[Q] Evo with Wrong ESN/MEID ...need help - EVO 4G Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I bought an evo from someone from Craigslist and it wouldnt activate. Sprint told me the ESN was not correct.
So i did a ton of research and i know i cant even ask certain things so i am trying my best to word this correctly because i am not 100% sure how i can even ask for help with this.
After doing a lot of reading i figured out by using CDMA WS 2.7 that the ESN and MEID dont match whats on the sticker under the battery...which finally made sense to me why Sprint wouldnt let me activate it.
I dont know where to go from here, i am stuck and ready to just dump it back on Craigslist to sell to someone who could either fix it themselves or is willing to deal w/it for whatever service its setup for.
So before i give up i was hoping to reach out to this community for help. If you cant post it because it would infringe the forum rules then please just PM me. Any idea's would be helpful or just some good advice besides throwing this thing at a brick wall. Thanks folks.

I'm pretty sure you got scammed into buying a borked phone. Would probably sell it back on craigslist, honestly obviously

I've seen Evos with bad ESN's sell for a pretty penny on eBay. They can still be used outside the US and can be flashed over to MetroPCS or Boost Mobile here, so it is still not completely useless.
From what I know, the only way to get it to work on Sprint is to know someone in Sprint who will be kind enough to add the ESN on your phone to their database so it can be activated. A co-worker of mine had a Verizon Blackberry Storm on Sprint by doing this a few years back, but he had a family member that worked for Sprint help him out. For all I know, this can't be done anymore, either.

so you dont think i can repair it back to the stock one thats on the sticker under the battery ?
i have been doing a lot of reading and i figured i would give it a shot since if its bad i have nothing to lose.
So far i have the ESN zero'd out 0000000
Meid i cant get because i only found 9 locations, i am not sure where the 10th one is hidden. I am only guessing from what i read that its in 10 locations and thats why it hasnt worked yet.
Using CDMA 2.7 do you know how i might be able to scan to find the last MEID location ?

First off, did Sprint say the Meid that is labeled under the battery is bad? I can only think of two reasons why someone would change the esn/meid. The phone's meid is bad or the person wanted to run an EVO on the $30/month Sero plan. I'm the latter.
Before you go any farther, go back to the Sprint store and find out if the meid under the battery is usable on Sprint. If so you can change the meid back to stock but it is going to require some reading and some effort on your part. CDMAWS 2.7 will not work on the EVO, 2.7 can not do meid #s. Since the esn is all zero's I'm betting the guy botched the job and tried writing the new meid/esn but did not find all the addresses. When you try to change the meid you have to zero out all the meids and all the esn (don't be confused if you see the term pesn. A meid phone calculates an esn based on the meid # and this called a pesn. Essentially pesn and esn are the same thing), there are approx. 16 memory locations you have zero out. If the phone has froyo on it, there are 1 or 2 address that are really hard to get to show up when you are doing a memory dump. You will have to run several dumps until you are no longer finding new memory locations. Rolling back to 2.1 would make it easier.
Go to mobile-files.us. There is a lengthy thread on changing the meid/esn on the EVO. Hopefully the person didn't wipe out your 4G certificate too, I think I read here on XDA that there is away to restore your certificate but I never had to so I never followed the thread.
You aren't completely screwed, think of it like you bought a fixer upper. Even if your stock meid is bad, you could always barrow one from your previous phone but you will not have 4G.
Good Luck, I hope you don't get discouraged and try to find another sucker. It just plain s*cks getting duped. I've been down that road before and that's what got me interested in this aspect of hacking.

double post

If you see the esn and meid from CDMA write it down and call and activate with those numbers, should work.

gedster314 said:
First off, did Sprint say the Meid that is labeled under the battery is bad? I can only think of two reasons why someone would change the esn/meid. The phone's meid is bad or the person wanted to run an EVO on the $30/month Sero plan. I'm the latter.
Before you go any farther, go back to the Sprint store and find out if the meid under the battery is usable on Sprint. If so you can change the meid back to stock but it is going to require some reading and some effort on your part. CDMAWS 2.7 will not work on the EVO, 2.7 can not do meid #s. Since the esn is all zero's I'm betting the guy botched the job and tried writing the new meid/esn but did not find all the addresses. When you try to change the meid you have to zero out all the meids and all the esn (don't be confused if you see the term pesn. A meid phone calculates an esn based on the meid # and this called a pesn. Essentially pesn and esn are the same thing), there are approx. 16 memory locations you have zero out. If the phone has froyo on it, there are 1 or 2 address that are really hard to get to show up when you are doing a memory dump. You will have to run several dumps until you are no longer finding new memory locations. Rolling back to 2.1 would make it easier.
Go to mobile-files.us. There is a lengthy thread on changing the meid/esn on the EVO. Hopefully the person didn't wipe out your 4G certificate too, I think I read here on XDA that there is away to restore your certificate but I never had to so I never followed the thread.
You aren't completely screwed, think of it like you bought a fixer upper. Even if your stock meid is bad, you could always barrow one from your previous phone but you will not have 4G.
Good Luck, I hope you don't get discouraged and try to find another sucker. It just plain s*cks getting duped. I've been down that road before and that's what got me interested in this aspect of hacking.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, i think he had it programmed for something else like maybe cricket or something, i see a lot of them listed for that, he told me the ESN was good and i checked on a site that checks them and the one under the battery is good.
SO i would have activated it over the phone already but they wouldnt because they said it wasnt a sprint phone... i didnt want to make it their problem and i didnt know what i was talking about at the time as far as asking them for help to fix it.
I also dont want to just dump it back on someone else. I would like to finish the job and get this phone working correctly. I always feel better when i learn how and why its done.
right now im basically stuck after finding 9 of the MEID locations to zero-out. If i cant use CDMA WS 2.7 do you know what program i could use before spending a bunch of money on software ? If buying a new phone will end up as much as software it wouldnt be worth it for me ya know ?
The Evo has OS Version 2.2 and Radio 1.36. Do i need to change either of those before going any further ?

I used a combination of Motorola QPST/QXDM and CDMAWS 3.5 (I bought this when I was playing with the Pre. Can't be shared with others because it checks their servers to verify if that PC has been registered with that user lic.). I used CDMAWS to search for meids and esns. Used Motorola QXBM to change the scm, zero out meids/esns and then write. I also used QPST to match the programming info with my donor phone. The thread at mobile-files mentions how other people dumped the memory locations without having a paid version of CDMAWS.
Even if you went out and bought CDMAWS, my experience is that CDMAWS can not change the EVO's meid on it's own. Maybe some CDMAWS experts can do it but I could not. So don't spend your money on that thinking it will be your savior. It's a great tool for doing programming and working on older phones but it seems to struggle with the newer stuff.

Future Lesson:
When buying a Sprint phone on CL meet up at a Sprint sure and make sure they can activate it in the store. Once successful you then pay the dude.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

Related

ESN Change Method for HTC Touch / Vogue

Just have look at my post at Mobile-Files.com
[highlight]Mod Edit: No linking or instructions for this allowed on XDA[/highlight]
Nice going
Kudos!
hetaldp said:
Just have look at my post at Mobile-Files.com
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
:beer
what could one possibly change an esn for?
nitty917 said:
what could one possibly change an esn for?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would have to say it is for emergency use only since cloning an ESN is highly ILLEGAL.
2 examples of this kind of emergency:
You are a Sprint customer and you have an older device, say a 6700 or Mogul, and you want to buy a Touch but do not want to extend your contract so you buy a new Touch on eBay only to find out that the ESN is bad or black listed or something like that. You are now royally PI$$ED because your new investment turns out to be a waste of your money and an expensive paperweight.
Another example of this coming into use: You already have a Touch with Sprint but you, like me, have the worst luck in existence and dropped your very expensive investment in the toilet while relieving yourself. You try as hard as you can to get it to work again but like I said, your luck sucks and the device just won't power back on. You buy a new Touch on eBay only to find out the ESN is bad and you got royally fu**ed by whoever sold you the phone because now you can't get a hold of this person and eBay won't do anything.
This is when this comes in handy. Now you can clone your 6700, Mogul, or Touch's ESN to your new phone with the bad ESN so that now it has a good clean ESN. Be careful with this though. If Sprint ever found out you did this you could be prosecuted and lose your right to own a wireless phone for a long time, regardless of carrier.
nitty917 said:
what could one possibly change an esn for?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The main reason anyone is going to want to do this is to steal other customer's ESNs and their phone number, and thus.... FREE CELL PHONE USAGE!!!
The other thing that happens, if you steal another person's ESN and phone number, you can receive all of the calls that are placed to their cell phone.
This isn't the 90's
If you clone a phone as soon as both phones register in the HLR with two different locations they will be flagged as fraud.
The main thing this is good for is replacing hardware on the sly.
ok so if i say want to use my mogul instead of my touch when i go camping as a router for my psp Then I just have to make sure the touch is off before booting the mogul correct ??
Another reason...
You are looking for that replacement phone (after you dropped yours and it hit the ground perfectly to snap the main board). You find a decent price on a Touch on eBay. After getting it, you realize how big an idot you were (buying a Sprint CDMA phone when your network is GSM). You figure, I'll give it to my wife who is on VZW. You go to the web page and enter the ESN...no luck. Call, no luck. Have them do the DMD thing...no luck here either. So then you figure it is your only option. Oh well, I can't bring myself to clone the ESN anyway. Guess I'll put it back on eBay and see if anyone else wants it.
Esn Change
Astron said:
This isn't the 90's
If you clone a phone as soon as both phones register in the HLR with two different locations they will be flagged as fraud.
The main thing this is good for is replacing hardware on the sly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I clone phones all the time with full legal permission. The myth that the phone will be flagged is false. I clone phones that belong to wanted fugitives, so I can monitor inbound phone calls and text messages. All I need is min , mdn, and esn. 9 out 10 times the mdn is the min.
Try making outgoing calls on one of those cloned phones and see what happens.
was anyone able to do this? I tried this on my touch and it doesn't work. after using the command rtask c, then when opening up cdma workshop, i can't connect to the phone using any com port. i tried connecting with all 25 port, none of them worked. can anyone help here?
I cloned a touch to my moguls esn about a month ago and everything worked fine untill today. I only had one phone powered on at one time, never had both of them on at same time. today my data won't worked on my cloned touch but will work on my mogul. They both have the same settings. Any ideas whats going on?
Cloned ESN
Can this method be used to purchase a Sprint Diamond, change the ESN to a Verizon Wireless Touch, and activate the superior Sprint Diamond on Verizon Wireless? I really want a Diamond but I'm on VZW and dont want the watered down version they're getting
I have a question about this.
I recently bought a HTC Sprint Touch Diamond, and so now I have a vogue sitting around. My g/f has MetroPCS (CDMA) and has a really beat phone, and I want to give her the Vogue.
The problem is MetroPCS will not open its network to PDA / PocketPC / Smartphones apparently. So if I cloned the ESN off her phone, and put that ESN on my old Vogue, would it work, or do I need the carrier configuration files (which there are none for MetroPCS).
Thanks guys!
Edit: got it mostly working, no net yet but getting closer...
I can't get cdma to read my phone. It connects but won't read.
Justin9825 said:
I can't get cdma to read my phone. It connects but won't read.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. After you do rtask c, make sure to install the drivers.
2. Make sure you are on the correct COM settings. (see device manager if you are not sure which com)
hexto said:
Can this method be used to purchase a Sprint Diamond, change the ESN to a Verizon Wireless Touch, and activate the superior Sprint Diamond on Verizon Wireless? I really want a Diamond but I'm on VZW and dont want the watered down version they're getting
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ya this what I want to do, different carriers, but same idea, use my touch esn info and put it on a diamond, would like a how to on this.
Please correct me if I am wrong. Could this be used to make a phone call from my own phone, but have it show up as coming from a different phone?
A friend of mine has the iphone and found a program to do this and is convinced that only the iphone is capable of this feat. I would like to show him that this isn't true. Perhaps my reasoning is somewhat immature, but what the heck!
okay, so lets say I get this working and decide that I might want to get rid of the phone that I just cloned. How can I delete the cloned esn so its clean again? And will this method work for ANY phone, or only the touch?

[Q] Incred on Sprint

No, I'm not asking when/if the Incred is gonna hit Sprint.
Due to a falling out with Verizon, I'm now with Sprint, and would like to bring the $300 phone over to them (even if I would love to get my hands on an Evo). Now, considering I've never even considered taking an unlocked phone and dropping it onto another provider, I was hoping someone here in the forums may know whether or not it is possible to do so.
I mean, they're both CDMA and Sprint does use Verizon's towers...
It's not possible sadly. Not for any technical reasons, there are no issues there, but Sprint won't activate a phone's ESN number that's not in their system. The ESN contains the model number/vender/etc. Being that this phone is a VZW-exclusive, there really isn't a lot you can do... sorry =/.
DeeBG said:
It's not possible sadly. Not for any technical reasons, there are no issues there, but Sprint won't activate a phone's ESN number that's not in their system. The ESN contains the model number/vender/etc. Being that this phone is a VZW-exclusive, there really isn't a lot you can do... sorry =/.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
HTC is known for releasing phones that are better than and similar to other carriers versions, so i'd try to hold out, HTC releases phones every other month or so too. You can still use the phone as a Wifi only device atleast so its not entirely useless.
also, from the sound of it DeeBG, the ESN seems to be the same as a VIN for a car, didn't know the ESN contained all that info, i thought it was just an id like a MAC I.D. on wireless devices.
As far as them not activating the ESN, a while back they were part of the Open Handset Alliance, as was Verizon, and T-Mobile was also in there, and as far as i've read, Verizon is the only carrier that left it.
An H-SPL* unlocked HTC Touch Pro 2 with Windows Mobile from Verizon can be made to work on Sprint, its just that the 3G won't work (just to give an example)
*H-SPL is the equivelant of Root on Android, except on Windows Mobile OS
Trey_Miller said:
No, I'm not asking when/if the Incred is gonna hit Sprint.
Due to a falling out with Verizon, I'm now with Sprint, and would like to bring the $300 phone over to them (even if I would love to get my hands on an Evo). Now, considering I've never even considered taking an unlocked phone and dropping it onto another provider, I was hoping someone here in the forums may know whether or not it is possible to do so.
I mean, they're both CDMA and Sprint does use Verizon's towers...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're chances are about as good as Janet Reno winning a Miss America pageant. Sprint will not activate it as the MEID is not in their database nor would they even remotely entertain the idea of adding it as they can not support it if there are problems.
anything is possible but you are then on your own with no warranty or support from sprint. if you search around you can find how to do it but it is not easy and really not worth it unless you enjoy messing around with programming phones.
best bet is to ebay your INC and get an EVO on sprint. you'll probably come out ahead money wise anyway.
I say try activating it online. It wouldn't hurt to try. Can't speak for Sprint, but I've activated an old MotoQ from Sprint on Verizon's network within the last 6 months or so. So, I at least know Verizon does it. Or maybe they both carried the same phone at one point. But, trying doesn't hurt.
Edit: Comment back here when you figure it out.

Evo on Boost Mobile

How is this possible? I've tried to read through a few tutorials for it, but they were mainly geared towards MetroPCS and I didn't fully understand it. Can anyone help me out?
not going to happen.
Boost = iDen network
They have a CDMA network through Sprint as well.
Anyone? I know it's possible since others are doing it, I just don't know how.
I've seen it done before, seriously no one is going to tell you how to do it, you'll have to search yourself, I've tried to do EVO on Verizon, it's been done, there is nobody who will give me a step by step because it's how you do you say not traditional to do this. Sorry man I am no help. just google it. you'll find better results.
bomix said:
I've seen it done before, seriously no one is going to tell you how to do it, you'll have to search yourself, I've tried to do EVO on Verizon, it's been done, there is nobody who will give me a step by step because it's how you do you say not traditional to do this. Sorry man I am no help. just google it. you'll find better results.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've been searching for a few hours, I cannot figure out how to do it.
Someone else was just asking about this. I posted a link to a guide there. That might get you started.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=754734
nukedukem said:
Someone else was just asking about this. I posted a link to a guide there. That might get you started.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=754734
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the advice, but I'm not sure if that would work. That tutorial is several months old, and no one ever tried it for the Evo or as far as I can tell any Android phone.
Honestly, there is no easy way to do it. That link I gave you is by far the easiest way to do it, but like you said, no one has confirmed that it works on the EVO. The method is not OS specific however, so it shouldn't matter that you are using Android.
Since you are trying to get your EVO on Boost, I assume you already have a boost account, so why not try it? If you don't already have an account then you should probably give up because the cost and expertise required to do this might not be worth it to you.
If you are not afraid of highly technical and highly illegal work, then I suggest you start researching how to clone the esn of the boost phone you already own.
I do not own a boost phone yet, I'm interested in this because of the cheap pay as you go plans. .30c per day for unlimited data is pretty nice, in my opinion. As towards the cloning the MEID, IF I were to do this, would everything work correctly such as gps, web, voice, etc?
Everything should work correctly, except for some sprint apps, but I haven't tried it so I can't say for sure. From what I've read it won't work on pay as you go, you have to buy the $50/month unlimited plan.
Sprint ETF + Cheapest unlimited Boost phone = $200+80= $280
You would save $20/month with boost, so after 2 years the total savings versus keeping your Sprint account would be only about $200 max. Not worth the hassel in my opinion, but maybe having no contract is worth it to you.
Ah, that sucks. If I could get it on the pay as you go it would definitely be worth it.
Open the original phone in QPST (Service Programming)
Open the cloned phone in QPST (Serivce Programming)
Go tab by tab and try to match everything us as much as possible
if the cloned phone has a feature enable in Service Programming I've learned best to just ignore it and only clone everything from the original phone
Okay after that... what to do.. You need to get your HAA and AA keys copied over, I have the steps to do that as well in QXDM but the htc Hero doesnt seem to work with these steps or the vx9100 that I have... so the only way I can get it to work it to put a different phone on your network, then turn off the original phone and turn on the clone and then transfer the clone back on to your network, when you change the phone back and *228 it, it will write the Secret keys needed to get data,
and last but not least you need to get a prl that is made for your network. I have the latest prepaid prl for verizon.
If anyone can tell me how to fix my PRI that would be great!

Help flashing my htc evo to boost!!!

Hey! I purchased an htc evo from a friend of mine who fail to pay his phone bill, so the phone have a bad esn. Can someone guide me thru flashing it to boost mobile please. I look all over and couldnt' find nothing on flashing htc evo too boost. I found something on epic to boost that's about it. I heard writing the meid is different can someone please help me out. thanks. I purchase a boost incognito as a donor phone.
sakpase said:
Hey! I purchased an htc evo from a friend of mine who fail to pay his phone bill, so the phone have a bad esn. Can someone guide me thru flashing it to boost mobile please. I look all over and couldnt' find nothing on flashing htc evo too boost. I found something on epic to boost that's about it. I heard writing the meid is different can someone please help me out. thanks. I purchase a boost incognito as a donor phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i have seen guides but from what i read it a royal pain the ass and don't work 99% of the time
I bet its a stolen phone
HERE'S a tutorial on flashing to metro. It will be a good start but you will need to change the addy from metro to boost. A little google searching should help you out but like I said, start here.
I know two people, that got there evo stolen too bad they can sorta still activate it on ghetto metro.
Any talk of boost/metro flashing should be banned >=]
The information in my post here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1008909 may be helpful.
I completely agree with both nsxla and weehooherod... stolen phones shouldn't be able to be able to be activated. At the same time the way providers tie you into using their devices is as ridiculous as Apple's software copyrights not allowing you to use software you purchase on non-approved hardware (that's another topic). I have an acquaintances that is a area sales manager for a big cell company and his only argument for carriers not accepting outside phones is that they are not optimized for the individual provider's network and hence can bog it down. Yeah... mmmm hhhmm
Flashing to Metro is perfectly fine, because you don't need to illegally modify your phone, hell metro openly flashes evo's to their service.
However, putting an evo on Boost is outside of the legal guidelines since it requires a donor phone to clone onto the evo.
As far as MetroPCS and other pre-paid services bashing them is just plain ignorant. In some states you'll get better coverage with Metro than you would AT&T or some other contract providers and the prices are good.
To the OP: Metro has better coverage than Boost in my area so it might be worth checking out where you live.

Buying a EPIC Touch 4G setup for BoostMobile

I am buying a boostmobile configured Epic Touch4G, how do I restore it back to Sprint's network other then calling Sprint to configure the ESN to be setup on my line?
Thanks.
They might have stolen it which is why its on boost so if u try the esn will come back as bad...
Sent from my Epic Touch 4G using xda premium
As mentioned don't buy it, I guarantee it has a bad esn.
That said, it is one of the easiest phone do a repair on. Google for epic 4g default 16 digit password. You will need a donor phone that is activated on sprint. If your donor phone is old enough you maybe able to get all your programming info from ##data#. If not, use QPST copy the info. Your HA AAA password maybe a pain to get. Googling will tell you how to get that too.
It is very doable. I have my E4GT on my OG Sero plan.
Before you decide to buy or not, check the ESN.
You can check the ESN online at http://www.checkesnfree.com or call it in to Sprint C.S.
Sent from my Nexus S 4G
The ESN is clean, but how do I restore it exactly to be on Sprint again? Any guides?
You aren't cloning so it should be easy. I would think that the settings are pretty close already. Activate from the website and follow the programming direction. That should get you going.
If not then if you have another sprint phone. Dial ##data# on both phones and just start copying the info from the donor to e4gt. You will need the msl/Spc code to enter the data on the e4gt. If you have the msl for the donor phone enter it too, it will show more info.
Forgot, makes sure the Meid in settings/ about phone are the same as under the battery. If not, its very easily fixed.
There's a little more to it then that. If you can't get your original AAA password (nv item 1192) then you will need a donor phone. Try a ##786# reset or flashing a new radio to hopefully reset your nv items. Without the AAA password, you will not be able to authenticate your 3g and will be stuck in 1x
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium
How do set an Epic 4g Touch up for boost or any other pre pay?
Deleted by me
Heavy Metal said:
How do set an Epic 4g Touch up for boost or any other pre pay?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I thought that was the purpose of this thread but no one has said anything.
Sent from the future.
Your not allowed to talk about flashing over to boost on here.
Sent from another Galaxy
Was curious why one would have had one on a boost account
SocialReject said:
I thought that was the purpose of this thread but no one has said anything.
Sent from the future.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Funny, I read the first post as saying he wants to put a previously boost converted E4GT back on Sprint. If you want to go the other way, google is your friend. You will have to piece the process together by reading threads for different phones. Horwardsforums and mobile-files.us may prove helpful. Keep in mind many forums are purging info regarding esn repairs for fear of legal action, so that aspect maybe a little tougher to find but it is out there.
gedster314 said:
Funny, I read the first post as saying he wants to put a previously boost converted E4GT back on Sprint. If you want to go the other way, google is your friend. You will have to piece the process together by reading threads for different phones. Horwardsforums and mobile-files.us may prove helpful. Keep in mind many forums are purging info regarding esn repairs for fear of legal action, so that aspect maybe a little tougher to find but it is out there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Understood. I wasn't aware that it was illegal. I was under the impression that it was like flashing to MetroPCS. Thanks for clearing things up

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