4:51 pm - Post Category: Nickness

So I've had my storm for a week now. So far so good. A few hiccups, a nuke and a new BlackBerry OS and things are looking good.

I tried everything out stock until Friday when I really started getting annoyed by the stupid "Activation Required" thing on the main screen. I got a couple blue screens while attempting to read some binary data from the device.

This problem is so common on Google that it took me until last night to solve.

The problem being that the version of the Storm I have is Telus and the phone half expects to connect to Telus to activate itself on their network, I however am using it unlocked on Rogers.

So I quickly learned it needed to be manually activated by dialing an "MSL" code which in the US on T-Mo and Vodafone is simply 000000, in Canada however on Bell and Telus this code is different on every individual phone. This means ts hard-coded into the ROM and must be discovered manually.

Here's where it gets tricky. You must install uniCDMA preferably to a 32bit XP machine. You'll need your BlackBerry Desktop software installed first too.

A very important factor must be true for the following to work, Your BlackBerry OS must be 4.7.0.76 (if Your OS is newer it very likely wont work once you get to reading the memory)

Once we're this far get your Berry plugged into the computer and ensure its showing up in the Device manager COM ports on COM4 at least.

Next fire up uniCDMA and in change Mode to QUALCOMM then under setup change the port to reflect COM4. Now this is where it gets important, go to the Memory tab and enter in the starting address 0x17C455BE and length of 524288. Before you go reading Your phones memory BE CERTAIN your Berry's OS is 4.7.0.76! This is the only way to read the memory with success.

Firstly before getting dirty click the Read all button at the top mostly to be sure your Berry is connected properly. Now when all the random fields are filled in with Your Berry's info go back to the memory tab and click Read and Save to file...

If all is well at this point a box should appear telling you its reading the memory...a few minutes will pass and it will end and you'll now have a binary file to read with your favorite he editor/reader (I used HexWorkshop).

What you need to do is look for 6 numbers all together in a continuous string (easiest way is to search different single numbers in the "String search). The found number is your MSL code, disconnect your Berry and dial ##msl (msl being your 6 digit code from the bin file), Hit call, a menu will appear change the Mobile Directory Number that your phone thinks is your phone number to your actual 10 digit phone number, and finally hit your BB menu and Save.

Congratulations your phone will now bear the lovely word Rogers instead of Activation Required!
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