Dear all,
I've been trying to solve the following problem for three weeks on my own and have made no progress, and have probably made things worse. So, I figured it was time to get some help at long last.
I bought my S4 I9500 in Bangkok, and I was not aware that Samsung was region locking their phones now, as I had an S2 that I used in Thailand, China and Cambodia without any problems.
So, I bought the S4 and loved it. However, I moved back to China last month, and upon arrival I bought a SIM card. It didn't work... At this point, my firmware was 4.3, as it had auto-updated from 4.2 while I was in Thailand.
The folks at China mobile couldn't figure out the problem, so I did some research and found out that my phone was region locked. I went to 3 Samsung stores here, and none of them knew what to do, nor would bother to figure it out.
So, I had to try to fix it on my own. I read about entering service mode and tried it, but it didn't work. From what I read, it would have worked in 4.2.2, but not 4.3. I tried finding a place to download 4.2.2 to flash it back, but Hotfile is dead, so I got 4.4. I figured it couldn't hurt, right?
Well, it didn't help.
So, basically, my I9500 is at firmware version 4.4, and my phone is still locked. I am in desperate need of some help. I do not care about the warranty, as I am pretty sure I screwed that up already.
BTW: I did try some sites for the unlock codes, but either they didn't have what I needed, the IMEI code was not accepted, only accepted Paypal, or would not accept a UnionPay credit card. -_-
Thanks for your time.
In order to fully understand your case, you said " I bought the S4 and loved it" and "it had auto-updated from 4.2 while I was in Thailand.".
do you say you were using it there and you connected thai phone network with a local sim card for some time?
if yes the phone was to be normaly unlocked for any other region network....
lolo9393 said:
In order to fully understand your case, you said " I bought the S4 and loved it" and "it had auto-updated from 4.2 while I was in Thailand.".
do you say you were using it there and you connected thai phone network with a local sim card for some time?
if yes the phone was to be normaly unlocked for any other region network....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep. I used a Thai SIM card for about 4 months. When I inserted a Chinese SIM card, it once asked me for an unlock key.
Amarach said:
Yep. I used a Thai SIM card for about 4 months. When I inserted a Chinese SIM card, it once asked me for an unlock key.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
sim lock is different from region lock,
since you have used your s4 in thai your phone probably is region unlocked by now. (as far as i know)
it seems like your phone is locked to mobile provider in Thailand,
try to use any website that provides sim-unlock code using imei of your phone.
Related
Hi,
I bought my SGS2 from Phones4u 12 months ago as "unbranded SIM only".
Recently I had to take it to a Samsung authorised repair agent as there was an issue.
When the repair agent entered my S/N and/or IMEI number into his database to check warranty info he said "oh that's strange, the phone appears to be an O2 one".
I never thought anymore about it until today, when I recieved my phone back from Samsung where it has been for a repair under warranty.
It has been returned with "the latest software on it" - says Samsung.
Anyway, they have flashed the phone with O2 branded firmware.
This would suggest the phone was indeed originally O2 branded.
I suspect Phones4u unlocked it before selling it to me.
Does this mean the phone is now locked to O2?
I want to remove the branding/lock.
What I want to know is whether I can simply use Odin and flash a non-branded firmware onto it?
For the UK it's GT-I9100_XEU_I9100XWLP7_I9100XXLPS_I9100XEULP5.tar.md5
Would this remove the lock or create any problems?
Many thanks for any help.
vwgolfman said:
Hi,
I bought my SGS2 from Phones4u 12 months ago as "unbranded SIM only".
Recently I had to take it to a Samsung authorised repair agent as there was an issue.
When the repair agent entered my S/N and/or IMEI number into his database to check warranty info he said "oh that's strange, the phone appears to be an O2 one".
I never thought anymore about it until today, when I recieved my phone back from Samsung where it has been for a repair under warranty.
It has been returned with "the latest software on it" - says Samsung.
Anyway, they have flashed the phone with O2 branded firmware.
This would suggest the phone was indeed originally O2 branded.
I suspect Phones4u unlocked it before selling it to me.
Does this mean the phone is now locked to O2?
I want to remove the branding/lock.
What I want to know is whether I can simply use Odin and flash a non-branded firmware onto it?
For the UK it's GT-I9100_XEU_I9100XWLP7_I9100XXLPS_I9100XEULP5.tar.md5
Would this remove the lock or create any problems?
Many thanks for any help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it wont unlock it but will put unbranded firmware on it without problems
for unlock just google or use the search bar ''sgs2 unlock'' or ''i9100 unlock''
are you sure its locked? just put another sim in and try it
I think o2 phones are unlocked anyway.The last few I've bought have been......
sent by my s2 using xda premium
Thank you guys....
I checked to see if it was locked by entering...
*#7465625#
Everything displayed "OFF" indicating the phone was not locked.
Then I simply flashed the firmware to a Samsung stock unbranded.
All done. Thank you once again :good:
I have quite the opposite problem, ever since i got my SGS2 from a local salesman, the box said DNA sim locked. Tried the key combination and it was confirmed that this is network locked. The main problem now is that i have no idea what's the latest DNA (Finland) firmware and am too afraid to send my phone for a repair until i can figure out which FW needs to be in to keep my warranty. Since I got my phone in 12/2011 ive kept the original GB firmware for a mere 3 days and forgot to take screenshots from it. Any ideas how to find out the current FW for finnish phones?
Hello everybody I'm really frustrated, and I don't know what to do anymore.
My dad bought me a Galaxy S4 GT-I9500 and the seller assured him It's SIM Free.
After he brought it back to Israel there was no Hebrew so I rooted the device and installed a custom firmware.
Now I find out that it wants's an Network PIN, After some thought I decided to pay the 25$ to Cellunlocker I received the code, And unfortunately it didn't work.
Oh and I saw a guide that you can unlock it through the Service Menu, but I couldn't reach it after the Back and Input 1.
At this moment I'm hopeless and want to threw away the phone, Any suggestions?
P.S I tried to put different SIM from other carrier but all the same.
Thanks,
Hi all,
I bought an I9505 in Madrid in early October (after jumping into the Mediterranean with my S2 in my pocket). I paid a higher price to buy it pre-unlocked, and it worked out of the box with a Spanish Orange pre-paid sim card. I rooted it at some point (with Odin and CF-Auto-Root-jflte-jfltexx-gti9505), and it still worked, and on return to the UK it worked with my giffgaff pre-paid sim card too.
On return to Australia, it doesn't work with either of two Optus sim cards, nor a friend's TPG sim card. On all three, it says the sim card is invalid and asks for a code to unblock the SIM network.
Since then, I've tried flashing on ME2 firmware so that I could do the free unlock process through the *#0011# settings, but that hasn't fixed it.
I note when I go to download mode that the CSC is still PHE (Spain). Is it possible that flashing on an Australian CSC would help, because of the newer S4 region-lock thing? I haven't been able to try this because hotfile is down and there's no Australian stock firmware floating around anywhere else.
Any help would be hugely appreciated, at the moment my $650 phone is useless as anything but a camera.
I've called Optus and Samsung, neither were able to help me at all.
Thanks =)
Australian stock firmware from either AndroidFirmwares.net or Samsung-Updates.com; try flashing & see what happens.
I found one for Unlock Australian phones: HERE. Remember this still being 4.2.2, if u are in 4.3 u cant downgrade ur phone without void ur warranty and u will have to wait SAM/Kies STOCK firmwares :highfive:
Thanks guys, I did find that link on samsung-updates but from there none of the download links work (RapidGator and TeraFile links don't point anywhere, and the ul.to link 404s). I couldn't find anything for Aus/XSA on androidfirmwares either.
Does this seem like the right direction? Is it conceivable that a phone rejects SIM cards and acts as though it just needs an unlock code, only because it has firmware from a different region?
Yep sounds like it might be region locked. There's been a bunch of threads about it on here over the past month or two, search for/read those. Might be info in those threads that can help you get around it (can't tell you definitely as I've only skimmed one or two & haven't run into the problem myself).
Hello,
I post this thread, helpless finding a solution..I hope it is not a duplicate..
My uncle bought me a SM-N900 Unlocked Note 3 from Bestbuy Florida, USA. He did not touch the phone till he brings it here, Turkey. When he deliver me the phone i could not use it with my Turkish sim card and i was shocked of course.. I searched for solutions on the net and found some answers about it. Here is (actually are) what i did to overcome;
1) Firstly i rooted the phone and tried the Region Lock Away app from Chainfire, unluckily the app doesnt support my model, i found out from the forums (or it was what i understood)
2) Next i communicated with Samsung Turkey and deliver the phone to Technical Support. After 10 days they gave me the phone back telling that they tried a code to unlock it, but it didn't work so they gave back the phone unfixed.
3) I searched for reliable unlocking sites, tried 4 of them but no result. Now i am also coping with refunds..
4) I take the risk and tried custom ROMs hoping that it would help but it also did not solve my problem as i found out that region lock is not a security system that is bound with the firmware..(as my understanding it is a whitelist that is embedded with the baseband (?) (bios?))
5) The last thing i tried was changing the firmware, i removed the TTT (Trinidad&Tobago) firmware and installed Saudi Arabia Firmware.. But no solution..
Now i have a 800$ phone (not even including the extra fees to register the phone in Turkey…) and not working as a phone...HOW NICE!!
Regards,
P.S. HELP MEEEEE!!!! (((
Gosh it should be working.
Sent from Samsung Galaxy Note 3.
If you like my post hit thanks .
deadlyheart4u said:
Gosh it should be working.
Sent from Samsung Galaxy Note 3.
If you like my post hit thanks .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i've the same problem
I've been trying to fix since installing the new update at 2pm (PST) today. Finally decided to post a question here hoping someone more knowledgeable can help me fix it.
I bought the phone and it was locked to Bell so I bought a code and was using it on Fido. I flashed the Telcel 4.4.2 update and after I flashed all the files it worked (I tried not flashing modem). When it started I got a screen that said "Network Lock" with only a dismiss button (i.e. nowhere to put re-input my unlock code). If I click it 3 times it lets me into device. In the status bar it says "Invalid SIM card" "Network locked SIM card inserted". When I try to make a call I get "Not registered on network"
I've also tried flashing my old modem.bin via ODIN but that just cause the phone to boot and vibrate a bunch. I was able to get into settings but no option for Network Operator or APN.
The network doesn't work but WiFi and everything else does. So I rooted using the new N9005 root. Added APN settings, and of course, looked for network operators. Fido doesn't show up but all other carriers do (except Chatr).
I'm in the same situation as you are but which new N9005 root are you talking about? I'm on Rogers so if I can use that to get my signal back, that would be awesome.
zerojay said:
I'm in the same situation as you are but which new N9005 root are you talking about? I'm on Rogers so if I can use that to get my signal back, that would be awesome.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here>> https://plus.google.com/+Chainfire/posts/QbVy3arpymx
Please post back if you find anything. I've been looking all day and I've given up for the night.
Don't forget to say thanks
JamesKroll said:
Here>> https://plus.google.com/+Chainfire/posts/QbVy3arpymx
Please post back if you find anything. I've been looking all day and I've given up for the night.
Don't forget to say thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I got the autoroot installed and working fine. It says invalid SIM.
Previously, I had installed the firmware without flashing the CSC and I don't remember having sim lock issues then (as the Telcel specific files are not flashed) however you have to deal with the Samsung keyboard repeatedly crashing, so you have to find a way around it.
So my suggestion is reflash without the CSC file and brainstorm a way to put another keyboard on it without needing to input anything first (so Google Play is a no-go), probably side load a keyboard apk through ADB or something. Going to give it a shot.
---
The keyboard idea worked fine. Unfortunately I did still get the region/sim lock stuff because everywhere outside of Canada seems to have it turned on and the ROM defaults to tmobile without the CSC apparently. I've decided to bite the bullet and just pay for an unlock as I was planning to do so anyways.
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And that worked until I rebooted and it asked for a SIM unlock code... well... damn. I'm just going to try to flash a rom with region/sim locking removed. Ugh.
Looks like we can fix this by downgrading or creating our own Rogers files: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2608178&page=54
I have the CSC and modem.bin. Tested and working (remember, I flashed PIT as said here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=49512809)
https://www.mediafire.com/?yjdgd4j8s72bo46
I rolled my own too. Working fine.
Sent from my SM-N900W8 using Tapatalk
hi i just found this thread, i have a rogers note 3, unlocked to virgin, i just flashed the mexican rom. it was working the first time but i messed something up so i had to reflash it, and on this second flash it now says region locked sim. and heres the bad news. the original unlock code IS NOT WORKING ANYMORE. wtf do i do now?
evil-doer said:
hi i just found this thread, i have a rogers note 3, unlocked to virgin, i just flashed the mexican rom. it was working the first time but i messed something up so i had to reflash it, and on this second flash it now says region locked sim. and heres the bad news. the original unlock code IS NOT WORKING ANYMORE. wtf do i do now?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same thing was happening to me. Just follow the instructions in my previous post.