VZW users and A-Key problems, anyone found a good method?

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PRSPower

Member
Jan 19, 2008
11
0
My phone would not authenticate after flashing to the new radio and DCD's 2.0 rom. So I called Verizon and they gave me my A-KEY, I wrote it down in case I would need it again. After four days on DCD's 2.0 I decided to give The "FallingAngel12 rom" a go I flashed the r3 version and my phone can no longer authenticate. So I grabbed the A-KEY that I wrote down (this was triple checked with the VZW rep) I put in my A-KEY and saved the changes, it reset the device, then I did a *228 option 1. Still no good on the authentication, so it looks like I will need to call VZW again, which I don't mind doing, but eventually if I keep flashing my phone on a weekly basis to try out the new roms that will surely be popping up, Verizon is going to probably get wise to the fact that I am calling to fix authentication every few days.

I have read posts of Verizon users that have not had any problems with the authentication after flashing, so has anyone figured out a way to not lose authentication?
 

ponicg

Senior Member
Dec 11, 2007
53
2
My phone would not authenticate after flashing to the new radio and DCD's 2.0 rom. So I called Verizon and they gave me my A-KEY, I wrote it down in case I would need it again. After four days on DCD's 2.0 I decided to give The "FallingAngel12 rom" a go I flashed the r3 version and my phone can no longer authenticate. So I grabbed the A-KEY that I wrote down (this was triple checked with the VZW rep) I put in my A-KEY and saved the changes, it reset the device, then I did a *228 option 1. Still no good on the authentication, so it looks like I will need to call VZW again, which I don't mind doing, but eventually if I keep flashing my phone on a weekly basis to try out the new roms that will surely be popping up, Verizon is going to probably get wise to the fact that I am calling to fix authentication every few days.

I have read posts of Verizon users that have not had any problems with the authentication after flashing, so has anyone figured out a way to not lose authentication?

What do they have to "Get wise" to? I'm not intimately familiar with Verizon's policies, but how can they tell you not to hard-reset your device? That's just silly.
 

PRSPower

Member
Jan 19, 2008
11
0
As far as I know a hard reset will not make you loose the authentication info, only a rom/radio flash. And since they have not release any kind of rom upgrade for the Titan it would not be hard for them to figure out what I have really been up to. I just don't want them to invalidate the warranty on my phone.
 

ponicg

Senior Member
Dec 11, 2007
53
2
As far as I know a hard reset will not make you loose the authentication info, only a rom/radio flash. And since they have not release any kind of rom upgrade for the Titan it would not be hard for them to figure out what I have really been up to. I just don't want them to invalidate the warranty on my phone.

Understandable... but unlikely. How do they know that you aren't reflashing with the original ROM over and over? It'd be pretty tough for them to prove you were reflashing with some hacked ROM. I doubt they'll invalidate your warranty, but does anyone else want to check in on this?
 

TopGun2000

Senior Member
Sep 11, 2005
51
2
very strange, after flashing, my mogul can't roam on vzw at home w/ authentication error using prl 60610/60611. while it is still able to do so at my office. :-(

don't know which one i should call, vzw or sprint?
 

PRSPower

Member
Jan 19, 2008
11
0
So I called Verizon for my second time to get my A-KEY, this time it was a completely different A-KEY than the last time. Instead of calling the 800 number and getting the PDA group first to be transfered over to the "Authentication and Activation group" I just called #8899 from my phone like the could not authenticate message directs, and it got me directly to an authentication specialist with no waiting, which was nice.

She commented that this was my second time calling for authentication problems, and I gave her the "I am a developer and frequently hard reset my phone" line. She called me back on a land line and then walked me through the #778 method to input my A-KEY. So I am back in action.

She did happen to make a noteworthy comment. I mentioned that this never used to happen on my 6700 and I hard reset that all the time, to which she said. We have noticed that losing the authentication information is a problem when hard reseting these 6800's and we have been in contact with the manufacturer so that they can provide an update to fix the problem.

Take that comment for what it is worth.
 

brouski

New member
Dec 28, 2007
4
0
So I called Verizon for my second time to get my A-KEY, this time it was a completely different A-KEY than the last time. Instead of calling the 800 number and getting the PDA group first to be transfered over to the "Authentication and Activation group" I just called #8899 from my phone like the could not authenticate message directs, and it got me directly to an authentication specialist with no waiting, which was nice.

She commented that this was my second time calling for authentication problems, and I gave her the "I am a developer and frequently hard reset my phone" line. She called me back on a land line and then walked me through the #778 method to input my A-KEY. So I am back in action.

She did happen to make a noteworthy comment. I mentioned that this never used to happen on my 6700 and I hard reset that all the time, to which she said. We have noticed that losing the authentication information is a problem when hard reseting these 6800's and we have been in contact with the manufacturer so that they can provide an update to fix the problem.

Take that comment for what it is worth.

:D

One wonders if that problem has suddenly come to light in the last few days due to customers calling with authentication problems.
 
Last edited:

pjsockett

Senior Member
Nov 29, 2007
282
68
As far as I know a hard reset will not make you loose the authentication info, only a rom/radio flash. And since they have not release any kind of rom upgrade for the Titan it would not be hard for them to figure out what I have really been up to. I just don't want them to invalidate the warranty on my phone.

Not true. I recently had to return my phone for an exchange and did a hard reset to clear all of my info. To continue using it prior to the exchange I needed a new a-key. At that point I had never updated the rom on my phone. It doesn't need it every time you hard reset because I have done it at least 5 times that it didn't need anything but there are times that a hard reset does require authentication.
 

Blazed Monkey

New member
Jan 2, 2008
3
0
As far as I know a hard reset will not make you loose the authentication info, only a rom/radio flash. And since they have not release any kind of rom upgrade for the Titan it would not be hard for them to figure out what I have really been up to. I just don't want them to invalidate the warranty on my phone.



not necessarily true. When I first got my phone and I was messing around installing all kinds of new apps (no ROM's, just apps), I hard reset my phone 4 or 5 times in less than 12 hours. I had to call to get a new A-key.
 

customshopkv1

Senior Member
Nov 16, 2007
62
7
San Tan Valley
:D

One wonders if that problem has suddenly come to light in the last few days due to customers calling with authentication problems.

VZW told me the same thing in the middle of December when I got the XV6800. I had to hard reset it and then call for the A-Key. She said, "This is a known issue and we are waiting on the manufacturer to provide a fix. But call as many times as you need to, to retrieve your A-Key. We understand these phones are new (to us) and are not perfect."
 

blazingwolf

Senior Member
Nov 11, 2006
2,127
405
I quess I have been lucky. I have flashed my phone a dozen times at least and never had a problem with this. Of course, now that I've said this I probably will.
 

xzxzzx

New member
Jan 25, 2008
2
0
According to the verizon rep I spoke with, the A-key is generated anew each time, so saving the old key won't work.

I don't think anyone has anything to worry about. If you need a line, tell them you're a WM developer who's testing on his device, and need to hard reset it fairly frequently to test your application install.
 

ssstonebraker

Member
Feb 28, 2007
44
0
Chciago
According to the verizon rep I spoke with, the A-key is generated anew each time, so saving the old key won't work.

I don't think anyone has anything to worry about. If you need a line, tell them you're a WM developer who's testing on his device, and need to hard reset it fairly frequently to test your application install.

yeah they gave me a new A-Key and it didn't even work.... they had to re-authenticate me remotely
 

PRSPower

Member
Jan 19, 2008
11
0
Flashed this time and did not loose authentiction.

So flashing from DCD's 1.6.10 to DCD's 2.0.0 BETA I lost my authentication.

Flashing from 2.0.0 to angel12's rom I lost authentication.

Flashing from angel12's rom to DCD's 2.1.0 rom I DID NOT loose my authentication.

There really seems to be no rhyme or reason as to why or when the authentication gets jacked.

With so much action going on in ROM development for the Titan, I have a feeling I will be flashing a new rom at least twice a week. But the amazing advancements made possible by the cooks and hackers here at xda make every call to Verizon worth it.
 

dj13241

Senior Member
Jul 11, 2007
111
7
Simple A-KEY Fix

Login to your VZW account online, change your ESN (you need another VZW ESN ... an old phone's ESN will do), change your ESN back to the phone you flashed, dial *228. VZW will not update your A-Key in the phone unless your ESN was just changed!

PS: Junior Member my ___!!!
 

deftones064

New member
May 20, 2008
2
0
can you expand on this

Can I get a little bit more info on the ESN change thing. How will this affect Verizon and their A-KEY crap?
 

MstaCDLite

Member
Sep 22, 2006
19
0
Login to your VZW account online, change your ESN (you need another VZW ESN ... an old phone's ESN will do), change your ESN back to the phone you flashed, dial *228. VZW will not update your A-Key in the phone unless your ESN was just changed!

PS: Junior Member my ___!!!
I pulled an all-nighter trying to fix this and that method actually worked perfect. I can't believe it was that easy. Quetion of the day, how do you find your A-Key? Before I flashed my ROM, I went into the ##778 to write down my A-Key and the field was blank. Im just wondering what I could have done to prevent this from happening.

Thanks!
 

gc14

Senior Member
Dec 21, 2007
1,812
7
Boston, MA
I pulled an all-nighter trying to fix this and that method actually worked perfect. I can't believe it was that easy. Quetion of the day, how do you find your A-Key? Before I flashed my ROM, I went into the ##778 to write down my A-Key and the field was blank. Im just wondering what I could have done to prevent this from happening.

Thanks!

The A-Key is never shown in EPST. It is always blank. It's not used by your phone to connect to the network like your MDN or MSID, instead it is used once to authenticate your ESN, then discarded. This is why the A-Key is different each time you need to re-authenticate and why it is not stored. The VZW tech support rep generates an A-Key and then tries to authenticate you via OTA *228. If this fails, this is why you have the A-Key field in EPST. You can manually enter it, authenticate with the A-Key the rep generated for you, then it is discarded.
 

maccaberry

Senior Member
I pulled an all-nighter trying to fix this and that method actually worked perfect. I can't believe it was that easy. Quetion of the day, how do you find your A-Key? Before I flashed my ROM, I went into the ##778 to write down my A-Key and the field was blank. Im just wondering what I could have done to prevent this from happening.

Thanks!

It's completely normal to see no A-Key with a XV6800. The verizon A-Key is only good for one use. Next time you reboot your phone it will be gone. You should see a blank space in the A-Key field in ##778

If you need to authenticate again due to a radio flash, then a new A-Key is required.

Note this advice is specific to verizon XV6800 titans. They lose their authentication when changing from a non-gps radio to a gps radio. Or when hard reseting the stock rom.

Verizon will not question you for requesting A-Keys again and again. Just say you did a hard reset and that you cannot make calls now. Hard resets of the STOCK rom cause you to lose authentication, but not hard resets of custom roms. But as long as VZW think you hard reset a stock rom then they wont worry about issuing A-Keys.
 

nemasi

Member
May 29, 2008
14
0
Painless

The first, and only, time I flashed my radio it would not authenticate. I also dialed #8899, got straight to the right person and he updated my phone remotely. I simply said my phone "gave me this message and directed me here". He fixed it no questions asked.

Was painless and very fast. Good to know that I'm a developer and frequently hard reset my phone, should they ask in the future.

Given that this is very easy, very fast, can be done directly from the cell phone and requires no further input on my part, it seems the way to go.