hi to all.
i bought a sprint S4 mini L520 with KK 4.4.2/ NE3 modem on ebay and i try to sim unlock it (internationally).
so, I follow this thread but i dont find the earliest modem for the L520
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2415587
I follow this other thread and i was able to access all the menu and i have done everything,
after that i can access network mode, apn setting, but still invalid sim.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2530610&page=75
i try the region lock away after i rooted the phone but still invalid sim?
so moderators and senior members why we cant find previous modem for the s4 mini in my case L520???
on xda we have unlocked many other harder phones and not a S4 mini!!!
please help us find a solution
GOD BLESS ALL
The Sprint variant is a CDMA phone. I don't think it will work on GSM networks, if that's what you're trying to.
arco68 said:
The Sprint variant is a CDMA phone. I don't think it will work on GSM networks, if that's what you're trying to.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
but verizone S4 mini is sdma too but it have the GSM radio too,
http://pdadb.net/index.php?m=specs&i...amsung_serrano
http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_i919..._mini-5375.php
im looking to sim unlock the S4 mini L520 (sprint).
after i follow one of the unlocking guide i can access gsm,umts network setting, apn setting and many other settings.
so i think it just need a software like S4 L720 to unlock it.
i try the same software but shows DONE AND REBOOTS THE PHONE BUT THE PHONE SHOWS INVALID SIM.
BECAUSE THE SOFTWARE WORK WITH FIRST MODEMS NOT WITH THE LAST NE3 OF THE L520 BUT IM NOT FINDING ANY MODEM.
I'd be surprised if it's possible to get a GSM SIM to be recognized in a CDMA phone.
There are firmwares with old modem on sammobile, but unfortunately since the phone is already running kitkat, downgrading is impossible afaik.
http://www.sammobile.com/firmwares/1/?model=SPH-L520&pcode=0#firmware
arco68 said:
I'd be surprised if it's possible to get a GSM SIM to be recognized in a CDMA phone.
There are firmwares with old modem on sammobile, but unfortunately since the phone is already running kitkat, downgrading is impossible afaik.
http://www.sammobile.com/firmwares/1/?model=SPH-L520&pcode=0#firmware
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
but there is just the mk2,the phone was released on may 2013, so there is an older modem a think,
so i just flash the modem, maybe i can unlock it and than reflash the new modem again.
klevismartini said:
but there is just the mk2,the phone was released on may 2013, so there is an older modem a think,
so i just flash the modem, maybe i can unlock it and than reflash the new modem again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you have any news about downgrading?
Hi,
After several days trying to unlock my phone and getting it bricked I finally managed to have it in a working condition and unlocked! I'm not sure if what I did unlocked it, but at least it's rooted and in working conditions.
So I decided to share my story and all the steps that I took to fix it. I would have written just the steps but somebody might find specific parts of the story useful.
Original Equipment and Status:
Phone: Samsung Galaxy S3 SGH-I747M (LTE version)
Carrier: Telcel
Country: Mexico
Original Stock OS: 4.1.1
Last working OS: Cyanogenmod 11 Nightly 20141221
Backstory
I'm having a roadtrip that will take a couple of weeks and I got a TMobile SIM to use during my trip through USA and Canada, however my phone was locked to Telcel.
CM brought me some couple of issues with the modem and network selection and as I live right next to the border and cross it every week or so, I was having a hard time switching between carriers and international roaming so I have to upgrade the modem to the latest one (From I747MUMBLL1 to I747MUMUEND3) and for some time I was able to select network operators but still it was locked.
No USSD / Unlock Code Fail
I found on the web there is a way to unlock SG3 for free through the hidden menu, but it didn't work for me but found out USSD codes no longer work in 4.3 so I restored the stock ROM for 4.1.1 (I have no idea how I managed to do this, but got it downgraded) I was able to get to the hidden menu and followed this instructions but I kept using multiple modem versions that aren't for JB the hidden menu didn't gave the option to generate the nv_date file. I think this was due the use of newer modem versions that didn't have the option to initialize the file.
Next attempt was to purchase SIM unlock codes without success, the providers I attempted were TheUnlockingCompany and CellUnlocker, neither of them were able to get me a code to unlock the phone
Also attempted to modify the NV_DATA file but well, it didn't exist in the /efs folder, there were other files but nothing related nv_data.bin. So I really needed to have that file to unlock it but no success in initializing it.
Third-party local unlock dealer
As all the attempts previously failed I needed to have my phone unlocked and was running out of time. So I took it to a local dealer who has more experience unlocking phones. This part I don't have all the info in whatever he did, all I know is that he was unable to work with CM and attempted to unlock it with a brasilian stock firmware, which got it bricked and it was getting more difficult to unlock it.
AFAIK I did have the old bootloader, but his attempts included upgrading the bootloader which includes KNOX and any attempt to restore old rom versions gave me the error SW REV CHECK FAIL : Fused 1 > Binary 0 therefore it was impossible now to get back to stock 4.1.1 and attempt the older modem versions which at this stage found out could have solved the original unlock issue but .... too late.
His attempt with the brasilian stock ROM got the phone bricked and now instead of trying to unlock it I was trying to revive the phone, all my attempts in bypassing KNOX and downgrading the bootloader failed - also attempted to get back to 4.2 and 4.3 through CM 10.1, 10.2 and stock 4.1.1 but bootloader was too recent which prevented me to use those CM versions.
I was able to get it unbricked using CF-AUTO-ROOT - this is a life saver at least to be able to boot the phone, everytime I get a bricked status just by flashing this allowed to boot.
Phone kinda working: NO IMEI NOR ESN
Finally I decided to restore but directly to 4.3 stock for my original provider Telcel. The phone works now... kinda. It boots and gets signal, but NO DATA. I just found out IMEI/ESN information got lost and I didn't have any backup, yes I know I should have but whatever I was doing at least was not touching that information, but this other guy got it messed up.
One interesting thing is that even though there was no IMEI information, but original SIM card works to send/receive calls and SMS. Data doesn't work, but at least calls and SMS does.
Phone included KNOX and was preventing me to use the previously mentioned tool CF-AUTO-ROOT and found this tutorial: http://forums.androidcentral.com/samsung-safe-knox/352922-sprint-galaxy-s3-possible-knox-fix-cf-autoroot.html - this actually works but didn't give me the option to remove KNOX.
THe problem now is that any attempt to use SuperSU through USB debugging was blocked by KNOX but apps opened directly from the phone weren't, with this I installed CWR right away and TitaniumBackup, this last one allowed me to uninstall any KNOX crap. Rebooted the phone and no more issues whatsover in root usage.
As I only have 1 remaining day to have this phone in working conditions and it's christmas today I went on in trying to rebuild my IMEI.
Rebuild IMEI WITHOUT BACKUP
After lot of research and no friends which the same phone that could give their nv_data files, I found out THIS guide (again USSD codes not working so I used EFS Pro to switch USB modes) and basically this is what I did:
Download EFS Professional - Epic tool to work IMEI/ESN info and switch USB mode between MTP+ADB and DEV+MODEM+ADB
Download QPST version 2.7 build 323 NOTE: USE THIS VERSION, NEWER VERSIONS DO NOT INCLUDE RF NV Item Manager
Follow the instructions in the previously mentioned guide, but the USB you can switch it from EFS Pro under Samsung Tools.
It is really important to notice the IMEI number needs to be entered with the HEX checkbox enabled and in reverse.
You probably could do this straight from EFS Professional -> Qualcomm Tools, but this worked for me.
At the end of the guide there was no confirmation or any message the NV information was written successfully, so I just rebooted my phone and success! IMEI is back!
Just to test I tested my T-Mobile SIM and it works! - I'm not sure if this unlocked the phone or whatever the other guy did, but well the phone now accepts any SIM.
No Data / Stuck on EDGE
Now that the phone has the IMEI number and is unlocked I found out DATA still was not working.
I used the tools ESN, MEID and EUIMID Calculator to generate the rest of the missing information which was ESN and MEID. I entered this information in EFS Pro -> Qualcomm NV Tools, checked the boxes and clicked on write making sure the select box next to it was set to Phone.
Rebooted my phone and yes the information was there, however STILL NO DATA.
I came across this life savior - Load this file with NV Item Reader/Writer Some people on the thread say even their already working LTE data achieved better speeds with this.
Rebooted my phone and wallah! DATA and LTE are back! AND UNLOCKED!
What did I learn from all of this? DAMN KNOX and ALWAYS ALWAYS backup /EFS or whatever IMEI/ESN/MEID info is, even if you plan to use custom roms or not, or unlock the phone.
Link to useful tools and sites
CF-AUTO-ROOT - Fix a failed ROM update attempt in ODIN and/or apply permanent root.
ESN, MEID and EUIMID Calculator - Calculate the MEID and ESN based on IMEI
QPST version 2.7 build 323 - Qualcomm Product Support Tool - Modem and service editor
NV Item Reader/Writer - NV Information backup/restore
this life savior - Restore DATA LTE
SamFirmware - Stock roms
I think i love you ...
I am in some serious need of help. And figured this is the place I get all my answers. So I figure I should finally join.
Here's the problem
Just bought a sgh-i317m it was all updated and unlocked according to the seller it was on a telus stock ROM and said it worked on the wind network but sketchy well cause it was stuck in wind away mode.
Now what I have done to attempt this and my attempts. I would like to start over from fresh do the aws unlock downgrade if I have to and unroot it and return it to stock
I downgraded to 4.1.1
Tried flashing dummy imei file in qpst
No luck even tried to attempt qxdm but couldnt figure that out way over my head couldn't get it to connect even. So I flashed the dn3 4.4.2 and I had to flash the ak5 modem for it to recognize my imei even tried dummy imei qcn there also tried the *#1970xxxxx*# method no luck
I'm running out of ideas and I don't want to mess this up as I can't afford another phone or unlock it as I am on a fixed budget. So if someone could reply back and help me out send me your methods to aws unlock my sgh-i317m so I can use it
And bring it back to as original not modified as possible
Thank you for your time and help in advance there maybe a donation to the person that helps me out.
Sent from my HUAWEI U8681 wishing it was my note 2 using XDA Free mobile app
I'll try to be brief. lol .Before finding this site I brought my unlocked S4 mini to wind to see if it will work. The guy found the 1700 freq in the phone service menu and changed something and said it won't keep on 1700 then he said something about the nv write. After a while he handed it back and said it wouldn't work. I put my bell sim in afterward it said no sim. it won't find any bell sim now. I tried a friends telus sim and it finds the sim fine and shows voicemail notifications but when I tried to call it says not connected to network. I can see the networks but when trying to connect, the signal drops and phone says "network not available try later". After it tries to connect the signal returns to normal.
So I found this site
I successfully rooted the phone with S4Mini_RootKit_v2.zip. It worked fine but had the same network problem. I fully rooted with cm11, then 12. Same problem.
I loaded a pit file gotten gaciously from sammobile. Same problem
I've returned all firmware to factory and undone root but still same issue.
The imei and serial number match the sticker on the back so they are not invalid.
The wifi and bluetooth and general operations are normal.
I'm guessing that the nv was rewritten and to recovery as well? But I really don't know as I am very new at this but have been doing a lot of reading.
1. Is there a way to restore the nv without a backup from my phone?
2. Is there a way to restore the service programming back to factory default? (I've seen this question asked before but only found the answer it is proprietory, whatever that means)
I have qpst and efs professional and a qcn file I was able to download from the internet
3. This qcn file is from unreliable source. Could I damage my phone more than it already is, and can i edit my imei and sn into it?
Thanks very much.
Manually edited
Miniwish said:
I'll try to be brief. lol .Before finding this site I brought my unlocked S4 mini to wind to see if it will work. The guy found the 1700 freq in the phone service menu and changed something and said it won't keep on 1700 then he said something about the nv write. After a while he handed it back and said it wouldn't work. I put my bell sim in afterward it said no sim. it won't find any bell sim now. I tried a friends telus sim and it finds the sim fine and shows voicemail notifications but when I tried to call it says not connected to network. I can see the networks but when trying to connect, the signal drops and phone says "network not available try later". After it tries to connect the signal returns to normal.
So I found this site
I successfully rooted the phone with S4Mini_RootKit_v2.zip. It worked fine but had the same network problem. I fully rooted with cm11, then 12. Same problem.
I loaded a pit file gotten gaciously from sammobile. Same problem
I've returned all firmware to factory and undone root but still same issue.
The imei and serial number match the sticker on the back so they are not invalid.
The wifi and bluetooth and general operations are normal.
I'm guessing that the nv was rewritten and to recovery as well? But I really don't know as I am very new at this but have been doing a lot of reading.
1. Is there a way to restore the nv without a backup from my phone?
2. Is there a way to restore the service programming back to factory default? (I've seen this question asked before but only found the answer it is proprietory, whatever that means)
I have qpst and efs professional and a qcn file I was able to download from the internet
3. This qcn file is from unreliable source. Could I damage my phone more than it already is, and can i edit my imei and sn into it?
Thanks very much.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I painstakingly manually edited using qpst and restored all changed setting to a previous copied save.
I bought a used LS990 on Ebay and I rooted it and installed TWRP and later tried activating it but it refused to connect to sprint's network so I did a complete factory reset with the .tot method and that did reset it and get rid of the secure boot errors but it also changed the ESN, MEID, IMEI, and all other identification information. I have tried using CDMA tool, QXDM, and also dial codes to modify those values but whenever I use computer based tools it seems to either not go through or revert immediately. Right now it is showing obviously corrupt data
Phone number: 0000008784
MIN: 000008784
ESN: 808D1BB1
MEID HEX: 35030526000000
IMEI: is correct, I was able to change it to my actual MEID and CDMA tool added a 3 to the end
Brand: Chameleon
My SPC/MSL code is 000000, I guess that's the default one
I'm not sure where to go from here, I have spent about 6 hours total working on this, have factory resetted more times than I can count on both hands and tried everything I could find on various forums
bump
Unfortiatly thats a touchy subject on here i cant tell u how to do it but get cmda workshop or dfs it can help.
Unfortunately, someone tried to modify the EEPROM themselves without the proper tools, and the information you are seeing is the result of that. Unless you have a backup of the original EEPROM, you will not be able to repair it yourself. You can't just change the ESN/MEID that easily for Sprint (or most networks, for that matter). I can not go into details on how it's actually done, even though you probably would not be able to obtain the right proprietary software to do it with. Unless you know someone who works at a Sprint repair shop or somewhere similar, I wouldn't even try to modify the EEPROM yourself. You'll just end up with a lot of frustration and a headache and lost time. It might even be illegal.
I recommend going to the Swappa site and entering in the MEID from the sicker under the battery into the checker. If the MEID on the sticker is clean, simply take it into a Sprint repair shop and request they either send it in to be re-programmed, or they might be able to do it in shop. I'm not sure if they will charge you for that or if it would be covered under any warranties.
If it's not clean, the only way to even get a MEID dirty is to report it stolen or to not pay your bill for too long. So it sounds like the eBay seller probably shafted you if the MEID comes up dirty. Only Sprint would be able to remove it from the blacklist if the previous user didn't pay their bill. If it is blacklisted because it is stolen, Sprint will not clean the MEID at all for any reason, regardless.
Hope that helps. Good luck!
AlwaysLucky said:
Unfortunately, someone tried to modify the EEPROM themselves without the proper tools, and the information you are seeing is the result of that. Unless you have a backup of the original EEPROM, you will not be able to repair it yourself. You can't just change the ESN/MEID that easily for Sprint (or most networks, for that matter). I can not go into details on how it's actually done, even though you probably would not be able to obtain the right proprietary software to do it with. Unless you know someone who works at a Sprint repair shop or somewhere similar, I wouldn't even try to modify the EEPROM yourself. You'll just end up with a lot of frustration and a headache and lost time. It might even be illegal.
I recommend going to the Swappa site and entering in the MEID from the sicker under the battery into the checker. If the MEID on the sticker is clean, simply take it into a Sprint repair shop and request they either send it in to be re-programmed, or they might be able to do it in shop. I'm not sure if they will charge you for that or if it would be covered under any warranties.
If it's not clean, the only way to even get a MEID dirty is to report it stolen or to not pay your bill for too long. So it sounds like the eBay seller probably shafted you if the MEID comes up dirty. Only Sprint would be able to remove it from the blacklist if the previous user didn't pay their bill. If it is blacklisted because it is stolen, Sprint will not clean the MEID at all for any reason, regardless.
Hope that helps. Good luck!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, the meid and esn were correct when I got it, it was totally stock. I changed the aboot which gave it a secure boot error and i did a sort of sloppy copy of my old lg g3 to the new one and some things broke but I just wanted it as a backup and/or media player. I gave it to someone as an upgrade and because of the modified aboot among other things it refused to connect to sprint networks so I did the tot factory reset and when I did that it overwrote the ESN and MEID. I checked the sticker and it didn't appear to be tampered at all and came out clean. I know tampering with the MEID and ESN are a legal grey zone but I'm trying to restore mine, not change it to someone else's. I already tried dfs and cdma workshop and both of them refused to actually change the values. I even resorted to using that manual qualcomm tool, I forget what it's called but it is used for editing those things among other things. The weird part is that I was able to successfully edit the imei to be the correct one but I was not able to edit any of the other values. I tried many things, I made sure the diagnostic mode or debug mode was enabled through the dialer, I tried it in download mode for fun, I made sure ADB was enabled, I tried changing the serial connection parameters and so much more but the ESN and MEID always refused to stick. I was thinking about resorting to editing the tot restore file somewhere with the correct values in hope that it would fix it. I'm really out of ideas at this point.
https://swappa.com/esn/shared/B7K9L8K9
that was the result when entering the hex meid
same problem
I'm having the same problem with EXACTLY the same invalid entries, after a similar system copy via TWRP from one device to another. Did you ever manage to correct the MEID and ESN?
AlwaysLucky said:
If the MEID on the sticker is clean, simply take it into a Sprint repair shop and request they either send it in to be re-programmed, or they might be able to do it in shop. I'm not sure if they will charge you for that or if it would be covered under any warranties. :
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried taking a LG G3 LS990 with the same MEID/IMEI mismatch to a Sprint repair store. They said they could probably correct the problem IF the phone was on an active Sprint account, without an account there was nothing they could do.
holistone said:
I tried taking a LG G3 LS990 with the same MEID/IMEI mismatch to a Sprint repair store. They said they could probably correct the problem IF the phone was on an active Sprint account, without an account there was nothing they could do.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Apologies if this is a dumb question, but if you don't have an account with Sprint, why do you want the phone to have the right MEID? Are you selling it perhaps? If you plan on using the phone on Sprint, you could always sign up and then have them send it in? I must be missing something.
AlwaysLucky said:
Apologies if this is a dumb question, but if you don't have an account with Sprint, why do you want the phone to have the right MEID? Are you selling it perhaps? If you plan on using the phone on Sprint, you could always sign up and then have them send it in? I must be missing something.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've tried to activate the phone on RingPlus, a Sprint MVNO that uses the Sprint network. Activation fails and I assume it is due to the mismatch.
fenguepay said:
I bought a used LS990 on Ebay and I rooted it and installed TWRP and later tried activating it but it refused to connect to sprint's network so I did a complete factory reset with the .tot method and that did reset it and get rid of the secure boot errors but it also changed the ESN, MEID, IMEI, and all other identification information. I have tried using CDMA tool, QXDM, and also dial codes to modify those values but whenever I use computer based tools it seems to either not go through or revert immediately. Right now it is showing obviously corrupt data
Phone number: 0000008784
MIN: 000008784
ESN: 808D1BB1
MEID HEX: 35030526000000
IMEI: is correct, I was able to change it to my actual MEID and CDMA tool added a 3 to the end
Brand: Chameleon
My SPC/MSL code is 000000, I guess that's the default one
I'm not sure where to go from here, I have spent about 6 hours total working on this, have factory resetted more times than I can count on both hands and tried everything I could find on various forums
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you ever get this fixed?
I have the same issue.
Ls990 g3 Sprint phone and Sprint sim
Tried to do unroot and flash stock Rom. On reboot i lost data sim and sd issues popping up. Tried to flash the stock tot again and out came up as corrupt or invalid. Don't recall. Plugged into the cdma workshop and out gives all the exact (exact) same info as you posted.
So looking into the build prop it seems to be set GSM prepaid not Sprint spcm postpaid all Sprint apps are missing and the carrier folder no apn settings are set and there's no option to add using the short cut tool i can open add apn but no settings save at all flipping the airplane mode didn't help. The sim locks due to no network....
Same problem on my LG G2. We need to put a BIG FAT warning out that the ToT method will destroy our Sprint LG phone.
DFS Professional can correct IMEI. With CDMA workshop, write all zeroes to ESN using LG method and then you can write MEID. Your phone will still probably need to be programmed properly though. This will help, but maybe not completely http://forum.gsmhosting.com/vbb/f799/qcn-file-thread-1867281/index11.html#post12138691
I had similar happen to a VS985, still not 100% right but it is mostly functional
edit:
i guess i'll add, without cdma workshop, you may be able to get away with downloading proper qcn from link i provided and using DFS Pro to write IMEI, MEID, and ESN to qcn before flashing with qpst. Seemed flakey for me though.