Develop Bugs

IMEI Blocked

sorry this is slightly off-topic, and apologies if this forum is unsuitable. it's about a samsung e700 phone i also own.
I bought it secondhand from someone on ebay (stupid me) about 6 months ago (before i got the xda) and it later stopped working, first on o2 then soon after on all UK networks.
I enquired at an o2 shop and they said it is black-listed and nothing can be done about it.
My questions are:
1. will the imei block be global, or just UK? if not then i give it to a friend in tanzania when i go there next week
2. Is there any way to overcome the IMEI block?
hope someone can advise me, before it goes in the can!
cheers

International Mobile Equipment Identifier
I'd say from the first word that yes, it's probably not going to work in Tanzania either.
Blocked IMEI number usually just means one thing - stolen phone. Noting can be done about it either.

The identification is international, but blocking is operator dependant. except that often all the operators of the same country share their database of stolen devices. I guess that this database is not worldwide shared. So could de probably used in other country.

1. will the imei block be global, or just UK? if not then i give it to a friend in tanzania when i go there next week Smile
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As far as i know the IMEI is only blocked in the UK (dont quote me on it though )
2. Is there any way to overcome the IMEI block?
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On some phones you can change the IMEI number that is blocked on that phone, but bear in mind it is illegal in this country so not advisable.
I would take it to Tanzania and check if it will work ... if not then bad luck but if it does then your mates got a new phone

It will work outside of UK

Thanks to everyone for the advice, I will take it to Tanzania and see if it works. My friend will be very happy if it does, otherwise I'm sure he could find a shop with equipment to change the IMEI number - probably don't have laws abou it there!
cheers,
Paul

Good news! I am now in tanzania and the phone works fine on the network that my friend uses. He is very pleased with his "new" phone.
Nice, hot and sunny here, but no XDA to play with. Just my baby, friends and nice empty beaches and warm water to swim in. Oh how much I miss the UK :wink:

no one have any idea how to spoof or change the IMEI?

omega_ said:
no one have any idea how to spoof or change the IMEI?
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Er....why?

Yes actually I do. Quite simply a physical way, which is not illegal in some areas and also you can do it by imei manipulation, but that requires playing with other peopels systems.

will defonatly work abroad.
the phone will only be blocked to UK networks
so should work abroad

[Q] Newbie here - unlocked i317 "MM#6 Phone not allowed" for overseas network

[Q] Newbie here - unlocked i317 "MM#6 Phone not allowed" for overseas network
hi all,
I'm new to this forum and its great to be associated with such a wonderful group
I bought an unlocked AT&T note2(i317, android 4.1.1 and firmware- i317UCALJ2) off ebay.com and got it to India a month back from WA.
I have been trying to configure mobile network on Indian carriers but always got these errors :
- " your sim card doesnt allow connection to this network" and "MM#6 phone not allowed"(MM#6 appears only since yesterday)
- the network bar(i.e. signal strength icon on home screen) doesnt capture the local networks at all which is quite surprising.
- Phone's IMEI(35700..) doesnt match IMEI on the back panel(35542..)
I heard about cases where phones purchased from ebay/craigslist getting blocked ( for example, http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2341622) but I guess that shouldn't stop it from using overseas? Also, I heard IMEIs of such blocked phones look like "null", "0"s etc. but IMEI of my phone looks good and doesn't showup in the list of blacklisted IMEIs on swappa or CheckEsnfree. Lastly, I also checked the GSM bands of i317 and they are definitely compatible in India.
Can someone kindly help?
Many thanks in advance.
Chaitanya.

I would like to add that I have tested SIMs from multiple carriers but failed to locate networks and APNs. All other features like WIFI, Bluetooth etc are working like a charm so I suspected if it got to do something with the IMEI.
I request some guidance from the experts in pointing to the issue so that I can try the workaround(Sorry..Im a novice at troubleshooting android )
Kindly let me know or redirect me to a forum if already exists.
Thanks,
Chaitanya.

Could you please say your baseband? It's in settings> about> phone.

rangercaptain said:
Could you please say your baseband? It's in settings> about> phone.
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Thanks for your reply mate.
Here are the details:
baseband - I317UCALJ2
CSC - i317ATTALJ2
Bootloader - i317UCAMH3

The good news is your phone is clean stock.
The bad news is your phone is blacklisted, and the IEMI was hacked/changed.
The only legal way to solve this is to contact the original carrier (I'm guessing AT&T USA), give them your IEMI, tell them you bought it legally in the USA, and ask them to unblock it. The blacklist is all US carriers and their overseas versions, all European carriers and their subsidiaries. Like Orange or Voda or t-mobile.

rangercaptain said:
The good news is your phone is clean stock.
The bad news is your phone is blacklisted, and the IEMI was hacked/changed.
The only legal way to solve this is to contact the original carrier (I'm guessing AT&T USA), give them your IEMI, tell them you bought it legally in the USA, and ask them to unblock it. The blacklist is all US carriers and their overseas versions, all European carriers and their subsidiaries. Like Orange or Voda or t-mobile.
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My bad..I should have checked the status beforehand in detail. Till now I was only aware that bad IMEI phones arent allowed majorly in US only (saw many such phones being sold on ebay intended for international use ).
As far as I know, i317 is only the at&t version of note2 in US and it differs a lot from its International versions (gt 7100, 7105 etc). Do you still think this blacklisted issue holds good in countries where i317 isnt available?
Since sending the product back to US is highly unlikely, can you kindly let me know the best way I can get the issue fixed?

Answered in my post above. From India you can probably use the tech chat from AT&T website.
It's a blacklist of disallowed IEMI's so the model is irrelevant.

rangercaptain said:
Answered in my post above. From India you can probably use the tech chat from AT&T website.
It's a blacklist of disallowed IEMI's so the model is irrelevant.
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Thanks Rangercaptain for your clarification. I tried AT&T's live chat but it seeks registered contact details to login. Is there any email support?
Not sure if these kind of questions are allowed here but I heard there are tools that help to retrieve lost IMEIs (which work on rooted phones).
In case it gets tough to get hold of AT&T, can I try any of such tools on my phone since it is not registered in my county anyway and doesnt come with any warranty?
P.S:I know changing IMEI is illegal but I guess retrieving it is not :fingers-crossed:

chaitanyapatwari said:
Thanks Rangercaptain for your clarification. I tried AT&T's live chat but it seeks registered contact details to login. Is there any email support?
Not sure if these kind of questions are allowed here but I heard there are tools that help to retrieve lost IMEIs (which work on rooted phones).
In case it gets tough to get hold of AT&T, can I try any of such tools on my phone since it is not registered in my county anyway and doesnt come with any warranty?
P.S:I know changing IMEI is illegal but I guess retrieving it is not :fingers-crossed:
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I started to think may be the motherboard got changed(since S/N also looks different and the phone looks absolutely new with no wear at all)?
I'm being forced to think that IMEI is clean because some followup with AT&T and US Samsung care have confirmed that the phone's back IMEI and S/N are definitely good with warranty till 2015 and don't show up in any of the blacklisted lists.
I'm sorry for posting different questions but please note that I'm not much aware about this phone's history and I'm trying to openly share the results from my extensive findings. Thanks!!

If you're sure everything is clean are you sure your Sim card is correctly provisioned for the network? The easiest way to find out is to trade cards with a working phone.
Before you think about trading main boards (I did that because the gps connector was broken) go to www.mobiletechvideos.com and see what they can do for you.

rangercaptain said:
If you're sure everything is clean are you sure your Sim card is correctly provisioned for the network? The easiest way to find out is to trade cards with a working phone.
Before you think about trading main boards (I did that because the gps connector was broken) go to www.mobiletechvideos.com and see what they can do for you.
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Yes, I have been trying this on a working sim with an active data plan which is currently working on my xperia.
Over the last 2-3 days, I have learnt that flashing a wrong ROM sometimes might corrupt EFS folder that stores IMEI,serial number etc., and reinstalling firmware through ODIN(which requires to download original stock ROM separately) or KIES software might restore the lost EFS folder.
I thought of giving this a try and accordingly reinstalled the official firmware but without any success.
Can someone redirect me to any such guides/threads that might help? If it doesnt happen then I would like to close this thread and create a new one for EFS related troubleshooting.

If efs is corrupted there is no s/n or imei shown. It displays null

*#06# Pixel 2XL problem

Hello everyone,
I just bought a replacement Google pixel 2XL.
Everytime I dial *#06# it doesn't show the IMEI number.
The IMEI number shows in about phone. But not when I dial the code.
Can anyone be kind enough to help me with this matter that how can resolve this issue
Thanks
Amram

alienjukebox said:
Hello everyone,
I just bought a replacement Google pixel 2XL.
Everytime I dial *#06# it doesn't show the IMEI number.
The IMEI number shows in about phone. But not when I dial the code.
Can anyone be kind enough to help me with this matter that how can resolve this issue
Thanks
Amram
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Mine also doesn't show. that doesnt mean its an issue. may be this device just doesn't support such MMI.

I am curious as to why that is an issue? Replacement phone is not necessarily OEM. It is typically a refurbished phone not backed by OEM but they also have the OEM licensing permission for repairs etc. Meaning they are okay to do same repairs as in a manufacturer's warranty and such. I a just not fully understanding the significant importance of a dial-up code. Simple changes from when your original phone programmed versus the refurbishing program can be significant. I am not sure if this is helpful but I do hope it is in some way. I had a vzw pxl2 and had to have it replaced to my thankfulness due to my want to root and such. Long story that cannot be shared here on this forum.

It used to work for me when I was India... Now it doesn't in Australia... Don't really fret about it as might be a region issue... So something similar

rohit25 said:
It used to work for me when I was India... Now it doesn't in Australia... Don't really fret about it as might be a region issue... So something similar
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Doesn't work in AUS yup. Worked in EU though.

IMEI banned

Hi guys
My friend bought A705FN from abroad and bring it to home country (Pakistan) where it's imei is blocked and not getting sim services.So i want to know that changing the IMEI will work for it or is there any other option available to be approved by service provider?

Ab rox said:
Hi guys
My friend bought A705FN from abroad and bring it to home country (Pakistan) where it's imei is blocked and not getting sim services.So i want to know that changing the IMEI will work for it or is there any other option available to be approved by service provider?
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Maybe there are some methods how to change IMEI simple with some tools, but as I remember in my location people carried it to service to unlock. Also as I remember some services (maybe just in my location) easily unlocked phones which was bought in foreign country. So you can try to check in Google can you do it without services help, if will not help, try to bring it to services which doing that. But first at all did u try to talk with seller first? Good luck.
P.S. In my location to block IMEI is normal thing for reason to safe smartphone which can be stolen, if police getting any report from owner which can proof that smartphone is his/her. So some services for this reason don't unlocking smartphone (most authorized, which have license to work with smartphone). So if you will have disagree from yours services too ( I don't know rules in Pakistan about this) keep in mind. Also will be good if you will contact to seller, maybe phone is tethered to the operator from country in which u bought it and working only in this country. So u have to ask how to unlock it from this operator too. My opinion u have to talk first at all to seller/operator (maybe seller can do that), included personal efforts to find information and just later to bring it to service to unlock.

Blocking of imei is to decrease smuggling here in Pakistan if you want to unblocked you have to pay the tax for it

Question A52S/sm a526b/ds successfully rooted with camera working+ demo unit baseband 0000 imei question problem.

I purchased this phone unknowingly that it was a demo version.
I removed the demo version from it via the code, reset and then flash and update.
The dual imei numbers are both 0000 when I typed some code ( cant remember it showed that the imei is ok)
I wanted to get it repair via some of those remote box services. I dealt with very rude unpleasant person who was impolite, told me to install quite old xsg rom which is different csc compared to my original rom. When I flashed under imei there is UAE csc and new lines added under: TRA ID :
and TA : , and these two were not there before, device also shows just as a52 instead as a52s as previously. The person suggested the rom based on the build number that I sent him.
Afterwards he was asking for pictures and then blocked me.
Im wondering If I can fix this unit to usable cellular state with working real imeis
I thought xposed modules would help, but it seems they only help with apps and only change imei on them.
I highly doubt that this device has banned imei.
I would be happy to help you to root it and I would appreciate if someone can help me.
I searched many threads without success, I know the efs/qcb is probably corrupted
What route I should go to fix this device?

If it is a demo version and has no IMEI this tells you that this legally is no mobile device that is approved to use with operators. Inserting a new IMEI can not be legal in normal countries. IMEI is a device identifier sent with all phone traffic to ensure that the device is a legitimate one and is not stolen and black (do not work at all) or grey (works but flagged to be traced) listed.
Go back to the seller and demand your money back!

I hoped that someone with more experience with this would chime in, on these new galaxy devices the imeis still seems to suppose to be there, in galaxy 8 or older galaxy version there was no 4g module and antenna removed, I think this is what you are talking about right ? and it was purchased on ad.
Im wondering if these services like chimera can fix it.

I thought it's unrootable. How did you do it?

gerhard_wa said:
If it is a demo version and has no IMEI this tells you that this legally is no mobile device that is approved to use with operators. Inserting a new IMEI can not be legal in normal countries. IMEI is a device identifier sent with all phone traffic to ensure that the device is a legitimate one and is not stolen and black (do not work at all) or grey (works but flagged to be traced) listed.
Go back to the seller and demand your money back!
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I bought it off an add, impossible, so Im trying to at least fix it, one person here popped in my messages, trying to help... I think he recovered my damaged imei partition and stole it and sold it. Xda what a wonderful place of helpful people.

lucas_54 said:
I thought it's unrootable. How did you do it?
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Thats bs, my firmware is older but cam is working,The method described in a52 thread, patching file through odin.

ftaqh said:
I bought it off an add, impossible, so Im trying to at least fix it, one person here popped in my messages, trying to help... I think he recovered my damaged imei partition and stole it and sold it. Xda what a wonderful place of helpful people.
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You must be joking; demo phones have no imei. They are not phones they are dummies. Throwing around inane accusations will do you no god around here.