Root [Sprint/Cricket] need help w/flashed phone w/clean ESN

[Chrisat53]

ok decided to buy a phone from someone from CL, had sprint store check it and they said it had a clean ESN. so i figured everthing was fine. when they go to try and put it onto my account, they cannot get it to work with their network(no calls, messages, or data). they are telling me it is flashed. It doesnt make any sense that someone would flash a phone with a clean ESN. I am new to this, coming from an iPhone, so any help would be a win for the android side of the war haha. I have been trying to research how to fix this and i am across the following website and instructions

How to Unroot Sprint Galaxy S3 SPH-L710 to Factory! | GalaxyS3Root.com

...my thought is to try and put the stock rom back on this phone. would that reset the phone back to sprint settings? I have been trying to check the "about phone" settings and cannot find any network settings anywhere that i can try to cross reference and research using Google search. the instructions on this website and video seem pretty easy and looks like it would be tough for even a newbie like me to do. Please share your thoughts on what could be the problem, what i should be looking for to help solve the problem, if you feel that putting the stock rom back onto the phone per this link's instruction would work, or anythign else that you feel could be of use.

thanks in advance for any help....

 

[MusicJunkie]

It's a Sprint S3 correct? When they say 'flashed' do they mean custom software (recovery and ROM) or do they mean flashed to another network? Do you have contact with the person that you bought the phone from? If so, ask them if they installed custom software or if they flashed the phone to another network (i.e. Boost Mobile, others).

 

[Chrisat53]

first off let me say thank you for the time and response.

It is indeed a Sprint S3. I dont know if the sprint branch has any idea what they are talking about. i also dont know how to tell if its been flashed or just a customer rom. The seller said he didnt change anything and was just using it on Sprint previously only days before. I left him a not so nice v/m after leaving the store and he called me back later saying he had no idea what I or the store was talking about. His point, and my piont, is why would he flash a phone with a clean ESN? he would just sell it and make more money on it. So i stuck with no idea what he did or what sprint is saying is correct or not. When i tried to activate the phone and then use it it gives me an error message about the Sprint settings. I called Sprint again last night and their tech support, they sound like are uneducated about the whole deal and that they're just reading from a manual while they eat potato chips. they keep telling me to look for different setting that arent even there.

I dont have the phone with me, i'm at work, but the about phone section and subsections does have the "SPH-L710" language which i have found shows its a Sprint model. so what are your thoughts, what do you think it may be? do you feel that flashing stock back per the link i posted would get the phone back to working with sprint? I dont see anything in the forms of apps download to the phone that would indicated it was rooted. I know people have "super user" and things like that on their phone and you can tell its rooted b/c of that. Sorry to sound so clueless about the situation, i just never had rooted a phone before and/or flashed any roms or radios. any advise would be much appreciate and i can respond back to any questions about the device once i'm home and have it in my hands.

 

[sundown13x]

It's a Sprint S3 correct? When they say 'flashed' do they mean custom software (recovery and ROM) or do they mean flashed to another network? Do you have contact with the person that you bought the phone from? If so, ask them if they installed custom software or if they flashed the phone to another network (i.e. Boost Mobile, others).

+1

If the phone was flashed to cricket for instance yeah it will not active until it's flashed back to sprint.

Do this check. Turn phone on... Then hit *2. Even if the phone has no service it will connect you with Sprint customer care IF phone still has a sprint rom on it.

 

[sundown13x]

Also can you tell me if the Sprint rep was able to put the phone on your account? If the system took the phone then it should activate. Double check the hex/esn is the same in both the back of the phone (under battery) and also when you go to settings, about phone.

 

[MusicJunkie]

first off let me say thank you for the time and response.

It is indeed a Sprint S3. I dont know if the sprint branch has any idea what they are talking about. i also dont know how to tell if its been flashed or just a customer rom. The seller said he didnt change anything and was just using it on Sprint previously only days before. I left him a not so nice v/m after leaving the store and he called me back later saying he had no idea what I or the store was talking about. His point, and my piont, is why would he flash a phone with a clean ESN? he would just sell it and make more money on it. So i stuck with no idea what he did or what sprint is saying is correct or not. When i tried to activate the phone and then use it it gives me an error message about the Sprint settings. I called Sprint again last night and their tech support, they sound like are uneducated about the whole deal and that they're just reading from a manual while they eat potato chips. they keep telling me to look for different setting that arent even there.

I dont have the phone with me, i'm at work, but the about phone section and subsections does have the "SPH-L710" language which i have found shows its a Sprint model. so what are your thoughts, what do you think it may be? do you feel that flashing stock back per the link i posted would get the phone back to working with sprint? I dont see anything in the forms of apps download to the phone that would indicated it was rooted. I know people have "super user" and things like that on their phone and you can tell its rooted b/c of that. Sorry to sound so clueless about the situation, i just never had rooted a phone before and/or flashed any roms or radios. any advise would be much appreciate and i can respond back to any questions about the device once i'm home and have it in my hands.

Funny you say "reading a manual while they eat potato chips" because I used to work for "Sprint" in their one of their 3rd party call centers (ACS/Xerox) and you pretty much answer the phone, use CST (customer support tool) that has EVERYTHING involving EVERY problem dealing with ANY phone on Sprint's network, all while you eat lol. The last part is frowned upon especially while you're on the phone with a customer. They don't wanna hear 'nom nom nom' when they're frustrated, lol.

Anyway, some people don't use CST correctly and don't take their time to actually search for each specific caller's request and just want to do things the "general" way and rush things along. Possibly try calling again because you could get another customer service rep/tech support specialist or a completely different call center altogether where they might train differently.

Your phone doesn't seem flashed to another network if they checked the ESN and it was valid. If they checked it in iCare (the main billing tool) it would be an error (in my experience) if it were on another network. I'm thinking it's the rep but it could be more.

Whenever you get home let us know all the things it says under about phone.

 

[kolosus]

As sundown13x mentioned, let us know if the MEID of the phone under Settings> About Phone> Phone identity match what the MEID of the phone is under the battery. If they do then it wasn't flashed to another carrier. If they do not match then it has been flashed over to another carrier and you have to get it unflashed... or reverted to what it says under the battery.

You can also call 611 from the s3 and see who answers the call. Boost? Sprint? Verizon? MetroPCS? AT&T?!?!

Once you have that information you can maybe figure out what to do next. I do not frequent the s3 section... but I was here today. You might want to drop me a PM to let me know about progress on this or to remind me to watch this thread.

I've flashed over a dozen phones over to Boost. As such I know how to put it back on Sprint from Boost. It shouldn't be too much different from getting it back from another carrier... if it is the case anyway.

Good luck.

 

[saga13mx]

but you mention that they told you to go to some settings that are not even there im guessing the phone is on a custom rom thats why you can find the directions the they are telling you. and do that suggestion from above dial *2 and if you et sprint that means the phone still on their network

 

[Chrisat53]

thanks everyone for the replies. I'm going to be home around 10pm EST tonight and will be lokoing into this, specially calling *2 and checking the HEX/ESN/MEID under the battery against those listed in settings/about phone. I believe when i tried to call 611 from the phone last night it wouldnt go thru and just gave me a generic message, i dont know if it even mentioned a carrier but i'll check tonight and come back with details.

MusicJunkie---It was hilarious when i called. you could tell she could barely get the headset on her head when she answers and it was all cutting out and she was all discombobulated lol. then there is a ton of background sound going on (3rd shift is always a party lol). She would say "look here, does it say this" and i would go there in the setting and it wasnt even anythign that resembled what she was asking me to look for and i'm asking what are you talking about? then she says hold on, puts me on hold, comes back and pretty much says the same exact thing again. the next person she transferred me sounded a little more knowledgeable (and smarter in general lol) but he kept saying he had a galaxy 2 and didnt know much about the S3, i'm like huh your tech support? I was waiting to be transferred again and someone to answer and say "THIS IS PEGGY....". As angry as i was about the situation, i didnt want to take it out on them (i met the seller at the sprint store and he was going to hang around until everything was done, they told me the phone was fine so i gave him money, he left, 30 minutes later they said we can't activate the phone sorry, you shouldnt buy phones from CL, umm thats why i met at a sprint store). Its been a mess dealing with Sprint on this, they screwed up and i'm trying to get them to take resposibility for their mistake and step up and make things right. I'm trying to find a way to fix this if they dont step up b/c i do really like the phone.

 

[MusicJunkie]

Wow. I do remember some people removing their headsets between calls. Why? I have no idea. Those were the people who sucked at their job. Lol it does sound like it might be custom software and the first rep pulled up the wrong phone, lol

 

[Chrisat53]

alright came home after work and wanted to look into this and reply before i headed back out. When i dial *2 or 611 it is pulling up Sprint Zone on the screen which is the self help type of app that you can use to solve you own problem or to connect to sprint. I'm sure it does the same think for you guys. I checked the phone behind the battery and the settings in about phone and the MEID and IMEI are the same on both. Also in setting it lists Sprint as the network. None of this is making any sense. i dont know if this person before me tried to root and flashed something wrong on it or what. That is why all i can think is to flash back to stock (again keep in mind i have no experience, just my logic here) and hope that would fix the issue. but i dont want to brick my phone either (which i understand is alot harder to do nowadays). any ideas?

 

[kolosus]

Samsung phones are almost indestructible, thanks to Odin. Just dont damage it physically. This phone has not been flashed to another carrier. So maybe someone loaded a funky prl to it and now its all wonky. Can you check for the prl version under Settings> About Phone somewhere? Sorry. I dont have a S3 to give precise directions.

So now the question is why cant you put it on your account? What type of EXACT problem are you having? It wont accept the MSL? It wont reset itself? I assume you already put this on your account... Need some more details here.

What do you see if you dial ##786# and then View?

 

[Chrisat53]

the PRL version is listed as 25006. The exact problem i'm having is when they put the ESN and phone on my account, it will not take calls, make calls, take/make text, data wont work, etc. So they believe it is flashed to Cricket or something like that. when i do the ##786# a message comes on and says "your account could not be validated". Sprint tech support had me do that and a combination of that and other things last night, wouldnt work. all i can think is somethign was put on it wrong but i dont have any experience with this kind of stuff and if flashing it back to stock (hell i dont even know if the terms i am using are correct lol) will help me or not. I'm fighting with sprint on getting either a new phone (which i dont think is going to happen) or a $300 credit back for what i spent on it since they told me everything was fine with the phone when i went to their store before i paid the guy. I will find out on Friday what, if anything, they are willing to do. To say i'm pissed at them is an understatement. But i do llike the phone and would prefer to keep and use it.

 

[kolosus]

I'm not sure as I do not know anyone currently subscribing to Sprint but I think the PRL is wrong. Last time I checked Sprint prls were not in the 25000 range. Someone chime in and confirm for me. Anyone know how to change the prl on these without using questionable software?

 

[disc golfin]

My phone is rooted but still on stock ROM and just updated yesterday to the PLI3 build number and the PRL is 25006.....I also thought it was a lower # till I just checked


Chrisat53,

go into Settings > About Device > and give us your ....
Android Version---
Baseband Version----
Hardware Version----

Then up top press Status and what does it show for.....
Network----
Device Status---

 

[hvrc]

and make sure airplane mode isnt on*

not to piss anyone off, just sayin

 

[Chrisat53]

Here is the complete info under "About Device":

Model number
SPH-L710

Andriod version
4.0.4

Baseband version
L710VPLEN

Kernel version
3.0.8-618049-user
se.infra@SEP-91 #1
SMP PREEMPT Wed May 23 33:26:52 KST

Build number
IMM76D.L710VPALEN


Does that match up to what others have on stock or help solve my mystery?

 

[Chrisat53]

forgot the last two:

Network:
Sprint

Device Status:
Normal

It still shows "my phone number" as the former owners #.

 

[disc golfin]

and make sure airplane mode isnt on*

not to piss anyone off, just sayin

Hahaha..... I didn't think about that

Does that match up to what others have on stock or help solve my mystery?

From what it looks like is that it still has the original version of everything from when the phone was first released. There have been several updates since then, but still no reason why it could not be activated and working.

Hopefully someone with more knowledge than I will chime in......OH YEA, like hvrc said...make sure airplane mode is OFF. You can check it from the notifications dropdown.

 

[Xtremedays]

I had the pleasure of dealing with sprint tech support recently when I tried to switch my OG over to my wife's number as her OG has hardware issues. They ended up having me go into the dialer and dialing a code. The gave me the MSL number and told me to have it reset the handset so that it would activate through sprint on power up. You might call and talk to them again. I don't recall what it was that they had me dial to get access to that section.

 

[Chrisat53]

thanks Xtremedays, i will give that a shot too when Sprint calls me today (if they do as they say they would, sure there's a good chance that doesnt happen).


has anyone checked out the video i linked on my original post? is flashing stock back on as simple as they make it, with pretty much 3 downloads and working thru that easy process that is shown? I'm thinking that is the only way to get this phone cleaned up software wise and back to where it was to begin with, if that is maybe what needs to be done to fix the issues.

 

[Xtremedays]

thanks Xtremedays, i will give that a shot too when Sprint calls me today (if they do as they say they would, sure there's a good chance that doesnt happen).


has anyone checked out the video i linked on my original post? is flashing stock back on as simple as they make it, with pretty much 3 downloads and working thru that easy process that is shown? I'm thinking that is the only way to get this phone cleaned up software wise and back to where it was to begin with, if that is maybe what needs to be done to fix the issues.

I am fairly new to the SG3 but not to rooting. From the numbers you gave, it appears that you are on a stock rom(rooted or unrooted). Resetting the handset should delete all of the user data on it and allow it to activate through sprint. Unless you have issues after activation, it shouldn't need to be cleaned up. Let us know how it goes with sprint. If the tech you are talking to doesn't seem to be able to help you, ask to have the help request escalated to a more experienced technician.

 

[kolosus]

It is not an issue of being flashed to another carrier... but maybe the MSL of the phone has been changed. Connect it to a wifi and get Get My MSL from the market. Run it and see what it spits out.

If you get a 6 digit code then we might be in business. I know that the Samsung s3 activates in a funny way and if the MSL or the MEID doesn't match what its supposed to be then you're going to have issues.

Do you have access to your Sprint account online? If you do swap your s3 for your current handset and the last step they'll tell you the msl fo the s3. If the one you get from the app and the one you get from Sprint doesn't match then that might be your culprit.

 

[Chrisat53]

Ok i downloaded Get My MSL, ran it and it comes back with "ERROR: Could not get property ril.MSL".

I've tried to activate the phone thru my computer with my online Sprint Account and it gives me an error message tell me to call a Sprint customer service number. I did that on Tuesday and they put the phone on my line, but no calls will go thru to me, i can't make calls out, text doesnt work, and data doesnt work.

I dont know what the heck to do here. i have a phone with a clean ESN, no other issues that i know of and appears to work fine, but i can't get the thing activated bc of some unknown issue.

 

[hvrc]

revert it to stock... you can give it a shot. when i was exploring the world of root on my hauwei ascend i actually deleted a couple of .ril. files (not knowingly)and metro couldn't activate it what so ever until i factory reset and put it back to stock. don't go getting your hopes up as the ascend was practically unbrickable and had horrible mood swings, 2 totally different devices.

surprised you haven't just ran odin yet with 100% box stock no root to find out if it will work, 15 min and what do you have to loose at this point?