[Q] I think i bought a bricked X8 - help!

madz78 said:

hi,

I bought a X8 by mail delivery from the internet and got a bricked phone (so it seems)!
Symptom is phone doesn't connect to GSM network, and although i can scan for networks i can't connect to them. Tried several networks, same result. Everything else seems to work fine.

I'm completely newbie to Android phones, and only bought this one to try to avoid to stay behind, but this was a lousy way to start. I've been browsing through the forum, but there's too much info which only makes it more confusing to me.
I tried connecting the phone to S1tool and msm7227setool but i can't find the SEMC flash drivers, and although i browsed through the forum stickies for them i didn't find them.

So, my questions are:

1- Can someone provide a link to the drivers?
2- Is the following link the best way to solve my problem?
http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1304258&highlight=no+network
3- I also want to debrand the phone, from the 360 apps i assume the phone is from vodafone. Can you recommend a fast ROM with full features support? And a good noob proof flash tutorial..
4- Will any of the above operations remove my SP unlock?


Sorry if most (or all) of this questions are a repetition of past threads, but starting with a phone this way, i honestly feel like a donkey looking at a palace! (Portuguese proverb, not sure you'll understand)

Thanks, Regards!

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

I have a X8 on Vodafone, and when I repairded my X8 in PCC it removed the vodafone apps and icon from Settings :-D

Sent from my tablet running Honeycomb

IrishStuff09 said:

I have a X8 on Vodafone, and when I repairded my X8 in PCC it removed the vodafone apps and icon from Settings :-D

Sent from my tablet running Honeycomb

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

Just 4 curiosity how to make the vodafone icons appear again??just4fun
Sorry for off-topic thing
As irishstuff said u should try to update your phone with pc companion(google it) and try to update the software.After that if u want to root your phone and install recovery search in xda for x8toolbox , is the most noob-friendly thing u will find

madz78 said:

Thanx for clarifying that.
But, if i update the phone via PCC, won't i lose the sp unlock? I'm saying this cuz i read that the no network problem is due to sim lock protection.

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

sp unlock? You mean "SIM unlocked"?

No, you won't lose the unlocked SIM by simply flashing back to Stock through PC Companion (in case PCC tells you that there's no update available you need to resort to the Flashtool method).

As for the drivers ... best method would be to install PC Companion. However, if you don't want that crapware on your system I can upload you the drivers (out of PCC) in a ZIP - then you have to point Windows manually to the directory so it can find the appropriate driver (EDIT: shouldn't be much of a trouble if you're familiar with installing drivers by pointing Windows to the directory or the INF file).

The only situation where you might lose your SIM unlock is at unlocking the boot loader to enable installation of custom kernels, but before you head into that you better check the manufacturing date of your phone (sticker below the battery) and then look through this forum to work out if it's a candidate for hard bricking or not.

madz78 said:

yeah i'd appreciate that zip file, thanks.

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

Download here
The Sony Ericsson X8 (and possibly other SE phones) Android drivers (ADB / Smartphone / USB Flash Device) for Windows (incl. x64 Editions) out of the latest and greatest PC Companion crapware.

madz78 said:

I think the issue is exactly that, a bad boot loader unlock, at least all symptoms point to that.. all i see in no network threads seems to be pointing there.

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Click to collapse

Errr... no. A "unsuccessful" boot loader unlock would turn your device into a hard brick (no lights, no vibration, no screen). As you're able to boot up into Android the bootloader and kernel seems to be intact.

IF the previous owner (in case you bought it used) tinkered around with boot loader unlocking ...

Use the s1tool to verify if the boot loader is locked or not. If it's unlocked simply follow the tutorial in the Development section to relock the boot loader or try the trick deedii posted about first (she had the same problem that GSM radio went dead after unlocking the boot loader).

---------- Post added at 12:40 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:36 AM ----------

*ping* driver ZIP download link inserted

madz78 said:

Thanx for the zip btw..

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

No problem, you're welcome.

madz78 said:

I hit Repair in PCC and it re-flashed the phone. Now, instead of no network, the phone doesn't recognize ANY SIM card!!

I checked boot loader with S1tool, and the phone is locked (i see R).

I'm starting to think maybe it's a hardware problem and not from ROM.

Any ideas? Thanks.

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

Yes, the "R" means the boot loader is locked.

As for the mSD card ... here's where we enter "trouble reloaded":

- What card? Class? Size? Brand?
- Does the card hold any important data? If not try to reformat the card (FAT32!!!). If Android refuses to format the mSD simply use a card reader and re-format the mSD in Windows.

EDIT: Also, just to make sure everything's vanilla: could you please take a look into Settings -> About phone to confirm you're running the genuine SE baseband/kernel and not some custom kernel?

EDIT 2: Errrrrrrrr.... never mind ... I somehow misread "SIM card" as "SD card". My fault!

X8invisible13 said:

Just 4 curiosity how to make the vodafone icons appear again??just4fun
Sorry for off-topic thing
As irishstuff said u should try to update your phone with pc companion(google it) and try to update the software.After that if u want to root your phone and install recovery search in xda for x8toolbox , is the most noob-friendly thing u will find

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

I actually don't have a clue, but I was glad when thety went
I dont like operators branding the phone with the software
The only apps i had by the operator (vodafone IE) were
Gold Rush, Vodafone Music Store, SIM Settings and SIM Toolkit <- I have GDX and i still have toolkit. XD

I had the 'vodafone 360' option in Settings

Sent from my tablet running Honeycomb

madz78 said:

B.B.- M76XX-TSNCJOLYM-53404015
kernel- 2.6.29 SEMCUser@SEMCHost #1

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

Yes, that's definitely the genuine baseband and kernel.

However, no matter how hard I think it through I don't see a good reason why it won't accept ANY SIM card, as a SIM unlock (or carrier/operator unlock if you want to put it that way) is as good as permanent unless you play around with unlocking the bootloader and either do something wrong or face the problem that it suddenly reverts back to the original SIM lock (in case it got unlocked and didn't ship unlocked by default).

The only problem I know about is ... if you live in a region where you would actually need a E15a baseband but happen to have the E15i baseband (you know, has to do with the frequencies that get used to transmit between your phone and the tower) flashed - or the other way around - you won't be able to connect to the GSM/3G network - but even then the phone won't reject the SIM card but simply fail to find any network.

In that case the problem resolve would be as easy as swapping out the baseband through flashing by Flashtool.

IrishStuff09 said:

I actually don't have a clue, but I was glad when thety went
I dont like operators branding the phone with the software
The only apps i had by the operator (vodafone IE) were
Gold Rush, Vodafone Music Store, SIM Settings and SIM Toolkit <- I have GDX and i still have toolkit. XD

I had the 'vodafone 360' option in Settings

Sent from my tablet running Honeycomb

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

Sim toolkit is on every phone,not only on vodafone

Hi, madz ...

To pull it together:

- The "SIM reader" is a software that comes as a part of Android in the form of a system app (inside /system/app). You can't exchange the related parts as they are specific to the Android version, in case your thoughts are running into this direction.

- The problem with "SEtool" is more like this ...
Let us assume the phone was originally SIM locked (bound to only allow SIMs of a specific operator/carrier) and then got SIM unlocked. The original SIM lock will jump back into place once the the boot loader got unlocked.

My observation is that this problem should actually go away once the boot loader got re-locked again. That being said I also read various threads where the SIM lock didn't vanish and the phone had to be unlocked anew.

On another note, it also depends on how the phone got unlocked ... there's a difference if it got SIM unlocked through SEtool or through Omious (<-- I hope it's spelled right)

The one fact that remains: simply querying the boot loader status ("R" vs "r") does not make the SIM lock to fire.

- SEUS ... well ...
I found Update Service (SEUS) 2.11.10.7 in the depths of my hard drive. Going to slap it on MultiUpload for you in a minute - though I can't guarantee that it still works; all I know is that SEUS got discontinued (or something along that line). Wait for the edit of the download!

EDIT: MultiUpload swallowed the file --> Download link

---------- Post added at 01:07 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:59 AM ----------

Missed this one ...

madz78 said:

I've been trying to run msm7227 setool2 and semc, but seem to be getting nowhere.. enters debugging mode and nothing else. What am i doing wrong?

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

Shouldn't you connect the phone in flash mode instead of USB-Debugging mode?

Flash Mode means:
- Pull the USB cable out of your computer but leave it attached to the phone
- Turn the phone OFF
- Start the software
- Press the Back button and connect the USB cable to the computer
KEEP THE BACK BUTTON PRESSED UNTIL THE PHONE IS RECOGNIZED!
(Note: Windows may want to install the "SEMC Flash Device" driver)

madz78 said:

The phone is not locked! it accepts pin from all networks, but after this, simply doesn't read the cards anymore. [...]
I dunno if what happens to people who have no network or sim locked due to bad boot loader unlock is the same or not. It would be nice to know, but in my thread no one except you steps up.

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

My X8 came SIM unlocked by default. Since it's old enough, and therefore safe for boot loader unlocking, I gave it a try (even been as daring as to unlock while having GDX v021 flashed).

Connected and checked with s1tool that it's suited for unlocking: Pass
Unlocked the boot loader: Pass
Booted up (SIM does not have PIN1 set)...
Connecting to the GSM Network: Pass
Connecting to the APN for 3G Internet access: Pass
Reboot (to make sure it didn't brick): Pass
Re-locked boot loader: Pass
Checked with s1tool that boot loader is locked: Pass
Device still able to connect to GSM/3G: Pass

I didn't try to flash a custom kernel but just stayed with the stock kernel. During the whole testing scenario - from unlocking to re-locking - I didn't have any problems with GSM/3G network connectivity or troubles reading the SIM.

Like I wrote above the PIN1 check was disabled because sometimes GingerDX shows the "Network unlock" screen after inputting the PIN ... that's more-or-less a bug workaround.

madz78 said:

If unlocked, i believe it's SETool and not Omnius

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

Thank you for correcting the spelling of "Omnius" ... I was typing it from the top of my head and failed to recall how it's spelled.

madz78 said:

Where exactly is the phone unlocked? ROM, kernel, baseband? Do you think re-flashing it could solve the problem?

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Click to collapse

If you refer to "how is the SIM lock lifted" then I think the best persons to answer this question are the guys who cracked the boot loader. I don't know enough about how the low-level init of the phone really works ... the boot loader guys aren't very chatty about telling us how the low-level boot of the X8 works.

Since, in my case, the SIM unlock prevails when flashing a custom ROM on top of the stock kernel (keep in mind I never flashed a custom kernel, so I never altered the "baseband" partition) the unlock can't reside in the ROM partitions.

But ... as the problem only arises when tinkering around with the boot loader but didn't affect my phone during boot loader unlock / re-lock ... and this is now purely guessing ...

The boot loader unlock only replaces the boot loader binary with a altered one. So if the thing that tells the phone that it's SIM unlocked resides in the part of the NAND where the boot loader / kernel / baseband is located it can only be a digital certificate or some sort of a binary that gets loaded through "Stage 1" init (during which the boot loader and kernel gets loaded and all the security checking stuff happens). It can't be in the higher init routines where the initialized kernel is boot strapping the ROM as that would disable the SIM unlock when flashing a custom ROM.

If blagus or the kernel devs have some ideas it would be great to read a few lines from a source knowing about the low-level init routines (to actually understand how the X8 comes to life once the power button is pressed).

On another thought ... the msm7227 CPU also must have some kind of firmware (think of it similar to a BIOS like a PC has) to init itself and the hardware ... maybe the SIM unlock is somewhere in there?

EDIT: On a third thought ... it would seem almost logical that the SIM unlock stuff is stored somewhere in the "security" related part of the NAND (somewhere deep down at the low-level init). If the phone came locked and got unlocked at some point the original SIM lock will most likely spring back into place at boot loader unlocking - so the SIM locked/unlocked thingy has to be somewhere in the low-level boot init; otherwise it wouldn't disable a "soft unlock" once the boot loader got unlocked and replaced past the cracked one which bypasses a whole lot of the security checks so unsigned boot binaries (kernel) can be loaded and executed.