Flash iPhone to Cricket before adding ESN/MEID - Help

[antman1]

I have an iPhone4 from Verizon and am trying to flash it so it is ready for cricket. Right now it has no service with Verizon as I do not have there service. It also does not have a phone number programmed. I am using iOS 4.2.6 jailbroken using Greenp0ison. I have replaced the PRL file on the phone using WinSCP and replaced the file called "310VZW.prl" with "38515.prl" renamed to the original prl file of course. then using iFile I opened the carriers.plist and turn the option "prlpushflag" to on and then hit done. then I tried restarting the phone and it took a second and said no signal but then said iPhone not activated then shows the 5 bars like it has a signal and no carrier name. I then went into ifile and put the " prlpushflag" back to off. then restarted. after it restarted I got the same thing saying iPhone not activated. I then checked the option when calling "*#5005*4357#" and it still looks the same as it did when I started. I then changed the SID Value in the 310VZW.pri file to the value I saw for the Nashville area "04857"
and the HOME SID looked like this:

<key>NAM - CDMA Settings</key>
<dict>
<key>Home SID/NID</key>
<array>
<string>4857/65535</string>

I tried dialing the numbers to see if it connects to Cricket for activation of the phone and it all goes to Verizon still. Then if I dial the "*#5005*4357#" then I get this
[Only registered and activated users can see links]

What can I do to make sure this phone is flashed and ready before I add the ESN/MEID to Cricket? I also do not have the SHSH backed up for iOS 4.2.6 so my next SHSH that I have backed up is 4.2.8, Any help will help me.

[antman1]

ok I successfully flashed my iPhone to cricket. I have an idea why it doesnt work sometimes for a lot of people out there. I think if you jailbreak with Greenpoison it may be what stops it from working properly. I did the same steps as before but this time I loaded version 4.2.8 with Snowbreeze and it worked perfect. now when I dial 611 or any number it says "Thank you for calling Cricket" so I know now that I have it done. I am also gonna try to make it flash to Virgin Mobile if possible.

[rich hathaway]

the prl in your ss is a verizon prl,not cricket.so you muat have gotten the ota to work after your ss.but i assure you jailbreaking does not interfear with ota programming.also when you use sn0wbreeze you are automatically jailbreaking unless you specifically select to not add cydia before cooking.but if you just dl'd a ipsw cooked with sn0wbreeze then it is surely jb.but glad you got it worked out.

[antman1]

there are different ways of jailbreaking an iPhone. I have been jailbreaking and unlocking GSM iphones for a long time now. I remember a while back that when 4.0 came out if you did the jailbreak with Redsn0w if would mess up the APN Settings and such. Then the made a patch for that. I remember that if you did the Jailbreak with Sn0wbreeze back in those days you didnt have that problem. That PRL file I said I replaced it with came from the PRL file area here in the cricket forum. In conclusion I understand that by cooking my ipsw with sn0wbreeze it is jailbroken. But it is jailbroken in a different manner and in my opinion a little bit cleaner.

[rich hathaway]

ok,cool.i was just trying to clarify.like i said im glad you got'r'done.but really jailbreaking is jailbreaking,no matter how you do it,the end result is cydia,sometimes the method of delivery like you were saying,may have
unwanted results,ie--exploiting with limera1n or other.just remember on those old os and jailbreaks just use tetherme cracket from the repo sinfuliphone.com to put the apns back.that still happens to me everyday after jb whether i use sn0wbreeze or redsnow,i need the cellular data network tab and its not there,so its off to s.i.r. for me to get it back.works everytime.

[antman1]

New problem. I had to restore my iPhone due to some experimenting with files in an attempt to get 3G going and I was able to get my friends PRL file off her Hauwei Ascend Android. It is PRL version 45657. I pu this PRL on after I restored and it gave me the cricket network and seems to find a good 5 bars were I am. Problem is I cant get OTA to activate my phone again. I have dialed *228 and it keeps telling me "Welcome to cricket if you have reached this recording while trying to make a call then it is becuase your service is suspended." I called Cricket support number and the lady from India had no clue what I was trying to do and told me the iPhone will not work and wasnt working on my account before. I told her not to do anything to my account in fear she would mess it up. I tried putting the PRL back the way I had it with PRL version 38515 and it did not do any differently. I went back to the 45657 PRL and made sure to change my sid. I put my SID in as:

<key>Home SID/NID</key>
<array>
<string>04857/65535</string>

Any help is much appreciated.

[rich hathaway]

check your esn on your acct to make sure its right,then try *22804 to gain ota

also there are 4 places in the phone where you can boolean ota on/off if you switched the boolean to off well......

[antman1]

I'm not sure were those boolean ota on/off switches could be. I tried the *22804 and it tells me the number cannot be completed as dialed. it's very strange. I am shocked at how little the cricket support was able to help me when I called. I will call them later today and have them verify my ESN is still right and have them refresh my account. maybe it needs to be rebuilt.

I am also wondering if I am in some kind of dead spot here at my house too. I am 4.7 miles from the cricket store I had add my ESN number to my account. My phone activated last time on the way home some were in that 4.7 mile route.

[rich hathaway]

ya if your prl is crickets then i would suggest you move to another area and try ota agian,but do ck yer esn to make sure its active.

[antman1]

still not able to get it activated. I went in to the cricket store and had them make sure it is built as a motorola V3e Razr and as CID. The checked the ESN and all. the guy removed the ESN and put it back on then refreshed the account. I am not sure what else I can do. very strange that it worked and doesnt work now. I used the same PRL and changed the SID to my area copying how I did it before and it will not activate. does anyone have anything they can think of that I am not thinking of?

[ownmart]

you may need to redo the snowbreeze since you changed settings to revert, then just follow the talk text tutorial again ota *22804 ifile etc etc

[antman1]

I tried redoing it 4 times thinking i was missing something. I tried several PRL files now as well. all have the same result. very strange

[rich hathaway]

ck your pm

[antman1]

Thank you Rich, I got it. I am going to do some traveling tonight and keep trying the *228 and *22804. I hope it kicks back in. Its crazy hard to get it going again. After I get it back to being activated I dont think I will be changing anything that might make me have to reload the iPhone again.

When I change the SID in the "310VZW.pri" file does it need to be "04857" or "4857"? I have it as "4857" right now. I only replaced the original "2004" that was in the pri file. I wasnt sure the "0" should be before the number of not because the Cricket rep at the store only told me the 4 digits with no 0.

Also what is a NID? Does it need to be changed cause the NID was never changed.

[antman1]

Here are the files on my iPhone as of now and also a screen shot of the PRL when I dial *#5005*4357#. Let me know if I am doing something wrong or if you have any suggestions for me to try. I have driven all over and cannot get this thing to reactivate. files are here: [Only registered and activated users can see links] ([Only registered and activated users can see links])

[rich hathaway]

dude,that file,or i mean the host of that file is so full of trackmedia trackers and pop ups i cant view/wont view it. just take a screeny of it or text is fine.may i suggest mediafire or 4 shared.there much cleaner.

[antman1]

is this one better? [Only registered and activated users can see links]

[rich hathaway]

ok,do this. restore back to a clean or custom ipsw.make sure your jb'n write 32000 prl to it.its not the prl you want to end up with,but it is one that is nationwide and is "ota friendly" so to speak,so it will do for now.dont do/change/write anything else to iphone right now.try the ota again. and if trouble then wait until right after it fails,and the signal drop to one bar,try to ota again quickly while iphone is roaming.

[antman1]

I gave it a shot. It does the same thing. I am thinking it is something with my account on Cricket. Here is a video of what it is doing: [Only registered and activated users can see links]

[rich hathaway]

ok dude the vid was helpfull.if it were my phone here is what i'd try. i would write the verizon prl back to it.then try the ota,if it doesnt work then look for that window right after it fails where you loose almost all your sig then quickly try the ota again. if that fails you,you can always send us the phone and we can write your mdn,min,sid,and prl to the phone manually for you for a fee and some freight. i looked at your acct and it is fine.

[antman1]

I appreciate all your help. I have always been the person that wants to learn how to do everything myself. sorta the DIY guy. I will wait and play with it a little. I wasnt even aware you could write the MIN, MDN and such to the phone manually. I hope a better solution comes out for us DIY guys out there. It blows my mind that I cant get this thing back up and going like I did last time. This has me bummed out pretty bad. I hate failing.

[rich hathaway]

did you try to write the verizon prl back to it yet?

[antman1]

I wrote the prl back to the iphone for verizon and when I dial *228 I get the verizon activation and I cant update the roaming list and option 1 is to activate with them. I then tried dialing it again before the bars went away and it would dial like it was showing from my video last night. I then tried *22804 and I got the same message about the call not being able to be completed as dialed.

[antman1]

what I cant understand is why dialing *228 doesnt give me the OTA thing.
"PRL 32000"

*228 "Welcome to Cricket then "Spanish lady" then I am told if I am getting this message it is because my cricket account is suspended.
*22805 gets me the Verizon OTA
*22802 gets me the Sprint OTA
*22804 Gets me the message that my call cannot be completed as dialed
*22801 drops to 1 bar and nothing
*22803 drops to 1 bar and nothing
*22806 drops to 1 bar and nothing
*22807 drops to 1 bar and nothing
*22808 drops to 1 bar and nothing
*22809 drops to 1 bar and nothing

[rich hathaway]

bro i did one today,i wish i would have taken a vid of.same situation as yours,been on cricket before,got messed up and then restored and the ota wouldnt work,or at least without a little work. i worked with the ota for around 5 min before it worked.and i mean it dialed about 30 times.mine had a verizon prl,and would keep connecting to either sprint or verizon.it will work if you are persistant with the ota and you are in a good signal area for cricket.when done it wrote the new 41016.prl but i thought about you when i did that one.you need to do the same as i did,and for what its worth leave the speaker off,i have noticed that ota fails much more often at the beginning of the call if you tap speaker before it connects.

[antman1]

with the verizon prl did you dial *228 or *22804? I have been trying and trying. Also I was unaware it is possible to manually write the MIN and MDN in the iphone, Is that some new software not out yet?


[Only registered and activated users can see links]

[rich hathaway]

lol,love the kirk photo. i did both,but i think it was 04 that finally worked,i kept pushing when it wouldnt dial or it was "bizzy" (i mean the phones proccessor not the ota). and no its not some new software,just is not public yet because the full flash solution will use this and will be a paid solution.

[antman1]

Did you get the message that the number could not be dialed when you dialed *22804 or something else? With the Verizon PRL if I dial *228 all I get is the "Welcome to Verizon" and it wants to program the phone. Mine is like my video. It really seems like an issue here in Nashville with the Signal for Cricket. Strange that I would keep getting that Welcome to Cricket, If you are hearing this message when attempting to make a call it is because your account is suspended" message when dialing *228 with Cricket PRL and not the OTA. Also strange that no matter what PRL I use Verizon or Cricket or whatever if I dial *22804 here it tells me the "call cannot be completed as dialed Message 32 BNA" and doesn't work at all.

I've been messing with GSM phones and unlocking for a long time now and CDMA is new to me but so far this thing at first seemed easy but now it is crazy.

[rich hathaway]

got another cricket phone? if you do try the 22804 with it,just to see where it takes you.most the iphones i have worked with ota without issue,but there have been a few that some coaxing and a little extra effort were needed to get them working.ya know if you are at 4.2.8 and having all this trouble,there are 2 downgrades you could try that may get you where you want to be.but to downgrade you will need to use ireb first and then use tinyumbrellas server thru itunes to be successfull.

[antman1]

I had my friend try *228 and *22804 using her Asend Android and both got the provisioning prompt to program the phone. I have tried all day using the original Verizon PRL file with *22804 and no change. *22804 tells me "Were sorry, the call cannot be completed as dialed Message 32 BNA" and *228 gets me the Verizon programming every time.

I would try downgrading but unfortunately I got the phone from a person that had 4.2.6 on it and did not backup the SHSH info. I only have the SHSH info for 4.2.8.

All I can say is "Facepalm"!

[rich hathaway]

you can still downgrade.use snowbreeze to make a custom ipsw and then ireb to prepare the phone,then use tinyumbrellas server and shift click restore in itunes.

[antman1]

I tried both a restore to IPSW 4.2.6 and 4.2.7 and both failed. I ran iReb and used TinyUmbrella and it failed after verifying with Apples Server (TinyUmbrellas server) on both accounts.

After apple stops authorizing an older IPSW the only way to restore is the have the SHSH blobs backed up to either Sauriks Server from Cydia or through Tiny Umbrella on your PC. My prev phone had the SHSH Blobs going all the way back to ios 4.0, If you ever restore a phone to an earlier ios check in cydia first or with Tiny umbrella and see if it shows the earlier SHSH info and that would be why it restores.

iReb allows bypassing of the iPhone checking the signatures of the firmware you are loading.

BTW: I wanted to thank you for continuing to help me on this. I am really stuck.

[antman1]

Well I have officially tried all I can think of. I restored the iPhone and used the Verizon PRL and tried the 32000 PRL and neither would work. I brought my Laptop and traveled down close to Birmingham, AL and continued to try *22804 with no luck. If you need beta testers for your method please let me know.

I am afraid to pay and have someone else flash my stuff because I dont know about others but when new IOS revisions like the new IOS5 come out I dont want to be dependent on someone else to reflash my phone for it to work.

[rich hathaway]

you can still always send it to us if you need it working. there will be a charge,but it wont be to bad. and when the updates come out...well... just for get about them.i have always said what we generally do after an update is start searching for the fix's that will undo what we just did.every update has bugs.and if your phone is working good now....well.....dont f it up.

isnt what your doing now because of you updated? people listen updates are bad. dont do them,very rarely do updates give you anything but headaches.

[antman1]

How much is the charge? Were do I send it? Also when iOS5 comes out and it gives you the features of a legit native flash player and wireless syncing with iTunes is everyone out of luck that got it flashed manually? My situation is that I manually edited a files and my phone got stuck in recovery mode boot loop so I had to restore the same version of my IPSW. Sometimes you can install an app from cydia and this can happen. those are situations that make me nervous about not being able to do the flash my self. The guys at China Telecom I noticed are able to cook IPSW files that dont write the BB. maybe that is the answer to not lose the flash. I havent been able to use this cricket service in over 11 days now. no one has any clue as to what is going on. It is strange that the *22804 tells me "call cannot be completed as dialed Message 32 BNA" and the *228 says "my account has been suspended. I have been trying everyday, literally.

I do see were you are coming from Rich, you figured it out and you want to at least get paid for your time you spent on it. but the iPhone will always have an update at some point that will need to get flashed to the phone or will need the iOS reloaded. It is like a small pc and sometimes corruption can happen. I used to jailbreak iPhones for people and would run into things like this all the time. if it was a simple unlock of BB then that would be one thing. but so far this is different. I used to give my clients the options of doing it them selves and if they fail and cant do it then I would do the same guide I gave them to do it.

[rich hathaway]

your mistake was you should have use tinyumbrella to "kick"the phone out of recovery instead of restoring.and snowbreeze does not nor will it ever increase your bb.the ipsw ct use from dan han is the same thing,they say it does not have bb,meaning your bb stays where it is,like snowbreeze.as far as a charge you need to call me as this is not my personal sales thread and against forum rules to sell out of here. my number is at the top of every page (kc phone and flash).it sucks you got a stubborn phone.we will be happy to help you if you need.just give us a call

[antman1]

I did try to kick the iphone out of recovery but I believe I messed up some permissions and it was not able to repair the files. I then tried getting it up in console mode and repairing permissions manually myself. this did not correct the problem with the recovery mode loop. I was thinking back in the day there was a checkmark that had to be selected to preserve the bb. and that ipsw dan han had was 4 versions. 2 said with bb flash and 2 were without. That was the reason for my comment. I want to contribute.

It sucks not being able to use this phone at all with my Cricket. Haven't used the account but less than a week. Is remote flashing going to be possible?

Edit: I also wanted to add that it seems that my phone doesnt actually dial *228 or *22804 on cricket. When I dial these it acts like I dialed just any other number really. for instance if i dial the pizza hut number i get the same message I get when dialing *228 about being suspended. and if I dial *22804 it says the call cannot be completed as dialed. its as if it isnt doing it right.

[rich hathaway]

hmm. restoring should take care of those issues.you may have a hdw prob,but i doubt it.some are just stubborn,but when you restore you correct all your mess ups and get back to where you started.

[antman1]

Is there going to be a remote method of flashing so I dont have to send the iPhone out?

[rich hathaway]

unfortunatly not. that is the only way.

[antman1]

I wanted to share my findings with all. Apparently Cricket OTA will not work if the phone does not have a valid mdn and/or min programmed prior to OTA. I tested this theory on another phone I can program the MDN and MIN on and with the same 30000.prl I was able to get to OTA when I had a TN not even mine in the MDN and MIN. Then OTA failed and erase the MDN and MIN and I got the same message about my account being suspended on *228 and number not being valid on *22804. I then reprogrammed a random TN on MDN/MIN and got OTA again.

[rich hathaway]

if what you are saying is true,then how did it work the first time? because the min,mdn in it was not a good one since the phone had never been on cricket before and had just come from verizon.
but i am glad you got it going bro..

[antman1]

phone had never been on cricket before and had just come from verizon.
The answer is in your quote, The phone was on Verizon therefor it had a number programmed in prior to me doing OTA the first time. Remember in my post I stated that I programmed a random TN on my other phone (Not a valid Cricket TN). After doing that the other phone would work for OTA. Of course it failed each time cause the ESN wasn't on a Cricket account but at least it got to OTA. Eventually it would erase the TN putting a 000000000xxxx number in the MDN and MIN fields and the phone would never go back to OTA again with *228 and *22804. Somehow when I restored my iPhone it reset those fields and the OTA will not get me to the programming prompt.

Programming prompts work for Verizon and Sprint when I dial there OTA Numbers so this leads me to believe it is a glitch in the Nashville Market Cricket OTA or something else.

[rich hathaway]

oh i see you ment that as long as it was something other than a bunch of zeros and then a few digits,but not one neccassarilly one that is active....ya thats strange,but woth looking into,i would offer to help you but in my kansas city market it does not make any difference at all,i have restored hundreds of times with many dif iphones and not had a issue other than occasionally getting a stubborn phone that i gotta work at to gain ota.

but report back yer findings to us , there are some others with issues with ota.

[antman1]

surprisingly I was able to OTA provision my iPhone yesterday. I decided to try again and it did activate. I left the Verizon PRL on it and tried again same as I have many times in the past and it gave me the OTA instead of the message about the TN not being able to be dialed.

[rich hathaway]

nice,open a 6 pk,celebrate..lol glad you got it goin.

[Willie Jarrett]

I have an iphone 4 on verizion 4.2.10 i have already got my meid num switch on my cricket account wat do i need to do and how do i do it ta get the phone switch over to cricket?????

[rich hathaway]

I have an iphone 4 on verizion 4.2.10 i have already got my meid num switch on my cricket account wat do i need to do and how do i do it ta get the phone switch over to cricket?????

[Only registered and activated users can see links]

read that.

[chilo]

The only way to get it on cricket is to jailbreak right? So of my iPhone is on iOS 5 I can't put it on cricket?

[rich hathaway]

no if it will ota the you dont have to be jb'n

[BHBS203]

i have an iphone4 from verizon and am trying to flash it so it is ready for cricket. Right now it has no service with verizon as i do not have there service. It also does not have a phone number programmed. I am using ios 4.2.6 jailbroken using greenp0ison. I have replaced the prl file on the phone using winscp and replaced the file called "310vzw.prl" with "38515.prl" renamed to the original prl file of course. Then using ifile i opened the carriers.plist and turn the option "prlpushflag" to on and then hit done. Then i tried restarting the phone and it took a second and said no signal but then said iphone not activated then shows the 5 bars like it has a signal and no carrier name. I then went into ifile and put the " prlpushflag" back to off. Then restarted. After it restarted i got the same thing saying iphone not activated. I then checked the option when calling "*#5005*4357#" and it still looks the same as it did when i started. I then changed the sid value in the 310vzw.pri file to the value i saw for the nashville area "04857"
and the home sid looked like this:

<key>nam - cdma settings</key>
<dict>
<key>home sid/nid</key>
<array>
<string>4857/65535</string>

i tried dialing the numbers to see if it connects to cricket for activation of the phone and it all goes to verizon still. Then if i dial the "*#5005*4357#" then i get this
[Only registered and activated users can see links]

what can i do to make sure this phone is flashed and ready before i add the esn/meid to cricket? I also do not have the shsh backed up for ios 4.2.6 so my next shsh that i have backed up is 4.2.8, any help will help me.

great success!