Simple guide to [VM firmware recovery thread] v2

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freeza

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so sorry if this has already been said, but if we go back to sprint frimware then we can't use the vm ics and have to wait for official sprint ics? or can we load but not use radios?

Well, the most important part for running ics is adsp, which was included with the firmware update. If you've tried to revert and/or flashed adsp from previous firmwares and can still boot ics, you're fine. This won't change your ability to run ics. :)
 
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keejung

Senior Member
Feb 21, 2011
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Sorry, but do you have a link for the adsp? I just flashed a all in one file that was linked in a thread... It wasn't broken up...
 
D

DDiaz007

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Sorry, but do you have a link for the adsp? I just flashed a all in one file that was linked in a thread... It wasn't broken up...

You can't be flashing firmware files independently. We don't know if ADSP is dependent on other files.

Sent from my PG86100 using XDA
 

jcfunk

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Mar 18, 2008
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Been running 2.08 for 3 day now and finely got notice for update. My now I can Dinah and see if my pri reverts.

Sent from my DOWNGRADED EVO 3D
 

freeza

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Morning everyone. Hoping to get some good news today.

Sent from my Sprint/Virgin Mobile hybrid

Yea me too fixing to go on vacation for a week, so if not today ill have to wait till I get back.

I can understand that. Trust me. I have been working diligently with Unknownforce to fix this, and let me tell you--this guy is full of ideas and is just awesome about trying to get this sorted out.

Let me give everyone a small summary of what happened based on what Unknownforce has already said:

So, I've been testing a fix he came up with that pretty much patches the radio back to what it was before the VM firmware. Great idea right? What had to happen was ...since I happened upon two phones for a short time, I had to sacrifice one by extracting the radio partition (19) before the VM update, then apply the VM update and extract the partition again. This allowed him to compare differences and go from there. Brilliant strategy and it worked out well for the most part. However, in my situation, my 3G managed to get pretty messed up and some other things. Let me explain:

My 3G got to the point where it would take forever to turn on after a reboot, trying to use it would either make it disconnect, or bring my signal bars down to 0. Strange. PRL updates didn't work--as in, PRL updater wouldn't complete because of 3G disconnecting when trying to apply, manually flashing them didn't fix the problem, changing radios didn't fix the problem, reflashing vm firmware didn't fix the problem. NOTHING did pretty much. Now that I've learned Rydah is having the same problem and he hasn't even tried Unknownforce's fix, I'm starting to think it's not a hardware problem, and is not in anyway related to Unknownforce's fix, but is probably related to us trying so many things before hand to get this VM problem solved. Is it fixable? Good question. I will be looking into that. So far it's an isolated incident with mine and his phone.

Back to the fix. I applied it yesterday and to my surprise a few things happened: Sprint banner is back! Custom banners in CDMA workshop work as well. Bonus feature: life timer was reset to 0, reconditioned status reset as well. It's like a new phone. All 0s, including MEID (which is not a good thing). Recap: MEID got changed to 0s, everything pretty much got 0ed out. Now I'm not sure that this is because of my 3G problem or what but that's what happened.

Good news? Well, I managed to change my MEID/ESN back to what it was even with the fix applied and to my surprise, everything worked as it should--minus 3G that is. That's still messed up. But, Sprint banner is back, PRI is back, PRL is updated (manually), Radio is back, no traces of Virgin Mobile are visible on my phone.

What's next? A few more testers I assume. To see if it is really an isolated problem. I'll tell you this though, S-OFF makes bricking and recovering very easy. I've learned that you don't need to repeatedly flash the 1.13 software if you're already S-OFF and are bricking.

What's next to try and resolve mine and Rydah's 3G problem? Well, I just had an idea. I have the radio partition from the other phone I had pre-VM firmware update. What I will do is flash that onto my phone, which will give it all that phone's info. Then I will change the ESN/MEID back to what it is on my phone, and then see if 3G works. This will give me a radio partition untouched by the VM firmware to work with. What I should have done is backup the entire phone's partitions before applying the VM firmware, but I didn't. So if the 3G problem isn't related to the radio partition, then I'm kinda screwed. :p

There you have it people. Expect more news from either myself or Unknownforce sometime today.
 
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wranglerray

Senior Member
Jan 9, 2011
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Fort Myers Fl
Just as a matter to simplify things.

Placing files on the sd card and renaming them PG86IMG is not nessicary.

You can use the fastboot command

fastboot flash zip filename.zip

fastboot will interrogate the zip file and flash the correct partition.

This will elimnate a reboot or two and having to remove the battery during the process.
 

freeza

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Just as a matter to simplify things.

Placing files on the sd card and renaming them PG86IMG is not nessicary.

You can use the fastboot command

fastboot flash zip filename.zip

fastboot will interrogate the zip file and flash the correct partition.

This will elimnate a reboot or two and having to remove the battery during the process.

Yes, this is true as well :)
 

Will32

Senior Member
May 12, 2011
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Benton
Thanks for being so diligent freeza and unknownforce, im sure you two have other things going on today being mothers day.

Ill test for you if you need another, the only linux experience i have is from downgrading hboot, the way it was done at first, i downgraded the same night unknownforce did it.

I was about ready to perform a mortal kombat finishing move on this thing but ill wait you guys out.
 

freeza

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Thanks for being so diligent freeza and unknownforce, im sure you two have other things going on today being mothers day.

Ill test for you if you need another, the only linux experience i have is from downgrading hboot, the way it was done at first, i downgraded the same night unknownforce did it.

I was about ready to perform a mortal kombat finishing move on this thing but ill wait you guys out.

Lol! You don't need much experience. That should be enough. I will definitely be available or even wite up a read me if you should happen to be a tester for unknownforce.
 

rtbluver

Senior Member
Mar 14, 2011
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Hillsdale Michigan
Hey freeza my 3g is doing the exact same and I have had no problems with the virgin mobile firmware until now when this happened. I haven't done any fixes or anything just flashed vmfirmware. I have no backups of anything radiolike and prl won't update manually or by the settings menu.

Sent from my PG86100 using XDA
 
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mswlogo

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Dec 15, 2004
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fix.png


:) It's not 100% complete yet. I still have to talk to Unknownforce about some things that are probably specific to me.

My 3G radio is completely messed up. Not from Unknownforce's fix, but from trying so many things that the past week. I do have a replacement coming in though so that's okay.

But at the end of the day, at least it works, right? :)

Look back at my post with images. It may be related to messed up 3G Data.

I messed mine up too trying things.
 

freeza

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I'll work with Team Win to add a backup method in TWRP to protect all key partitions for a device. Let's protect against this in the future.

Sent from my HTC EVO 3D running CM9!

Great. This will definitely benefit everyone. Thank you :)

Look back at my post with images. It may be related to messed up 3G Data.

I messed mine up too trying things.

Interesting! May be on to something.
 
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sehven777

Member
Jul 19, 2008
23
2
Hi Freeza, the same exact thing is going on with my phone. since i have a backup old phone, i can test something for you guys as well.
 
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freeza

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Hi Freeza, the same exact thing is going on with my phone. since i have a backup old phone, i can test something for you guys as well.

Oh wow. This has to be a simple settings change now that most of us are partially back to sprint settings. Mswlogo's post may be the key. I'm going to compare values with a phone that's never taken the VM firmware.
 

dryvali

Senior Member
Dec 12, 2008
267
30
I have the same 3g issues. After following the steps in the op. I have to keep toggling mobile data to get it back

Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk 2
 

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  • 39
    So, who's ready for good news? :)

    One phone that was getting no signal... has been brought back to life and re-activated... All sprint banners, and I just spoke to him on that phone ;)

    So, we have a fix, but I'm going to spend some time getting this down to a little less complicated of a process hopefully.

    I've got a few more testers making sure that certain things go according to plan. Once I get a few successful tests in a row, I'll consider it stable and release to public.
    28
    Close guys. I'm lucky to have two phones right now to try different things on and have been pretty much out of service for the past two days trying to get this sorted out. Unknownforce has been putting in overtime trying to fix this and i've been trying out his creations :D
    27
    The thread is created, but just not ready yet. I have just sent out another wave of "test" PM's to have a few more people test this... Hoping for positive results here. Fingers are crossed.

    Not trying to keep everyone waiting, but I don't want to be the cause of Sprint getting an influx of "dead" devices.

    I'm trying to get this done as quickly as possible, I need a break from this :eek:
    26
    As a mini update, I'm taking a few steps back and starting over a little bit here. The patch still isn't producing the results I'm looking for. As such, I have a new phone coming shortly, and someone else has a new phone that they are willing to test with me as well, so we're both going to pull complete emmc partition dumps and I'm going to study them to the T and find all the changed parts...

    This will take some time, but it will be the correct way to do it. with the mixed results I've gotten so far, I'm thinking that it's possible that something other than the radio_config has changed here... and if that's the case, I need to find where that is, so that we can make sure we're not missing anything.

    So, while this will set us back a little bit, it will also help find anything that I could be missing, and ultimately get a proper patch and also open up the door to some interesting abilities for the new tool. (refurb status reset, RELOCKED -> LOCKED, lifetime stats reset, and possibly more)

    Basically the more I study it the better it's going to be.
    22
    Ran into a few issues when freeza tried it, delayed a little bit... will update tomorrow. Be patient guys.