Summary of "the basics" from a beginner's viewpoint

[pokey]

I thought that I would try to contribute by contributing a high-level summary of basic flashing steps from my viewpoint as a total flashing noob. I have been able to get my first phone flashed and activated on Cricket wireless with voice and text. I know that's not very exciting to all of the pros out there, but a noob (even us old goats) must take baby steps first. So be prepared to take small steps, experience a few setbacks. This kind of stuff is _not_ for those who are patience-impaired.

This is not a how-to for flashing a specific phone / device. Rather it is a general summary of the steps I have learned in my recent first experience of flashing a phone for basic talk / text. I tried to avoid specifics for a particular carrier, but I did use the Cricket network for examples since that is the network I used for my first adventure.

Thanks to all of the veteran flashers out there for the information you have shared and making the files / tools available to those of us who are learning!!

So here goes the short version, followed by a more lengthy expansion...

1) _SEARCH_ and _READ_ various forums dealing with flashing. Watch some of the videos on YouTube if you are a visual kind of person. Be patient, learn from what's already out there. Google is your friend. As a matter of courtesy, don't jump on a forum and start pestering the members with a bunch of questions, just give yourself some more time to absorb what you've found and "connect the dots". I was able to find enough information to perform my first basic flash from existing information without posting a single question anywhere! The info _is_ out there!

2) Gather the tools you need: Software, drivers, cables, a suitable phone, and enough information to map a plan of action.

3) Spend some time getting familiar with terminology, how your tools work, how the information in your phone appears in the tools. Don't jump right in to flashing your phone until you understand what you are doing at least on a basic level.

4) Follow these steps to a basic talk/text flash:

a) obtain your phones six digit SPC code,
b) unlock your phone using the SPC (and update its SPC to all zeros if you want),
c) "flash" your new carrier's PRL to your phone,
d) get your phone's ESN into your carrier's database,
e) activate a new line of service for your phone or have the carrier switch out your new phone's ESN in place of your current one if you already have a line of service you want to use with your newly-flashed phone.
f) Put your account's MDN (directory number) and MIN number into your flashed phone
g) Possibly optional: dial your carrier's OTA number to get the most current appropriate programming (PRL) onto your phone

Now the long-winded version:

1) The first thing that you will need is a collection of the appropriate software, including drivers, and of course a phone to hack on. To gain an understanding of what you need, spend a little time searching this and other forums. Different phone brands and even different models within the same brand can require different tools and drivers. You will also need an appropriate connector cable, one end having a USB connector to your computer, the other end having the appropriate connector for your phone. Note that not _all_ cables are created equal, some seem to be made _only_ for charging and do not work for flashing.

2) Install your drivers and software (seems obvious, doesn't it?), fire up your tool(s) and attach your phone via the cable. You can use the Windows device manager to determine if your phone shows up as a "port". If it does, then you are in business! If not, double-check that your drivers are installed, try a different data cable, etc... Once again, some time spent searching the forums will often yield a solution. _SEARCH_ first, be prepared to spend some time doing so. Take notes of web pages that contain useful information. The solutions for the basics are out there, you just have to find them.

3) Now comes one of the tricky parts of the flashing process: obtaining the SPC (aka the MSL) code for your phone. Some phones, such as Verizon post-paid phones have an easy one: It's always six zeros. Most others are a bit more of a challenge. Again, there is no single "magic" way to obtain this code that works with every phone. Google is definitely your friend here to help you locate one or more methods that will work with your intended phone. I will add here that if you are fairly serious about flashing phones, investing in a _paid_ copy of CDMA Workshop is worthwhile. It has a variety of mechanisms that will assist in getting the SPC from many (but not all) phones.

4) Having obtained the six digit SPC / MSL code for your phone, I would recommend that you spend some time playing with the various tools that you have gathered and installed. I wound up purchasing copy of CDMA Workshop (after experimenting with the free trial version). I was able to download QPST, UniCDMA and a couple of the brand-specific PSTs from links located on this and other forums.

What I mean by "play" is to go into each tool, connect to your phone, and try all of the read-only options. Some of them will require the SPC code before they will read some parts of your phone's information. If you have CDMA Workshop you can safely go ahead and "unlock" your phone by changing your SPC code from whatever its "secret" value is to six zeros.

5) Once you are comfortable with your tools and have "played" enough to understand the terminology and information of the tools you have, _then_ and _only then_ should you proceed to attempt your first flash.

6) Locate a PRL file that is appropriate for the wireless network that you want to activate your phone on. If you don't know by now what a PRL file is then you have not spent enough time _SEARCHING_ and _READING_ on the forums. Use your selected tool to connect to your phone and load the PRL file to it. You also need to locate the SID code for your location and carrier and update that on the phone also. Same comment applies about understanding what a SID code is and why you need to update it.

7) At this point your phone is not activated, but you should be able to dial your carrier's magic customer assistance number and hear the voice announce "Welcome to the <your carrier's name here> network..." For instance, I flashed my first phone to Cricket, so I could dial 611 and hear the "Welcome to Cricket..." voice.

8) Now you are ready to activate your phone. If you are flashing a phone from one carrier to a different carrier (say a Verizon phone to the Cricket network or a Sprint phone to MetroPCS), you will first have to contact their customer service and have them add your phone's ESN number to their database. I would recommend that you have the following pieces of information ready: The ESN (or pESN) number in both hexadecimal and decimal form and the MEID number in hexadecimal and decimal form. You can gather this information from various places, including the menu options on some phones, from the label underneath the battery on your phone, etc. You can consult articles on Wikipedia to learn how to convert a) the hexadecimal MEID to decimal form and the hexadecimal ESN / pESN to decimal form. There are some online calculators available to assist you in converting these numbers so that you can collect both formats of your phone's ESN/pESN and MEID numbers.

The Cricket customer service representative that I spoke with wanted the decimal form of the MEID number. It so happened that the phone I was activating did not have this form of the MEID available in the menus or on the phone's label, so the converted MEID from hex to decimal was required. Of course, once your ESN is activated in the carrier's system, you will have to open an account with the carrier and be prepare to pay any activation fees and monthly charges involved. If you already have a line of service with the carrier, you _can_ switch the ESN of your newly flashed phone in place of the ESN of your current phone. There may be a fee associated with such a switch however.

What I did with Cricket to get my phone's ESN activated was a) Call customer service and gave my phone's decimal MEID number to the rep. The rep told me that it could take up to 24 hours for the ESN to become active since was "new" in their database. b) The next day I went to a Cricket store and opened a new line of service for the phone. The ESN was by then visible in the database.

9) Almost done: The representative at the store gave me the new MDN (directory number) and MIN number for my phone. I went home and used CDMA Workshop to put these into my phone (also known as programming the NAM). If you have found information on how to manually program the NAM for your phone through its keyboard you can also use that method to put the MDN and MIN into it.

10) At this point, your phone _should_ be able to make / receive calls and send / receive SMS messages. You might have to dial your carrier's OTA number and get your phone's "latest and greatest" PRL downloaded to it. For instance, with Cricket, I dialed *228 and the PRL was updated from 1042 to 1043. In general, when you dial your carrier's OTA programming number, the carrier will "push" the PRL to your phone which matches your account's plan. For example, with Cricket, if your plan is for local talk and text only, Cricket will push a different PRL to your phone than if your plan also includes nationwide roaming.

That's it for a noob basic talk/text flash. I know there are already quite a few tutorials out there on how to do this. I had to read a number of them to pick up on some of the more subtle connections, so I hope this will help someone else who is just getting started to "connect the dots".

[Mr-Malibu]

This is definitely going to be a big help to many. Everyone has to start somewhere.

[pokey]

Thanks, Mr-Malibu. I hope that it does help others who are trying to learn about flashing to pull together what they have seen and read in various places...

[Mr._Pseudonym]

;^) You're off to a great start, Pokey. Your tutorial actually covers the basics for beginning anything: read about it until you understand, tinker with the product until you're familiar with it, etc. I like it.

[whitey10tc]

I must say excellent post.
This is the first thread. In weeks started here in the basics that truly. Belongs and is what this subforum is about.
the basics you have covered
excellent work grasshopper.

[Dex]

As an admin of this forum who lile you once was a noob commend ur efforts in flashin ur first fone to cricket i would also like to start a poll to be voted on by the members this forum to see if they find this thread informative and pose a queations to my fellow moda and admins to promote you from the noob usergrp to the flasher usrgrp