Related
Does anyone know if XDA developers have any intent to create an app that would allow us to force the HTC Hero (CDMA for Sprint), and future Sprint Android phones, to roam? Service is weak in my office and I would love to force it to roam.
Thanks!
Would love to have the ability to force roam.
I would love to have the ability to force roam. Sounds like I'm in the same boat. At work i get like 1/2 bar of reception, while my roaming reception is full bars. My centro had the ability to force it to roam which really saved me but my hero doesn't. I would love if an app made this possible with maybe a toggle switch widget. Not sure if you would need root access for this or not. Could someone elighten us as to whether or not this can be done and if someone is already looking into the issue?
totally on the same boat. this is a must have.
it was done easily on my sprint touch on winmo =/
I would love this ability as well.
^^ Bump ^^
Same problem here!
Same here...while I don't know anything about rooting, I would imagine it wouldn't be that difficult for someone with some skill to allow roam only if it was a setting originally there and disabled before release..
Had this for my Pre. Definately would make my Hero much more usable. I actually believe my battery would last over a day if someone could create this.
Ok, we need to bump this thread. I just switched from my Q9c that had full signal while roaming at my
house (otherwise, no service from sprint). I got my Hero yesterday, and I can't get service PERIOD. I
am willing to pay, and so are a lot of others, for an app for the Hero to force roam. Willing to pay damn good money here.
PLEASE, someone chime in on this.
Yes I need this app I would so pay for this I only need it at my home and I'm paying for air rave bump bump bump
Someone seems to be trying http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/msg16197.html
I have noticed something.......if I turn on wifi in my home rather than use the data it finds roaming network 50% less. If I leave an app running that consistently taps the data which can be expensive unless you have unlimited it seems to hold the roaming signal in place until the data connection goes dormant.
bump?Anything?
Bumpity bump. This is the only thing stopping me from getting a Hero (or another Android phone).
I am honestly shocked noone has come up with this yet. This is definately one instance where Android fails. Im bout ready to jump ship to big red.
pahick said:
I am honestly shocked noone has come up with this yet. This is definately one instance where Android fails. Im bout ready to jump ship to big red.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm surprised as well. I think I'm going to get the Pre for now, and if there is ever a fix for this, then I'll move over to an Android phone. I'd like to contribute to a solution, but unfortunately time is hard to come by (the same I'm sure for many people).
I upgraded to Android and love it but hate the no forced roaming crap so I had to trade my other phones for a TP2 but I can't activate it until I get my stupid $100 MIR back from Sprint. So I suffer....
V.A.T.Juice said:
Someone seems to be trying http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/msg16197.html
I have noticed something.......if I turn on wifi in my home rather than use the data it finds roaming network 50% less. If I leave an app running that consistently taps the data which can be expensive unless you have unlimited it seems to hold the roaming signal in place until the data connection goes dormant.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So the link you provided above...is guy that barking up the wrong tree?
Alright folks..I think i may have stumbled upon a workaround to force roaming!!
Procedure:
1. Download and install the diagnostics drivers for the Hero
2. Download the latest version of QPST (i'm using 2.7 build 323)
3. On your phone make sure USB debugging is turned on and push ##3424# in your phone keypad
4. Plug your phone in via USB and install the diagnostics drivers when prompted
5. If you've installed the drivers correctly, you should be able to go to Device Manager in control panel and see it registered as a COM port/USB diagnostic device
6. Next open QPST Service Programming>Connection>New. You should see your phone/COM port and you obviously choose that.
7. Choose "Read from phone" in the lower left hand of the window, after which you'll be prompted for your service programming code/MSL (Google your way to find it if you don't already have it)
8. Whence you have entered that code you'll see your phone info around
9. Go to the System tab (5th tab in my setup)
10. NOW..what worked for me was this setup: Preferred Mode: Digital Only (upon further investigation, apparently "Automatic" works as well) Band Preference: A Only (as a side note B Only worked for me as well) Roam Preference: Automatic
11. Press Write to Phone
12. Reboot your phone
That should do it!! If alls done right you should see the familiar Roam triangle over your service bars! Hope it works fer ya..to change back from roaming only change everything back to Automatic.
*DISCLAIMER*: I've been messing around with my phone's service programming quite a bit so this may only work for me cuz of some erroneous change I made to the internals. Also I've only tried this in an area that I know I can get signal at, so whether it is TRULY roaming, I don't know. All I do know is that it says Roaming in my phone's Status
KERKEDAGAIN said:
Alright folks..I think i may have stumbled upon a workaround to force roaming!!
Procedure:
1. Download and install the diagnostics drivers for the Hero
2. Download the latest version of QPST (i'm using 2.7 build 323)
3. On your phone make sure USB debugging is turned on and push ##3424# in your phone keypad
4. Plug your phone in via USB and install the diagnostics drivers when prompted
5. If you've installed the drivers correctly, you should be able to go to Device Manager in control panel and see it registered as a COM port/USB diagnostic device
6. Next open QPST Service Programming>Connection>New. You should see your phone/COM port and you obviously choose that.
7. Choose "Read from phone" in the lower left hand of the window, after which you'll be prompted for your service programming code/MSL (Google your way to find it if you don't already have it)
8. Whence you have entered that code you'll see your phone info around
9. Go to the System tab (5th tab in my setup)
10. NOW..what worked for me was this setup: Preferred Mode: Digital Only (upon further investigation, apparently "Automatic" works as well) Band Preference: A Only (as a side note B Only worked for me as well) Roam Preference: Automatic
11. Press Write to Phone
12. Reboot your phone
That should do it!! If alls done right you should see the familiar Roam triangle over your service bars! Hope it works fer ya..to change back from roaming only change everything back to Automatic.
*DISCLAIMER*: I've been messing around with my phone's service programming quite a bit so this may only work for me cuz of some erroneous change I made to the internals. Also I've only tried this in an area that I know I can get signal at, so whether it is TRULY roaming, I don't know. All I do know is that it says Roaming in my phone's Status
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Has anyone tried this yet? I don't have my cable available now to do so myself, but hopefully I can get it this weekend.
links
links please.....
How can I see a list of installed programs (and potentially remove them) even those in the ROM?
I installed that SD Mount fix application, but I see no icon for it, and it doesn't seem to work... I did power down my phone and restart it.
Task manager? Is there one without installing it? I know there is one that's suppose to be bound to a hardware key, but we can't get to it...
Sorry I'm a noob... any good sites for learning about android?
I found in Settings the app list...
But still, SD Share is installed but I have no icon for it anywhere that I can find. Can anyone help?
fldash said:
I found in Settings the app list...
But still, SD Share is installed but I have no icon for it anywhere that I can find. Can anyone help?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
sd share? check in your widgets section
fldash said:
I found in Settings the app list...
But still, SD Share is installed but I have no icon for it anywhere that I can find. Can anyone help?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Still no icon anywhere for SD Share or whatever... this is what I'm getting in Windows device manager when I look:
http://imgur.com/eF2Db.png
If I try to click on the removable drive it says IO error...
cp0020 said:
sd share? check in your widgets section
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Where is that? lol, totally new to android...
Found it, added it. Clicked on it. Reconnected, waited. Still no damn accessible drive on my PC... Is Windows 7 causing the issue? Maybe the face I installed the Google USB v3 driver?
Spoke too soon, it finally showed up... Thanks... I'm retarded.
fldash said:
Spoke too soon, it finally showed up... Thanks... I'm retarded.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
haha automount is floating around here somewhere. i prefer that. does what it says. and yeah it usually takes a minute for the sdcard to show up. im on windows7 aswell
Hi everyone, still having some issues. I hope you can help...
First of all, I seem to be stuck in airplane mode. WHen I got to settings wireless controls it's not checked, but long hold down the red key shows it's on. I have no airplane mode icon in the top portion of my screen.
Secondly, and this is how it got started, the Facebook application wouldn't upload a picture... it went to 80% the first time I tried it, then I killed it, and tried again and never got passed 0%. It was at this point I decided to try to turn off and back on the data and got stuck in the mode I'm in...
Should I upgrade to 3.42.50 radio, I'm on .30. Using Alltel phone on VZW network...
fldash said:
Hi everyone, still having some issues. I hope you can help...
First of all, I seem to be stuck in airplane mode. WHen I got to settings wireless controls it's not checked, but long hold down the red key shows it's on. I have no airplane mode icon in the top portion of my screen.
Secondly, and this is how it got started, the Facebook application wouldn't upload a picture... it went to 80% the first time I tried it, then I killed it, and tried again and never got passed 0%. It was at this point I decided to try to turn off and back on the data and got stuck in the mode I'm in...
Should I upgrade to 3.42.50 radio, I'm on .30. Using Alltel phone on VZW network...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you could try that and start with a fresh data and see if that helps
I can't get the damn Vogue radio 3.42.50 radio only to flash. It gives me an error saying command not supported or something to that effect...
fldash said:
I can't get the damn Vogue radio 3.42.50 radio only to flash. It gives me an error saying command not supported or something to that effect...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
how are you trying to flash it
cp0020 said:
how are you trying to flash it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Using the ROMUpdateUtility... I said f'it though and flashed the Bell ROM that had it included, didn't let customizations run then flashed back to Android...
I really can't decide between the two common resolutions... Does everything work correctly in the lower one, maybe a bit of clipping and it's clearer? Hard to decide...
fldash said:
Using the ROMUpdateUtility... I said f'it though and flashed the Bell ROM that had it included, didn't let customizations run then flashed back to Android...
I really can't decide between the two common resolutions... Does everything work correctly in the lower one, maybe a bit of clipping and it's clearer? Hard to decide...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
your internet probably wont work in android cause you have to let it provision in wm first. 240x320 looks crystal clear but nothing fits right. 320x480 is a tad fuzzy but its not that bad. plus everything fits right. 320x428 is right in the middle. its pretty clear but most of the stuff fit. i use 320x480 cause i cant stand the fact that nothing fits in the other resolutions
My internet is working fine...I'm curious if I'm getting RevA EVDO though, it seems a bit slower than it was in WinMo...
Do I need to setup an APN? I noticed the two listed are TMobile and Tellus... Maybe this would speed up my internet? Anyone know?
My Windows Mobile was setup on alltel... [email protected] or whatever...
I tried to Google Alltel APN setup and came up blank...
Hello, after doing more research, I read that CDMA carriers don't require APN settings. Is this true? Should I just delete out all the APNs in the Settings on my Touch (Alltel/Verizon)?
Also, can someone tell me about the network operators screen? Do I ever need to use it. When I go into it, it says 'Searching...' but never completes. I have to back out.
fldash said:
Hello, after doing more research, I read that CDMA carriers don't require APN settings. Is this true? Should I just delete out all the APNs in the Settings on my Touch (Alltel/Verizon)?
Also, can someone tell me about the network operators screen? Do I ever need to use it. When I go into it, it says 'Searching...' but never completes. I have to back out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
just leave the apn's. and yes it always says searching and never goes anywhere lol
I bought an unlocked G1 (Stock Firmware 1.6). When I inserted my sim (2G vodafone) in it, it worked. I could make calls and send msgs. I could also connect using wifi and bluetooth etc.
Later, I realized that I was loosing network randomly (any time-any place) even at those places where I got full signals in my "htc Tornado". When there is no network in my G1 and I try to manually search for network and connect, it says "your sim card does not allow connection at this time". I tried sim cards from same and different service providers but same problem.
I did case study and ruled out following possibilities:
1). Since I tried several other sim cards, there is no problem with my sim or service provider.
2). Since I get full coverage and I can make calls sometimes, so the unlocking was done successfully.
3). I also checked the radio version, it was up to date. But still, I tried re-installing the radio....no luck
4). Even if I don't have network signal, I am able to connect using wifi and bluetooth. So, I "think" and "beleive" that my radio hardware is also fine.
.....Possible problems left:
1). Hardware (loose sim connections etc)
2). Firmware
....I "Rooted" my G1...and upgraded to "CyanogenMod 6 RC1".....But the problem did not solve.
Now, the "firmware" possibility is also ruled out.
Then I searched to various forums and blogs and I found several other people having the same or similar problem. Below are few links:
1). http://androidforums.com/g1-support/5192-g1-no-signal.html
2). http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=2845
Then I found a solution (Below is the link - I posted). I just have to turn off/on the "autosync" and turn off/on the "radio".
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=8047496&postcount=29
PS. Toggling ONLY radio "off/on" does not works mostly.
Now there are two problems:
1). The solution has to be applied several times in a day to get continuous network.
2). What exactly is happening? How is this problem related to "Autosync" (if it is).
Can somebody please try to understand what is the problem? We need help......
EDIT: If I reboot after connecting to my laptop (having drivers installed) I will have full signals as long as I stay connected.
Is there a apn showing under the networks list? Like T-Mobile US?
Whenever I have network bars...I can see Vodafone APNs in the list but when there is no signal...the apns are also gone.
I also think (not sure) that whenever I am connected to wifi...I don't loose signal frequently and even if I loose....they come back automatically...I don't have to do autosync toggle and radio toggle.
Can somebody please take interest and help me????
Try to find an apn for your carrier and do it manually...see if that helps.
Unlockin' phones always result in manually setting up networks ,apn's and all sorts of things.
So try that .
Sent from my HTC Dream using XDA App
I tried that but it did not work. Moreover, I'm using CM6 rom which have all the APN settings of my service providers. I tried with two different service providers.
Please find a solution for me....My G1 is out of action.....
Have you tried to flash the latest radio?
..Yes...I have the latest radio from the cyanogen's site. I'm running CM6.
Can you plz tell me what commands can be run from adb shell to fetch out various information and logs about network, radio etc, so that I can provide you more details.
Menu > Settings > About Phone
Android Version: 2.2
Baseband Version: 62.50SC.20.17H_2.22.23.02
Kernel Version: 2.6.34.5-cyanogenmod
Mod Version : CyanogenMod-6.0.0-DS
Build Number : FRF91
##### Older #####
Android Version: 1.6
Baseband Version: 2.22.19.26I
Kernel Version: 'don't remember
Build Number : DRC93
Note: I had the problem with original firmware (without rooting) as well as the 2.2 firmware (rooted).
As long as I am connected through USB to my laptop, I don't see any network problem
same problem here!
since 2 months ago, I'm having EXACTLY same problem as you.
it happens with 1.6 vodafone original, 1.6 roms, 2.1 roms, 2.2 roms... (cyano, theOriginal,superatmel,htcmania)...
with radio updated and all the stuff. I also put it back to original 1.6 with perfectspl via a sapphire image I found in htcmania. I have STOCK 1.6, but I keep having EXACTLY THE SAME problem that you describe.
p.d. I'm Vodafone in Spain.
I'm thinking of taking the phone to the store where I bought it and have HTC fix it.
I have found a sure shot thing......please see if this can help to troubleshoot the problem.
Most of the time I don't have signals. If I reboot my phone the problem does not solve. But, if I connect my phone to my laptop (having android phone driver installed) and then I reboot my phone....I get full signals. I can make calls as long as phone is connected and there is no problem during that period.
Now I don't understand what is the problem and why is it happening?
I've had the same problem here and there. At first I thought it was a side effect from running Froyo on my MT3G that has been carrier unlocked for maybe 9 months but I was wrong..I switched back to Donut and had same issues. So I called T-mobile US and they did a network reset that helped for maybe an hour or so, they explained that maybe my phone could have been "Locked on to a cell tower that was just close enough for the phone to connect to" I just figured I'd play dumb and say OK. I personally believe that it's the cell tower here near my house causing the problem. As of right now my phone isn't acting up so who the hell knows, maybe in my case it has to do with the hspa+ upgrades as of late in my area.
Hey have you tried toggling to just the edge network and seeing what happens?, when my phone starting acting up that seemed to allow me to keep a consistent signal. You mentioned "you tried re-installing the radio", did you mean it was unsuccessful re-installing or it worked but no improvement? You should also check out HTC's developer website if that's the case, they have a good tutorial on reinstalling the radio image.
Good luck hope I had sensible input.
What do you see when you type *#*#4636#*#* into your dialer and select "Phone Information" and scroll down to "Set preferred network type"?
I believe you wanna see "WCDMA preferred" in a normal setting. It will change what it displays if you toggle to edge through the settings menu.
nrmerritt said:
I've had the same problem here and there. At first I thought it was a side effect from running Froyo on my MT3G that has been carrier unlocked for maybe 9 months but I was wrong..I switched back to Donut and had same issues. So I called T-mobile US and they did a network reset that helped for maybe an hour or so, they explained that maybe my phone could have been "Locked on to a cell tower that was just close enough for the phone to connect to" I just figured I'd play dumb and say OK. I personally believe that it's the cell tower here near my house causing the problem. As of right now my phone isn't acting up so who the hell knows, maybe in my case it has to do with the hspa+ upgrades as of late in my area.
Hey have you tried toggling to just the edge network and seeing what happens?, when my phone starting acting up that seemed to allow me to keep a consistent signal. You mentioned "you tried re-installing the radio", did you mean it was unsuccessful re-installing or it worked but no improvement? You should also check out HTC's developer website if that's the case, they have a good tutorial on reinstalling the radio image.
Good luck hope I had sensible input.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
....any word towards solving this issue is useful for me....and thanks....
Earlier I was using WCDMA setting but later I changed it to GSM Only because my service provider does not support 3G. In either case, I had the same problem.
I succeeded installing the radio but that did not solve my problem.
So, what are you doing with your phone now?
nrmerritt said:
What do you see when you type *#*#4636#*#* into your dialer and select "Phone Information" and scroll down to "Set preferred network type"?
I believe you wanna see "WCDMA preferred" in a normal setting. It will change what it displays if you toggle to edge through the settings menu.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have set it to "GSM only" because my service provider supports only EDGE. I have switched off auto-sync.
Do you have any idea about why it works when I'm connected to USB?
logcat of radio
Hi!
I am attaching here the output from #logcat -b radio
plz. see if someone can find a culprit in it.
Thanks
This is normal. Learn to live with it.
I have ****ty tmockery service here. Of our 5 family phones, only my wife and I (G1's) have relatively decent service. I modded ours as listed below. My children's phones, samsung gravity's, have horendous service! They have to walk around to find a spot. All of this is at home... we live in a low spot. There is no chance of us ever getting 3G in this area.
Our G1's used to have the same issues as theirs. I modded our G1 antennaes with psuedo- tesla coils and doubled our coverage! I'm using the xda app right now and can't take or post photos of it, but it works. I'm also running the lasest radio. 23.02 I think..
We live in a brick home. Before, I would have to walk to the far left vorner of our backyard or the frontyard near the road to get enough service to make a call without losing service. I'm sitting in the bathroom right now and have 4 bars! Used to be that I would get one or none right here!
I'll give you basic instructions and will post pics later. I take NO responsibility if this burn, breaks or melts your device. Only do this on phones that have no warranty or the warranty has been voided! IE. I have a bronze and replaced the silver keys with black ones! This will void any warranty you have!!!
Remove back, batt, and sim. Take a wire, your choice of size, and remove the insulation. Sepparate all the strands. Choose one strand. Remember, the thicker the strand, the harder time you'll have keeping your back on the phone. There's very little clearance in there. On the back of your phone, the radio antenna is on the right side. Same side as your volume button. On the lower end of it, remove some of the paint/sealant. 4mm x 4mm maybe... enough to solder on. Set your wire end on this spot. Lay the wire down the phone's back. You will need this to be inside the flat area and not on the curved slope. When you get to the same spot on the bottom, make a sharp turn left. Go close to the sim card area and make it turn up. Near the battery are turn it right. Once you get near the wire again, turn it down. Stay about 2mm away from the wires original path. Continue these turns until you run out of room. In the end, you'll have a wire that spirals to its center in a box fashion. Lay the wire back on the phone and press out any imperfections. Next, solder the begining end of the wire to the spot on the phones antenna. Use caution when soldering! Practice on something before trying this! The phones antenna is held in place by small tips of the plastic going though it and melted down. If you get the original antenna too hot, you will mess up these little tips. Solder the wire with as little solder as possible. Make sure the wire is as flat as it can be with the antenna and is making good contact! Now, make sure the wire is as flat as possible on the plastic. Put a couple of dots of superglue on the length of wire down to the corner. Let these set, holding the wire in place. Don't let your finger become attached to the glue. Use only enough for it to make contact and stick! With superglue, less is best! After this length dries, start glueing each corner of the coil, not letting any part of the wire touch itself. Maintain the sepparation down to the center. After it's dried, you will need to file down the solder to make sure your back will fit. If you can't get the cover to fit, you may need to scratch some grooves into your back cover. When you set the back on the phone, it may make slight indention in the plastic where the wire is pressing against it. If not, maybe use a little chalk to outline the wire and then put the back on. The point being to transfer a line to the back where the grooves need to be made. The plastic of the back is not verry thick! Use caution or you could go through the back! You should see significant gains in signal strength. Mine has been modded for close to a year now. No problems so far.
Pics later today.
Sent from my BBQ flavored G1 using XDA App
....Ok...you put the pics....let's see how scary is this...
.....did you try a signal booster (an after-market thin antenna kind of thing placed under the battery) before doing that??
Wireless Tethering is one of the main things I miss about not having root. I specifically bought a wifi only Xoom because I knew I could just tether it to my phone. When I switched to the droid 3 believing it would come unlocked it was like a kick in face.
Recently I came across a thread from Team Black Hat describing a way of enabling free tethering on Verizon without root. In their write up they provide a flashable zip. Useless for us as we don't have root, or a recovery, but it got me thinking. All credit for this goes to Team Black Hat. They rock, I really hope they are working on rooting the droid 3 because they are android gods.
The original thread by TBH can be read here.
I'm not going to go too in depth here, because if you screw you have the possibility to brick your pretty new device. Also, It goes against your TOS with Verizon, and who knows one day they might work out a way to tell who is doing this. The more people who know and use this trick, the more likely it is they will find some way of detecting and or closing the hole.
But I couldn't leave my XDA brothers out of the loop! So with the standard disclaimer (I'm not responsible for anything you do, anything that comes of something you do, blah blah, you know the deal) I will outline the steps required to enable free tethering on our wonderful Droid 3s.
Team Black Hat said:
TeamBlackHat is releasing for the public the only permanent 3G Hotspot hack. Please be responsible and do not abuse this release. MyDroidWorld and TeamBlackHat are not responsible for your behavior nor your bills.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did this on a windows 7 64 bit pc. The radiocom software would def be happier with a 32 bit xp system, it will throw a lot of errors, but it will work. More on that in a second.
1st. You need the most recent drivers for your computer so that your computer can see your phone. You can get them off the Motorola website, same as if you were going to use adb or RSDlite. The file I downloaded from the moto support site was called MotoHelper_2.0.49_Driver_5.0.0.exe
2nd. You need a copy of Radiocom. Radiocom is a piece of software thats supposed to be for moto employees only and allows you to read and write data directly to your software radio. You need to search the internet for it, because its a copyrighted file I can't post it for you. You need to find the latest version. The best version I found was RadioCOmm_v11.11.11_Install.msi - You also need the .net framework installed on your computer. You can get that from Microsoft's site for free.
3. You need a USB cable and a droid 3.
Now... crack a beer and lets get down to business.
1. Install the moto drivers and the .net framework. Install Radiocom. It will give you all sorts of errors, but it will install.
2. Next, find it under your start menu. Right click on it, and select "trouble shoot compatibility" I just ran with the suggested settings. Basically what this does is run the application under XP compatibility mode. Now take a sip of beer, you are gonna get some error messages but don't tweak.
a. You will still get the first screen that says do you want ot the following program from an unknown company to make changes on your computer - check yes.
b. it will say motorola datacard drivers 1.5.9 : this installation is intended for 32-bit os versions only.please use the 64bit version on this machine. click okay.
c. Installation incomplete: the installer was interrupted before motorola datacard drivers 1.5.9 could be instaled. You need to restart the installer to try again. hit close.
d. Warning: Motorola Dataard Drier installlation package ersion mismatch. the version supplied with this tool does not match the installed version on the machine. WE cannot guiarantee proper radio enumeration unless you install the latest version. the installation package will start again the next tiem this tool is started. Click OK
e. This version of RadioCOmm is more that 2 months old. This version may be out of date. Please visit the PDO compass webpage and download the latest version of RadioComm. - Click OK.
Radiocom will start! Phew!
you will have to select the chipset at start: I selected CDMA 1x (MSM 7500) w/ Android. I don't know if this is the best or most accurate one. I actually spent 45 minutes trying to search for exactly what our chipset base was... but I decided to be brave (or stupid) and went with this one and it worked. after it boots, Under settings in radiocom, USB, Select PST USB Driver.
3. Now, Connect your droid 3 to your computer and put it in PC mode. If you installed the drivers correctly you should get this cool little screen showing your phone and telling you some info about it that pops up from motos software. in radiocom software in the upper right of the screen right under the RC logo, the lgiht should turn green to show the phone is connected. You can test by pushing the GET button under the SW version. It should return your Android software version. DON'T PUSH ANY OTHER BUTTONS. YOU COULD REALLY SCREW SOMETHING UP.
Now a little background, you can read TBH's awesome explanation, but the quick and dirty one is that moto's software radio uses three different 128 char string identifiers for data requests. Thats how they can tell the difference between your phones web browser asking for data, and a laptop or Xoom connected to your phone asking for data. We are going to use Radiocom to make all three strings match the first string - so all data appears to be just for the phone. After doing so - your verizon installed hotspot app will work and the usb tethering option will too! ta da!
Team black Hat has made a screen shot showing all the steps required it can be viewed here.
I'll also try including it right here but i'm not sure how it will look:
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
3. now take a deep breath... use the arrows in the Radiocom program to find the tab marked P2K 1.
Look at the image and in your Radiocom program in the bottom left there is a box called STELEM/ RDELEM. First Select Dec entries.
Rdelem means read, and STELEM means write.
now this is very very important. Do not screw this part up. make sure again you have selected Dec entries, because if you enter the numbers below in hex mode and then hit DEC they will change and you will be reading and writing the wrong values which is BAD.
In Dec Mode
For ElementID: enter 8040
Record # 1
offset 0
length 128
Now Hit RDELEM. the box in the top right should go green, a bunch of numbers should flash through but most importantly right next to where you entered the element ID and record number the box that says Data (hex only) will now have a 128 char string in there. Hilight the entire 128 byte string and copy it.
4. You are now going to change the element ID to 8041 (record, offset, length stay the same) and hit RDELEM. If you compare these two numbers they are different, this is how moto knows you are tethering. You would have to paste both into a word file becuase they both end in a bunch of 00's so in the tiny data box they look the same, but trust me they are different. Select the data in the databox for 8041 and delete it. Paste the number from 8040. Now hit STELEM. Again you should see a bunch of numbers go through that box on the top right and it should be green.
5. Now you are going to do the same things for element numbers 8042, and 8043. Remember each time to hit RDELEM first, paste the value from 8040, then hit STELEM.
6. Now hit the restart button next the text box top center. You phone will restart. it will say something scary at first like SIm card not found. This is normal. Give it a Second and it will be right back to normal, you will have your 3G icon and be able to make calls, send texts etc.
EXCEPT.... Now you can use the verizon mobile hotspot application and it won't send to that verizon website that says "would you like to pay for tethering?" - you have just successfully hacked your radio to make verizon believe all data requests are phone data requests.
Ta [email protected]
We might not have root yet, but now we have free wireless tethering! I have had this running for about 24 hours and everything seems perfectly functional. My xoom connects right away to my phone and the distance is actually pretty good (like from bed to desk.. not just pocket to hand). Speeds are functional, just like you would get on the phone.
I hope I have made the wait for root just a little easier for my fellow XDA'ers... I know despite the fact I'm taking the Bar exam in 3 days I still check the forums every hour hoping against hope for some new news of root .... or hell... even video chat working in talk (gchat/huddle/etc).
Again I take no credit for this, All thanks to Team Black Hat! But if you wanted to press the thanks button it would make feel all warm and fuzzy inside =)
- faylix / local
Frigging awesome I was very strongly considering this phone and the only real drawback for me with lack of root was missing wireless tether and ad blocking. I could live without but having this makes it a no brainer.
hufn said:
Frigging awesome I was very strongly considering this phone and the only real drawback for me with lack of root was missing wireless tether and ad blocking. I could live without but having this makes it a no brainer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was in exactly the same position.. loved the phone.. could wait for root.. didn't want to give up wireless tether.... but now we don't have too!
Just hit that thanks button, and pledge to donate money to whomever finally roots this beast ;0)
- faylix
Nice job!
There is actually a great deal more to discuss regarding the NVM of the D3 and I will be doing so.
These instructions and screenshots should actually be updated to reflect the MDM6600 global chipset in the D3 and other global Droid models.
I am currently working on a comparison of a dump of the D3 NVM and an unlocked Droid Pro 3.8.7 engineering build to see if its possible to isolate the band unlock and apply it to the new radio.
So far it doesn't look good because there are so many differences in the radio NVM between them, but I have only just started examining it.
Thanks for giving credit where due and i emphasize that this is a very dangerous practice right now if you abuse it and VZW is making a concerted effort to identify and penalize such users.
cellzealot said:
Nice job!
There is actually a great deal more to discuss regarding the NVM of the D3 and I will be doing so.
These instructions and screenshots should actually be updated to reflect the MDM6600 global chipset in the D3 and other global Droid models.
I am currently working on a comparison of a dump of the D3 NVM and an unlocked Droid Pro 3.8.7 engineering build to see if its possible to isolate the band unlock and apply it to the new radio.
So far it doesn't look good because there are so many differences in the radio NVM between them, but I have only just started examining it.
Thanks for giving credit where due and i emphasize that this is a very dangerous practice right now if you abuse it and VZW is making a concerted effort to identify and penalize such users.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Means a lot comimg from you guys. I have all the respect in the world for your efforts.
Have you considered looking a the pre release builds of the d3? I know the test units had unlocked bootloaders but when woody tried to flash the sbf with the unlocked bootloader it bricked his d3.
Maybe some analysis there would bear more fruit than the droid pro because of the hardware differences?
Im taking the bar exam this wed and thursday but then im all for attacking this thing head on. If nothing else ill rep you guys for free if anything comes of that c&d letter you got im your jewish lawyer on retainer - just pay me in exploits!
For real, shoot me an email, and ill be first in line to donate when this puppy is finally cracked.
Concerning radiocom, its amazing there is no security in place to keep us from writing directly to the memory space like this... if we could only just pull the bootloader from the test unit sbf and point radiocom at the right memory address that might be all she wrote!
Dunno about you but i thik MIUI would look mighty fine on here....
-faylix / local
cellzealot said:
Nice job!
There is actually a great deal more to discuss regarding the NVM of the D3 and I will be doing so.
These instructions and screenshots should actually be updated to reflect the MDM6600 global chipset in the D3 and other global Droid models.
I am currently working on a comparison of a dump of the D3 NVM and an unlocked Droid Pro 3.8.7 engineering build to see if its possible to isolate the band unlock and apply it to the new radio.
So far it doesn't look good because there are so many differences in the radio NVM between them, but I have only just started examining it.
Thanks for giving credit where due and i emphasize that this is a very dangerous practice right now if you abuse it and VZW is making a concerted effort to identify and penalize such users.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is good to hear, its nice to know some more people are working with this device. I was getting concerned that I jumped the gun buying it.
So now we have TBH working on unlocking the band, and woodyman & birdman working on finding an exploit for root.
This is a fantastic write-up, very well done. I installed all the appropriate software and did a "dry run" just to see everything. Do you know if this will stick through OTA updates?
The NV edits survive a *228 service programming but will be overwritten by a complete radio update like a new version release would usually include.
cellzealot said:
The NV edits survive a *228 service programming but will be overwritten by a complete radio update like a new version release would usually include.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, i'm going to give it a go later tonight.
For some reason whenever I turn on the hotspot app my 3g cuts off then cuts back on and is white and has no access to the net.
Well after cycling it on and off a few times it finally started working. Hopefully it'll work fine from now on. Thanks guys!
When I plug my phone in the icon in RadioComm turns green, but if i do get in "SW Version" i am not getting anything. Anybody have a suggestion?
The software version thing didn't work for me either, but I followed the rest of the instructions and it worked!
Guys,
The most common errors for people having trouble seem to be not using the correct usb setting in radiocom, not putting phone in pc mode, or not having the most current moto drivers.
Im about to go dark for 2 days (bar exam... weee) but I wish you all luck.
- faylix / local
Here is an updated screenshot that should help some of you with issues.
You can read the SW Version and MEID but it will hang reading Flex version so don't bother with that.
Note that the GUI will change dramatically with the correct chipset base and the RDELEM/STELEM module is now on the P2K4 tab instead of P2K1 tab.
Some of the other steps outlined in the OP may also be unnecessary depending on your PC config.
Yes, I am using a newer version of RadioComm than you will find available on the web but this will work with any 11.X.X version.
This is brilliant! Thank you to everyone who helped figure this out and make such an easy tutorial.
I never got the "SIM card missing" error...but complaining about not getting an error makes no sense at all, really.
Especially since it works! Thanks for this, and good luck on the bar exam!
+1. Like Javier78 I never got the SD card error. Thank you sooo much for such incredibly detailed instructions and providing us D3 users with one of the greatest perks of root without being rooted. Good luck on the bar, homie!!!
And a big shout out to TBH for doing what you do and doing it well.
Anyone who is experienced with how verizon does things know if there is any risk of this being detectable by verizon at all? Really want to try this out, but worry that they would detect it and cut off my account or something...
I just did it with my droid 3...thank you so much!
Oddly I had to use the M-link USB rather than PST, but it worked. =)
Sent from my DROID3 using XDA App
I'm trying to get Straight Talk working with this Bionic. Could someone help?
Not sure but...
I used to be a Verizon Wireless agent (Straight Talk piggy backs on their network.) If I remember right straight talk/net10/verizon's own prepaid phones are limited to 3G devices only. Policies may have changed, or I could potentially be wrong but I am going to guess that you won't be able to get it working on their network because they won't be able to issue you a compatible SIM
You have to edit the build.prop and create a local.prop (it probably doesn't exist). I recently put SlimKat 4.4.4 on my friend's Bionic, and got it working well with Straight Talk (Voice, MMS, Data, etc). Just edit build.prop with:
persist.radio.ap.phonetype=1
ro.mot.phonemode.vzw4gphone=0
ro.mot.phonemode.vzwglobalphone=1
ro.telephony.default_network=3
ro.telephony.gsm-routes-us-smsc=0
telephony.lteOnCdmaDevice=0
Create a local.prop file and add:
ro.telephony.ril.v3=signalstrength
Move this into /data/
Next, go into system/etc/ and get your apns-conf.xml file and delete all the entries you don't need, keeping only the one relevant to Straight Talk. In my friend's case:
Code:
<apns version="7">
<apn carrier="StraightTalk ATT" mcc="310" mnc="410" apn="tfdata" port="80" mmsc="http://mms-tf.net" mmsproxy="mms3.tracfone.com" mmsport="80" type="default,supl,mms,hipri" />
</apns>
For the novices, to do this last part, you'll need a file manager like ES that can utilize root permissions after enabling in settings.
After this, any 4.3 or 4.4 ROM should let you edit APN settings, etc. You may need to set your radio to GSM (auto PRL) by going into your dialer and hitting *#*#4636#*#* and going into Phone Information then down to network type or whatever. I don't have a Motorola phone in front of me If that doesn't work, I've noticed GSM/WCDMA (auto PRL) works for some.
Good luck
Edit: I forgot one crucial thing you must do. You have to use RadioComm to enable GSM/UMTS bands. You can find it with Google. The version I used is 11.12.2. You'll either have a green or purple light on the right side, signifying that your phone is connected. It should show up in the status bar too. Steps:
Ensure you have correct Motorola drivers and that device shows up in device manager (You may need to use Google USB driver, as this has worked with some Motorola phones for me)
Ensure that USB is in PC Tools mode
In Radiocomm go to MA->COMMON->MDM 6x00
Go to the FTM Common1 tab, and wait for purple or green light on side
Toward the top of NVAccess you'll see a select box. Scroll to NV item 1877 NV_RF_BC_CONFIG_I
Click on read value
Once read, replace the first 8 bytes with: 8703E80400000200 (back up original as a .txt file or something)
Write the new value to the device and reboot
There's also a flashable zip that does this, but I've not tested it. Use at your own risk:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=1048524&d=1336485537
All of the information I presented is from others, but I can't remember all the threads I got this from. I take no responsibility for any bricked phones or the like.
shadolis said:
You have to edit the build.prop and create a local.prop (it probably doesn't exist). I recently put SlimKat 4.4.4 on my friend's Bionic, and got it working well with Straight Talk (Voice, MMS, Data, etc). Just edit build.prop with:
persist.radio.ap.phonetype=1
ro.mot.phonemode.vzw4gphone=0
ro.mot.phonemode.vzwglobalphone=1
ro.telephony.default_network=3
ro.telephony.gsm-routes-us-smsc=0
telephony.lteOnCdmaDevice=0
Create a local.prop file and add:
ro.telephony.ril.v3=signalstrength
Move this into /data/
Next, go into system/etc/ and get your apns-conf.xml file and delete all the entries you don't need, keeping only the one relevant to Straight Talk. In my friend's case:
Code:
<apns version="7">
<apn carrier="StraightTalk ATT" mcc="310" mnc="410" apn="tfdata" port="80" mmsc="http://mms-tf.net" mmsproxy="mms3.tracfone.com" mmsport="80" type="default,supl,mms,hipri" />
</apns>
For the novices, to do this last part, you'll need a file manager like ES that can utilize root permissions after enabling in settings.
After this, any 4.3 or 4.4 ROM should let you edit APN settings, etc. You may need to set your radio to GSM (auto PRL) by going into your dialer and hitting *#*#4636#*#* and going into Phone Information then down to network type or whatever. I don't have a Motorola phone in front of me If that doesn't work, I've noticed GSM/WCDMA (auto PRL) works for some.
Good luck
Edit: I forgot one crucial thing you must do. You have to use RadioComm to enable GSM/UMTS bands. You can find it with Google. The version I used is 11.12.2. You'll either have a green or purple light on the right side, signifying that your phone is connected. It should show up in the status bar too. Steps:
Ensure you have correct Motorola drivers and that device shows up in device manager (You may need to use Google USB driver, as this has worked with some Motorola phones for me)
Ensure that USB is in PC Tools mode
In Radiocomm go to MA->COMMON->MDM 6x00
Go to the FTM Common1 tab, and wait for purple or green light on side
Toward the top of NVAccess you'll see a select box. Scroll to NV item 1877 NV_RF_BC_CONFIG_I
Click on read value
Once read, replace the first 8 bytes with: 8703E80400000200 (back up original as a .txt file or something)
Write the new value to the device and reboot
There's also a flashable zip that does this, but I've not tested it. Use at your own risk:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=1048524&d=1336485537
All of the information I presented is from others, but I can't remember all the threads I got this from. I take no responsibility for any bricked phones or the like.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not sure what the deal is - I'm trying to do the same thing, but with T-Mobile US rather than Straight Talk... Should work fine, but when I make the above changes, I get com.android.phone stopped working over and over. If I follow every step above, but instead of "ro.telephony.default_network=3", I use "ro.telephony.default_network=7", it works fine, I can make calls on T-Mobile, but the signal strength is horrible. I can be where I normally have full 2G/3G signal, and the Bionic barely has one bar if anything. Most of the time it just says "No Service" unless I step outside, whereas my other T-mobile specific phones have no problems with the signal anywhere in my house.
What might I be doing wrong here? I just bought the Bionic as a backup as I've been told it works fine with GSM when you do the above tweaks, but I'm finding it's real-world operability on GSM to be less than stellar.
gully52 said:
I'm not sure what the deal is - I'm trying to do the same thing, but with T-Mobile US rather than Straight Talk... Should work fine, but when I make the above changes, I get com.android.phone stopped working over and over. If I follow every step above, but instead of "ro.telephony.default_network=3", I use "ro.telephony.default_network=7", it works fine, I can make calls on T-Mobile, but the signal strength is horrible. I can be where I normally have full 2G/3G signal, and the Bionic barely has one bar if anything. Most of the time it just says "No Service" unless I step outside, whereas my other T-mobile specific phones have no problems with the signal anywhere in my house.
What might I be doing wrong here? I just bought the Bionic as a backup as I've been told it works fine with GSM when you do the above tweaks, but I'm finding it's real-world operability on GSM to be less than stellar.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What rom are you using? I've used this technique on a ridiculous number of bionic roms to make them GSM so hopefully I can help, it's worth noting that I do not create a localprop. I found that most roms have the "ro.telephony.ril.v3" line in the default.prop and I can simply amend them by adding "signalstrength," (note the comma to include the end of the quotes) at the beginning of the entry. You might try wiping the rom and starting over but skip the step changing the radio with the *#*#4636#*#* part
---------- Post added at 11:15 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:10 AM ----------
shadolis said:
For the novices, to do this last part, you'll need a file manager like ES that can utilize root permissions after enabling in settings.
After this, any 4.3 or 4.4 ROM should let you edit APN settings, etc. You may need to set your radio to GSM (auto PRL) by going into your dialer and hitting *#*#4636#*#* and going into Phone Information then down to network type or whatever. I don't have a Motorola phone in front of me If that doesn't work, I've noticed GSM/WCDMA (auto PRL) works for some.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The settings adjusted in the default.prop permit that you do not need to change the radio. since i started using these particular settings, I've never had to change it and additionally found it to be commonly problematic. I also found that MOST roms do not need you to add the straight talk APN. Cyanogen and Paranoid, I know for fact include them. When you boot the phone for the first time you'll need to go into the settings and select the appropriate Straight Talk APN (mine is the MVNO one).
HW-A vs. HW-C
Plasmaleto said:
What rom are you using? I've used this technique on a ridiculous number of bionic roms to make them GSM so hopefully I can help, it's worth noting that I do not create a localprop. I found that most roms have the "ro.telephony.ril.v3" line in the default.prop and I can simply amend them by adding "signalstrength," (note the comma to include the end of the quotes) at the beginning of the entry. You might try wiping the rom and starting over but skip the step changing the radio with the *#*#4636#*#* part.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've tried with stock JB, as well as CM11 M11 in Slot 1. I've wiped and started over more times than I can count.
What do you mean that you add "signalstrength," at the beginning of the ro.telephony.ril.v3 entry? It's my understanding that the entry should be "ro.telephony.ril.v3=signalstrength". I don't understand what you mean by putting signalstrength at the beginning of the entry. Also, what's up with that comma?
Then again, all my difficulties could be in the fact that I have a "HW C" Bionic. Just got a "HW A" model, and will be tinkering with that soon too. It actually came with original Stock 5.5.886 Gingerbread ROM... Right now, I plan on upgrading to the 232 ICS leak (so I can go back to GB if needed), and see if I can get GSM working on it a little better.
How would you recommend I proceed with a bone stock ICS 6.7.232 ROM?
Thanks a BUNCH for your reply on this old (but fun to tinker with) phone!
Brian
gully52 said:
I've tried with stock JB, as well as CM11 M11 in Slot 1. I've wiped and started over more times than I can count.
What do you mean that you add "signalstrength," at the beginning of the ro.telephony.ril.v3 entry? It's my understanding that the entry should be "ro.telephony.ril.v3=signalstrength". I don't understand what you mean by putting signalstrength at the beginning of the entry. Also, what's up with that comma?
Then again, all my difficulties could be in the fact that I have a "HW C" Bionic. Just got a "HW A" model, and will be tinkering with that soon too. It actually came with original Stock 5.5.886 Gingerbread ROM... Right now, I plan on upgrading to the 232 ICS leak (so I can go back to GB if needed), and see if I can get GSM working on it a little better.
How would you recommend I proceed with a bone stock ICS 6.7.232 ROM?
Thanks a BUNCH for your reply on this old (but fun to tinker with) phone!
Brian
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ahhhh yes, i believe you found the root of the issue. The method that was used for Ginger Bread was slightly different which almost certainly why the above may not be working for you. I practically forgot about that, I upgraded mine years ago. I've grown so fond of the bionic I'm on my third you can buy them second hand for like $50 to $100. So i Just keep fixing/repairing them haha.
I'm gonna dig through some old book marks and tutorials and find out how I upgraded mine originally and I'll post them up here for you. The timing of this coming up is almost bizarre. I'm actually in the middle of working on a website that lets you point it at a rom, it downloads it, modifies it for GSM, then provides you a link to download it. I'd actually like to make it an Android app because when I download rom updates, I have to make them GSM compatible first.
Plasmaleto said:
Ahhhh yes, i believe you found the root of the issue. The method that was used for Ginger Bread was slightly different which almost certainly why the above may not be working for you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As I mentioned above, I just received the phone that's still running Gingerbread on Rev. A Hardware. Haven't even tried to start messing with that phone yet.
The original phone I was having trouble with, prompting the post to this thread, was running stock Jelly Bean on Rev. C hardware.
You say you're on your 3rd Bionic because you like them so much! They are a rugged and capable phone, for sure. What carrier have you been using it with? I've been attempting plain old T-Mobile, but assume making it work for Straight Talk would make it work for T-Mobile as well, aside from APN settings.
How's your signal strength on your bionic compared to an official GSM phone, both for calls and data?
gully52 said:
As I mentioned above, I just received the phone that's still running Gingerbread on Rev. A Hardware. Haven't even tried to start messing with that phone yet.
The original phone I was having trouble with, prompting the post to this thread, was running stock Jelly Bean on Rev. C hardware.
You say you're on your 3rd Bionic because you like them so much! They are a rugged and capable phone, for sure. What carrier have you been using it with? I've been attempting plain old T-Mobile, but assume making it work for Straight Talk would make it work for T-Mobile as well, aside from APN settings.
How's your signal strength on your bionic compared to an official GSM phone, both for calls and data?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The #1 reason I continue using bionics is because of how cheap parts are if I need them (like when I drop them and break the screen ) and accessories. Like I have several docks that I've bought for like $7 a piece (retail was like ridiculous $40 or something but just for a dock $7 is dirt cheap). I even got the lapdock that I picked up on ebay for $50. You can't beat it. That thing is awesome. Add to it that you can get a micro HDMI to HDMI cable, hook this thing up to a TV and use it as an entertainment player sorta like a roku and it just keeps getting better. You can then use another android device and run AllCast to turn it into a chromecast wannabe. I've just found endless fun, with this particular model of android.
I personally utilize Straight Talk. No BS, $45 every month, no surprises. Love it. As far as GSM signal goes, it's like any other GSM phone!
gully52 said:
As I mentioned above, I just received the phone that's still running Gingerbread on Rev. A Hardware. Haven't even tried to start messing with that phone yet.
The original phone I was having trouble with, prompting the post to this thread, was running stock Jelly Bean on Rev. C hardware.
You say you're on your 3rd Bionic because you like them so much! They are a rugged and capable phone, for sure. What carrier have you been using it with? I've been attempting plain old T-Mobile, but assume making it work for Straight Talk would make it work for T-Mobile as well, aside from APN settings.
How's your signal strength on your bionic compared to an official GSM phone, both for calls and data?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So here's what I would do
1) Update to Jelly Bean (you can do this with official Motorola OTA updates or more info here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2235946)
2) Power on phone and edit the hex values with Radiocomm see: post 29/30 http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1297714&page=3
- - Be PARTICULARLY picky about this part, I found this to be extraordinarily difficult time and time again. Even though I've done it at least 5 or 6 times, I felt like it never went exactly as it should. After changing the value, you might even disconnect, reconnect, and make sure the hex value has changed.
3) Root the phone (this guide seems a little indepth but it works very well once you get it down compared to other methods http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2256439)
4) At this point you have a choice of either modifying stock rom or use custom ROMS. I HIGHLY recommend custom ROMS, the stock ROM is highly bloated. I have found that AOSP based ROMS like Cyanogen or Paranoid (personal recommendation), work considerably better in general in addition to being more suited for GSM usage.
Should you choose custom roms then here's what I would do next, I have found this is the easiest way to consistently use GSM:
a) You'll want to install SafeStrap or something similar (I've only got experience with SafeStrap personally and understand the developer has suspended his project from future updates but still works for me) http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1391875
b) Once you have that, you can download almost any ROM, extract it to a folder, change the build.prop with the proper GSM configuration you listed, find the line for "ro.telephony.ril.v3" inside build.prop and add "signalstrength," (including punctuation) immediately after the equal sign. Don't bother with local.prop.
c) Re-zip it just like it was before, then install the ROM in a SafeStrap slot (probably want to add GApps)
d) Once it's booted, you can connect to wifi to setup the Google Acct and whatnot, then (this part varies slightly depending on the rom but AOSP roms are all pretty similar) go into the Settings: Mobile Networks: Access Point Names: Select the carrier of your choice (there's literally hundreds preloaded)
Lot of detail but a lot of specifics left out, if I can expound on anything please let me know which areas are too vague.
UPDATE: Here's the ROM I'm currently using. I literally install this thing with safe strap along with the pa gapps modular micro and just use it. No editing files, no thing. Just use it.
Paranoid Android Legacy Original - http://get.aospa.co/legacy/targa
Paranoid Android Legacy GSM Ready - http://dailen.bitnamiapp.com/roms/pa_targa-4.6-BETA5-20141022.GSM.zip
PA Gapps Modular Micro - https://www.androidfilehost.com/?w=files&flid=15801
Above and Beyond
Plasmaleto said:
Here's the ROM I'm currently using. I literally install this thing with safe strap along with the pa gapps modular micro and just use it. No editing files, no thing. Just use it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow! This is above and beyond! Truly thankful for this guide. I'm fairly familiar with ROMs in general and putting Safestrap on the Bionic... but the fact that you hand-edited the PA ROM and provided a link... I deserve not such service!
Will attempt a flash tonight and let you know. Still plan to keep stock 232 ICS leak, since it will never get used once PA is installed! Will reply tomorrow if I get everything working!
Thanks again!
---------- Post added at 11:05 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:28 PM ----------
Plasmaleto said:
a) You'll want to install SafeStrap or something similar (I've only got experience with SafeStrap personally and understand the developer has suspended his project from future updates but still works for me)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What version of Safestrap are you running? I installed 3.73, and once installed, my stock ICS 232 gets stuck on the boot animation forever. FXZ back to 905 and then update to 232 to get back into ICS...
I dunno, maybe I'm making a big deal out of wanting to keep the path back to gingerbread. I should probably just bite the bullet and go up to stock JB first as you mentioned...
gully52 said:
Wow! This is above and beyond! Truly thankful for this guide. I'm fairly familiar with ROMs in general and putting Safestrap on the Bionic... but the fact that you hand-edited the PA ROM and provided a link... I deserve not such service!
Will attempt a flash tonight and let you know. Still plan to keep stock 232 ICS leak, since it will never get used once PA is installed! Will reply tomorrow if I get everything working!
Thanks again!
---------- Post added at 11:05 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:28 PM ----------
What version of Safestrap are you running? I installed 3.73, and once installed, my stock ICS 232 gets stuck on the boot animation forever. FXZ back to 905 and then update to 232 to get back into ICS...
I dunno, maybe I'm making a big deal out of wanting to keep the path back to gingerbread. I should probably just bite the bullet and go up to stock JB first as you mentioned...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For some reason I distinctly remember their being a link between the stock rom, and those installed in rom slots. I'm currently using 3.7.2. I also THINK I recall that a while back when I wanted to use SafeStrap 3.5 I only could do so if I upgrade to JB. I can't find any documentation to back these up so take it with a grain of salt. Personally, I'm one who upgrades and never looks back so maybe I'm just biased haha
(P.S. your eyes do not deceive you, my username changed from Plasmaleto to Dailen, special request made to XDA webmasters!)
I've made a tool to convert Bionic ROMS to GSM ready if anyone would like to give it a shot I'm likely to move or relocate this at some point btw
http://dailen.bitnamiapp.com/roms/convert.php
Relocated:
http://dailen.net/roms/convert.php
Dailen said:
For some reason I distinctly remember their being a link between the stock rom, and those installed in rom slots. I'm currently using 3.7.2. I also THINK I recall that a while back when I wanted to use SafeStrap 3.5 I only could do so if I upgrade to JB. I can't find any documentation to back these up so take it with a grain of salt. Personally, I'm one who upgrades and never looks back so maybe I'm just biased haha
(P.S. your eyes do not deceive you, my username changed from Plasmaleto to Dailen, special request made to XDA webmasters!)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dailen (the artist formerly known as Plasmaleto),
I took the plunge and updated to stock JB, rooted, installed Safestrap 3.73, then installed your pre-GSM-configured version of Paranoid ROM. Rebooted, connected to wifi, got everything setup. Powered down, inserted my T-Mobile SIM card, and voila! Full HSPA signal! 5.01mb/sec download, 1.22mb/sec upload. Outgoing calls work! Incoming calls work! Data works! Super cool! Thanks again!
Congrats! Glad that worked for ya!
Dailen said:
I've made a tool to convert Bionic ROMS to GSM ready if anyone would like to give it a shot I'm likely to move or relocate this at some point btw
http://dailen.bitnamiapp.com/roms/convert.php
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just trying your tool on the CM11 M11 release. Will let you know how it works. Do you know, if I came across some older ROMs... JB 4.2/4.3, would your tool work for them as well?
Also, since you're a Bionic nut, I don't suppose you have a version of CarbonROM sitting around from before they dropped support for the Bionic? I contacted them and was surprised to learn that they have absolutely ZERO archive of old version downloads.
gully52 said:
Just trying your tool on the CM11 M11 release. Will let you know how it works. Do you know, if I came across some older ROMs... JB 4.2/4.3, would your tool work for them as well?
Also, since you're a Bionic nut, I don't suppose you have a version of CarbonROM sitting around from before they dropped support for the Bionic? I contacted them and was surprised to learn that they have absolutely ZERO archive of old version downloads.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well in theory the answer is yes. The way my script works, it changes only what it finds. If you can send me a link to one of the roms you'd like to try I'd be happy to take a look at the build.prop and tell you for sure if anything is missing.
Also, I don't recall having the carbonrom sitting around anywhere but I see their github still has the source posted, I suppose I could always try compiling for you. I got a couple ubuntu systems running I could put to some good use. Might take a few days.
Give it a shot!
Going to give this a shot right now on a friends Bionic. Unfortunately have to wait a few days for the Straight Talk Sim card to arrive. I'll report back.
Think I screwed up!
Dailen said:
Congrats! Glad that worked for ya!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe I have screwed up. I tried the radiocomm program last night and everything was green for me but I didn't write to the phone. I installed the pa_targa-4.6-BETA5-20141022.GSM.zip file, and the Gapps for that ROM. When I tried to go into Radiocomm again, it comes up red when I try to read (1877). Do I still need to do that or will the phone be good to go once I pop in an AT&T sim card? Thanks, Howie
meandg5 said:
I believe I have screwed up. I tried the radiocomm program last night and everything was green for me but I didn't write to the phone. I installed the pa_targa-4.6-BETA5-20141022.GSM.zip file, and the Gapps for that ROM. When I tried to go into Radiocomm again, it comes up red when I try to read (1877). Do I still need to do that or will the phone be good to go once I pop in an AT&T sim card? Thanks, Howie
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Radiocomm is EXTREMELY particular and I swear it only works 3 out of 5 times. I seem to recall that when I did it, it wasn't "writing" the settings properly and I had to change the USB connection type. If my current setup is any indicator, it was set to "PST USB Driver". I also recall that one time I uninstalled the bionic drivers and reinstalled them and it started working.
It's probably worth mentioning that I would connect to your phone in Radiocomm while in the stock rom if possible. There's no telling if there's some quirky specific USB driver in the rom that Radiocomm depends on. When in doubt, try a different machine. Be sure to get the Bionic USB drivers working 100% (meaning no device errors in device manager) prior to doing the radiocomm stuff.