Hey all,
I was given an S9 (Exynos version, unlocked, SM-960F/DS) that had TWRP installed on it, but was stuck in a boot loop. After messing with it for a while, I stuck it in a drawer and forgot about it until recently, when I pulled it out and decided to just restore it to stock. I downloaded a ROM for that specific model from this site ( https://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s9/how-to/official-firmware-thread-regions-t3765015 ) and flashed it using Odin. This got the device to boot fine to the setup, but it defaulted to German, and rejected any SIM I put in it, even though the phone was originally unlocked. So my question is, now how do I remove the SIM lock again? I'm guessing I'll first have to wait the 7 days for the OEM unlock cooldown to elapse again so I can reinstall TWRP?
tattar8 said:
Hey all,
I was given an S9 (Exynos version, unlocked, SM-960F/DS) that had TWRP installed on it, but was stuck in a boot loop. After messing with it for a while, I stuck it in a drawer and forgot about it until recently, when I pulled it out and decided to just restore it to stock. I downloaded a ROM for that specific model from this site ( https://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s9/how-to/official-firmware-thread-regions-t3765015 ) and flashed it using Odin. This got the device to boot fine to the setup, but it defaulted to German, and rejected any SIM I put in it, even though the phone was originally unlocked. So my question is, now how do I remove the SIM lock again? I'm guessing I'll first have to wait the 7 days for the OEM unlock cooldown to elapse again so I can reinstall TWRP?
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TWRP/Root/Custom has nothing to do with SIM locks, you'd need a sim unlocking service for that
*Detection* said:
TWRP/Root/Custom has nothing to do with SIM locks, you'd need a sim unlocking service for that
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Then why would the phone start demanding a PUK for any SIM I insert into it after flashing, when it didn't before? The SIMs work on any other phone I try them in.
tattar8 said:
Then why would the phone start demanding a PUK for any SIM I insert into it after flashing, when it didn't before? The SIMs work on any other phone I try them in.
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Because certain SIM unlocking services depend on you not wiping the phone in order to keep the unlock
You'll need to unlock it again using a paid service
*Detection* said:
Because certain SIM unlocking services depend on you not wiping the phone in order to keep the unlock
You'll need to unlock it again using a paid service
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The phone was never locked to a carrier -- it was purchased sealed, factory unlocked.
tattar8 said:
The phone was never locked to a carrier -- it was purchased sealed, factory unlocked.
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In that case check it has not been IMEI blacklisted due to non payment of contract or reported stolen, you state in your OP it was given to you
If it is IMEI blocked there's nothing XDA can do to help you
*Detection* said:
In that case check it has not been IMEI blacklisted due to non payment of contract or reported stolen, you state in your OP it was given to you
If it is IMEI blocked there's nothing XDA can do to help you
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What I meant by that was that a friend of mine handed it to me to try to fix after he messed with it in TWRP, getting it stuck bootlooping in the process. He had bought it factory unlocked. I checked the IMEI, it's clean. It's demanding PUKs for any SIM I put in it, even though those SIMs work in other phones; I tried a Ting SIM and a Cricket SIM.
tattar8 said:
What I meant by that was that a friend of mine handed it to me to try to fix after he messed with it in TWRP, getting it stuck bootlooping in the process. He had bought it factory unlocked. I checked the IMEI, it's clean. It's demanding PUKs for any SIM I put in it, even though those SIMs work in other phones; I tried a Ting SIM and a Cricket SIM.
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Well the only thing I can think is to flash a stock firmware for the region you are in, pick a carrier firmware to force the CSC change, Multi-CSC that contains Germany will default back to that if that is what the phone's original CSC was, but I doubt CSC is causing this
O2U CSC (United Kingdom) for G960F is a single CSC, flash it using CSC and not HOME_CSC along with the other 3 sections
But it seems to me this was not originally a factory unlocked handset, it was unlocked by an unlocking service and sold as one
If that doesn't work, pay for an unlocking service
*Detection* said:
Well the only thing I can think is to flash a stock firmware for the region you are in, pick a carrier firmware to force the CSC change, Multi-CSC that contains Germany will default back to that if that is what the phone's original CSC was, but I doubt CSC is causing this
O2U CSC (United Kingdom) for G960F is a single CSC, flash it using CSC and not HOME_CSC along with the other 3 sections
But it seems to me this was not originally a factory unlocked handset, it was unlocked by an unlocking service and sold as one
If that doesn't work, pay for an unlocking service
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Click to collapse
Is there a way I can find out what carrier the phone thinks it's locked to, or would I just have to get SIM cards from around the world and try them?
Can I do this without enabling OEM Unlock (so without letting the phone run for 7 days)?
tattar8 said:
Is there a way I can find out what carrier the phone thinks it's locked to, or would I just have to get SIM cards from around the world and try them?
Can I do this without enabling OEM Unlock (so without letting the phone run for 7 days)?
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Samsung Phone INFO will tell you the current CSC, but if it defaulted to German either you flashed a German firmware or that is the default CSC
OEM unlock is only needed for custom
Flashing a Multi-CSC ROM such as BTU for United Kingdom will have the greatest chance of it defaulting to it's original CSC
I used that app, and it indeed says the phone's CSC is German, Deutsche Telekom from what I could tell. I tried flashing a number of different FW packages (including the UK and Singapore ones) but it still defaulted to German each time.
I tried going to their unlock page and entering the IMEI, but they have no record of it being sold by them.
tattar8 said:
I used that app, and it indeed says the phone's CSC is German, Deutsche Telekom from what I could tell. I tried flashing a number of different FW packages (including the UK and Singapore ones) but it still defaulted to German each time.
I tried going to their unlock page and entering the IMEI, but they have no record of it being sold by them.
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Click to collapse
Like I said, try flashing a carrier branded firmware like O2U, it cannot default to German if that CSC is not included
Flash using CSC and not HOME_CSC
Sim lock is on its own secure enclave chip, so if this was truly Sim unlocked then it isn't even possible to "relock". Either was unlocked in an unreputable way, or is IMEI blocked as mentioned before.
So I just got time to re-visit this project. I flashed O2U firmware, and it defaulted to English and shows the corresponding CSC. The phone is still locked, and I checked a bunch of IMEI blacklist checkers and each one comes back clean. At this point I accept that the phone is actually locked by a carrier, so I need to instead figure out how to get it unlocked, and to do that I need to figure out what carrier it's locked to. Like I said earlier, I tried entering the IMEI into Deutsche Telekom's unlocking page, and they have no record of them having locked that phone. So how would I go about figuring out what carrier it's locked to? If that information is on its own secure enclave chip, is there any way to read it?
Afaik german providers are forbidden by law to simlock phones for several years already. Problem must be somewhere else.
Try entering the PUK of any SIM if that's what's requested. It should be on the full size SIM, else contact your mobile network operator.
Hello guys. I am from Europe and just buy Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra with Snapdragon. The phone is unlocked, but have carrier brand, Verizon, I want to remove it. Can't change phone language (see that this problem is discussed here, but I did not see a solution) and in Verizon miss Samsung Cloud.
I decided to try changing stock rom with Odin. Now downloading official firmware SM 988U, because I read that must put firmware with "U", and downloading SM-988USQU1CTLB (this is my baseband version and hope that this is correct firmware), write only USA, without any brands, from sammobile, I hope that is without carrier brand. Don't know if I will manage to change language successfully, because the phone is made for USA, but hope that carrier brand will disappear and Samsung Cloud will show. Will do this for first time and don't understand a lot of things. However, my question is for Bootloader.... I try to see if my bootloader is unlocked or locked, but can't do it.... If I put new firmware and bootloader is locked what will happens? Sorry for my stupid question, but I try to learn how things happen What you think, is my idea is good or no?
Something is bricks. I downloaded the original stock firmware from sammobile. USA only, I successfully uploaded it, everything with Odin was good, but after restarting and entering my sim card pin code, the phone want pin code to get app notifications. Please someone help me.... What is this pin code? I can only received phone calls
I manage to put the phone in downloading mod, please someone tell me witch firmware must download and install? The phone is SM-988U
I've purchased a Verizon unlocked Galaxy s21 FE and am trying to use it on Mint Mobile. It connects for about 5 minutes but then 5G and reception go to 0 and a message saying "sorry, your device can't be activated on another carrier's network right now. For help, contact Verizon." pops up. I believe I could solve the issue by changing the CSC region code but don't want to trip KNOX. These are things I tried:
Phone Dialer */# commands did not work to change CSC or even show IMEI. Might be Verizon locked or Android 12 locked.
Flashing XAA region firmware did not help the issue even though it cleared all verizon bloatware and splash screen.
Flashing another carrier's (Tmobile) firmware and accidentally updated my bootloader to Binary 3 .
I believe that a potential fix is to flash android 11 from Verizon and maybe the phone dialer commands will work to change CSC.
Anyway, this has been a real headache and I just want to use my phone like normal on my selected carrier. Be careful with phones that have VZW region codes!!!
EDIT: I have the SM-G990U Snapdragon US model of the Galaxy S21 FE. Android 12 and 4.1 UI.
EDIT 2: The OEM Unlock Option does not exist on my phone even after becoming a developer.
You ever able to get this working?