Database Users

IMEI issue on a USA T-mobile MDA

Hi,
I just bought a MDA off ebay and the phone works great!
BUT the problem is IMEI numbers dont match ANYWHERE!!
Box, Back of phone and *#06# They are 3 different #'s
I can still make and recieve calls and go on the net.. phones works properly.
Is there anyway some1 could have changed the IMEI? Or is there a Rom flash that could have done this?
OR could a Unlock have altered the IMEI?
And is there a way i can change the IMEI to the same one as the one on the back of my phone?
The Seller has agreed to refund my money, but I want to exercise all my options b4 I return it. Bc the price was actually great!
Any help will be appreciated.
Thanks in Adv!
Brit.
:thumbup:
PS i did search for this issue and did come accross some good threads, but there was alot of "THIS IS ILLEGAL" i know this so please post somthing meaningful...

Your best bet is to get your money back. At best the phone was serviced and the guts placed inside the wrong case by accident (which would explain 3 different IMEI) but at worst there could be something hinky in the phone's history that will come back to bite you as the current owner.

I wouldn't worry about it.
1) The phone works
2) You know the phone's actual IMEI
That's all there is to it. Don't worry about it.

both of you bring up a good point.
I am leaning towards keeping theh thing b/c of the price i paid for it b/c of a mislabeling of the auction. It was a super low price..
I will check to see if the guts were changed, there probably will be a sign if the casing was opened.
Can you give signs to look for tampering?
Second, I read were some1's IMEI changed b.c of a Unlock could this have happend to my MDA?
Thanks for you replies agian!

HTC (or T-Mobile Warranty) might me able to confirm if any (or all) of the IMEIs you have are from serviced phones.
As for the Unlock changing the IMEI, I know one user reported it but I seriously the validity of their story.
I've CID unlocked 5 HTC Phones (3 BlueAngels, 2 Wizards) and SIM unlocked them also with the IMEI never being changed.
Just remember though, if there is something hinky and the phone is hot you can lose the phone and never see your money.

I would imagine that if the phone was put up for sale, sold, shipped, turned on and found to work and it is hot, the heat has probably cooled considerably. Or, in other words, if it was going to be banned by the network, I would think it would have already happened. As far as unlocking changing the IMEI, I second the above. Few things are impossible but a simple unlocking changing the IMEI has to be close. If it was my phone, I'd first look for some obvious sign of tampering. Crooks aren't very smart (they are crooks, after all) so it shouldn't be hard to find. If nothing jumped out at me, I'd shrug my shoulders and call it mine.

Cool, I will call HTC.
I just called Tmobile and they said that they dont BAN phones, they just ban simcards. but I doubt they would admit the truth.
the phone working is a Positive sign to me.
But I will call HTC and confirm. ALSO I will Call Paypal and see if i have any kind of warranty to buying a stolen item.
if all else fails i will return the phone to the seller.
Brittany

the IMEI should look exactly like the IMEI on the back of the phone rite? not shorter or longer?
i will reverify if its' shorter or something. b/c i read some where about a 17 and 15 digits are needed.
ALSO say if my MDA was stock right out of the box would the phone have these 4 lines on the top left corner in red with some numbers and stuff.. possibly rom info and model info?

Usually the stickers with IMEI numbers are difficult to forge since it requires a special paper (Nokia at least) and a special kind of file.
Although the theory of mixing boards, cases and boxes is very plausible there's still the chance that the IMEI on the back of the phone is the hot one. You can always try to change back to it (but taking note of the one stored presently in ROM for future use) and see if it gets barred/blocked or you get a visit from the authorities :twisted: In any case, this forum's posts could help to prove your innocence in court (just kidding :lol: )
As for the procedures to achieve it, get back to me via PM
cheers

Well i took it to a local Tmobile store and they exchanged the phone for me. WOOT! WOOT! this was a pure sealed one. so prob solved.. now i just have to do a CID and Sim Unlock and upgrade to the latest rom.
Any recomms? i will try to do my NEWBIE duties and search and learn, if anyone wants to make it easy for me. well hooka sista up!..lol
Brit

Wow! Not bad! If the 2.26 ROM is already on it (I got a new one a couple days ago on warrantee and that was the case), you may want to think twice before changing that. I've been real happy with 2.26 and it's gotten to where the ONLY thing I bother changing in the registry is the glyphcache and menu settings and I uninstall OZ, the DAT MailTrigger thing and the Hotspot login utility. And...bonus time....you don't void the warrantee that mayb prove handy in the future.

Moral of the story.. get 3 old phone, inter change their IMEI (e.g. stickers and box) .. go to different local store to get 3 new phones

So last night i did
1. Sim Unlock
2. CID Unlock
3. installed AIM (wifi friendly)
4. Upgraded the rom to 2.26
5. installed Agile Msnger beta verson
phone's running like butter! Thou after i installed AIM phone RAN really sluggish! but i think it was b/c i put my orig sim card with 150 entirees.
so i rebooted charged the phone to 100% and did the rom upgrade from Tmobile's webiste..
the phone runs like a charm now.. I just need to find a good Instant Messenger software, wiht profile and away msg so my friends to hit me up with a huge txt msg bill..
I came, i read, i learned, i conquered the mda!

My HTC touch (ELF) has changed imei number automatically.

My original IMEI number was starting from 35XX and now its has been changed to 44XXXX i have not done anything just using phone as it is. Because of this whenever i inset my simcard my phone gets hanged.
Please help me. I am from Gujarat using HTC with Airtel.

How could this happen?
I dont think it will change automatically.
Someone must have changed it.
Bring back to Airtel and ask them about it.

there was a thread some time ago talking about a problem with some elfs going to a special imei, that its blacklisted so it wont work.
i think the mods have deleted the thread, but search in google the whole imei number u have now.

crapula512 said:
there was a thread some time ago talking about a problem with some elfs going to a special imei, that its blacklisted so it wont work.
i think the mods have deleted the thread, but search in google the whole imei number u have now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The problem has now one more thing when it starts the phone even without sim it gets hanged. now even i cant see IMEI number by starting and when it starts screen becomes red please help me...

Screen becomes red?
Is there 3 colours on the screen?
Are you still in warrenty?

no phone is not in warrenty

So now, your phone cant start?
Cant go to windows mobile?

jeremy89632 said:
So now, your phone cant start?
Cant go to windows mobile?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes i cant

Can you try to flash via SD?
http://wiki.xda-developers.com/index.php?pagename=Elf_SD_Card_Flashing
Works for elf and elfin.

late reply: phone had water damaged, the best thing you can do is stop messing around, remove battery, and take it to capable technician.
it happens often that imei gets to factory default, not 1st case I´ve seen...
br

that could be that your elf was reported in your operator and the lasted owner send to changued IMEI of the device for continues working with then.
your device dont have any problem for that IMEI only work again
Enjoy dont worry

[Q] Need some help with my vogue

ok guys i bought a sprint touch (vogue) phone about a 3 months ago when i started having problems with my older phone. well i finally decided to activate this new vogue phone and i cannot get good reception. Now compared to my old sonyo this phone stays searching for service almost all day. While the old sonyo would have three bars of signal. i started doing some searching online and found out that these phones were bad for signal reception. After all that searching i want to unlock my phone and install the newest rom, radio rom, and see if it will help my phone. i tried to return to the store but they will only give me 25 dollars for the phone and that made me very mad. At the moment it does not work and i have really nothing to loose if the phone becomes a brick.
i have downloaded the NuVogue and NSFan roms plus a lot of cabs. What i do understand completely is do i need to install a radio rom or is there one already in the Roms. if there is no radio rom in these roms then which one is recommended?
thanks

If you bought a sprint phone then it probably has a sprint stock radio. Does it show the sprint logo at boot?
Sent from my Full Android on Vogue using XDA App

yes it does have sprint logo at start.

sprintvogue said:
yes it does have sprint logo at start.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can try reflashing a radio or rom with a radio, but I doubt it will help much... have you EVER been able to call with that phone? How did you provision it? If it's a new vogue from sprint(?) why won't they give you a full refund or a warranty replacement?

i cannot return it because i did not buy it from sprint store. i bought it from my friend but he did not tell me he was having problems with the phone. what should i do.
i do not know what else to do?
i really like the phone but i cannot get any reception, that is my problem. i do not use it for text, music, or online. i just need it for business.
any suggestions would be great.
thanks

Have you tried *228?(or whatever the Sprint equivalent is)

sprintvogue said:
ok guys i bought a sprint touch (vogue) phone about a 3 months ago when i started having problems with my older phone. well i finally decided to activate this new vogue phone and i cannot get good reception. Now compared to my old sonyo this phone stays searching for service almost all day. While the old sonyo would have three bars of signal. i started doing some searching online and found out that these phones were bad for signal reception. After all that searching i want to unlock my phone and install the newest rom, radio rom, and see if it will help my phone. i tried to return to the store but they will only give me 25 dollars for the phone and that made me very mad. At the moment it does not work and i have really nothing to loose if the phone becomes a brick.
i have downloaded the NuVogue and NSFan roms plus a lot of cabs. What i do understand completely is do i need to install a radio rom or is there one already in the Roms. if there is no radio rom in these roms then which one is recommended?
thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So, the device stays looking for signal? Does it ever get at least 1 bar of signal? I have an idea, which may sound a bit far fetched, but it may be the case. At one point in time, I remember trying to replace the E$N of my device with an MEID (turned into pseudo E$N). Needless to say, this cannot be done, and my device stayed looking for service forever. I have a feeling that maybe the E$N was changed and it was either input wrong, or simply someone tried to play stupid and replaced it with a pE$N.
Check for the E$N behind the battery and compare it to the one in the system (you can check this by going into PST, you don't even need the MSL as you are not editing the programing parameters of the device).

ok i took a look at the ESN numbers in back of the phone and i got this:
************
then i went to settings and looked in device information i get this:
*************
Does this mean anything?

sprintvogue said:
ok i took a look at the ESN numbers in back of the phone and i got this:
************
then i went to settings and looked in device information i get this:
********
Does this mean anything?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unless you mistyped the 36A152D number, it looks like it is not complete.
Decimal conversion from the one you gave me (without the dash, of course) should give you a Hex number that is totally different.
My guess is that your friend tried to change the E$N of the device and did it wrong/used an invalid serial. If you put an invalid E$N, the phone will stay searching for networks forever, which is what is happening with your device. You have to change the ESN back to the original (the one behind the battery), but if it was changed, I have a feeling it is probably black-listed by Sprint. I would call Sprint and ask if the device with the number you gave me can be activated on their network.
BTW, I edited the numbers you gave me to protect your device's serial.

ok i took a look again at the numbers and i did miss type. there is suppose to be an 8 between the 5 and 2.
ok so then i need to go back to sprint? What should i tell them? Do i tell them to put me back to the other EsN like the one on my phone?

sprintvogue said:
ok i took a look again at the numbers and i did miss type. there is suppose to be an 8 between the 5 and 2.
ok so then i need to go back to sprint? What should i tell them? Do i tell them to put me back to the other EsN like the one on my phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't even talk to them about changing ESN. Remember that this is an illegal practice in most countries around the world (IMEI, MEID, and ESN for those who use other serial numbers). I have a feeling that you are better off trying to reactivate your older phone and try to get the guy who sold it to give you your money back.

i think you are right.
i will do that first.
thanks guys.

[Q] big problem

i changed my rom many times, i used chifu rom mostly because i liked them but i realise i have kind of a big huge problem, i dont know how but my phone's Imei got changed ( yes yes i'm a dumbass ) is there any way to change it back to the original one ??? i know that changing imei is not a legal thing , but what i just want to change it back to the original one... if not it is still working , i dont know for how much long but it is
thanks ins advance
best regards

I think whats probably happened is that the ROM you are currently using is displaying the imei number of the handset that it was originally dumped from.
It has not actually changed the imei number of your handset its simply displaying the wrong number.
Bottom line is that you imei is still the same number that is printed on your device (under battery or wherever)....
My HD2 shows a different imei but I have been assured by the chef of the ROM that I use that its not a problem so dont worry.
Hope that helps.
Ps Im moving this to the general section.

thank u very much
i wont worry about it when it stops working then i will get worried about it but until then

yeah theres no need to worry....
if you need your imei it will be on your device, probably under the battery or in the documents you got with the phone.

HD2 Stolen, Got it back IMEI changed etc please help

Im not quite sure what to do, my HD2 got stolen 3 weeks ago lucky for me I had IMEI written so i reported it to cops. Two days later I got my phone back. Cops said I was lucky the guy didnt had time to sell it. When i got it back my phone it was completly reinstalled with WM6.5 (before I had WM7.5) I noticed that volume up stopped working so i started investigating deeper and to my suprise phone IMEI has been changed! When I went into boot mode (multi color) insted of cotula hspl it said something about freebox.
Here is my questions
1. Is there a way to repair phone so my volume up works? Or at least map any other key as volume up in wm7?
2. How can I get back my phone to show original IMEI?

drsaint said:
Im not quite sure what to do, my HD2 got stolen 3 weeks ago lucky for me I had IMEI written so i reported it to cops. Two days later I got my phone back. Cops said I was lucky the guy didnt had time to sell it. When i got it back my phone it was completly reinstalled with WM6.5 (before I had WM7.5) I noticed that volume up stopped working so i started investigating deeper and to my suprise phone IMEI has been changed! When I went into boot mode (multi color) insted of cotula hspl it said something about freebox.
Here is my questions
1. Is there a way to repair phone so my volume up works? Or at least map any other key as volume up in wm7?
2. How can I get back my phone to show original IMEI?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you sure it is the same phone you had stolen?

I'm sure 100% it's the same phong, IMEI written on the back of the phone corresponds to the one I have on original box, but when I check IMEI from OS it's different

well if the SPL been changed then my first thought would be to put it back
So,
head on over to HTC and grab yourself an original stock ROM, flash away using the SD card method, with a bit of luck that will wipe all the crap off it, then HSPL > Radio >MAGLDR >WP7
happy to point you in the right direction for all of those or confirm your findings but its good to give it a shot yourself, a quick search will give you all you need
search for strings like
HD2 LEO SD card flash
i gather you already know how to install WP7

THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE. Unless you or someone else switch the sticker on the back of the device, or swapped the housing/chassis, it is nearly impossible to change the IMEI on a device.
If this was possible, I would of have done it so long ago to trick my device to think it was some other device.
Unfortunately, IMEI hacks are illegal. That is why developers don't go that route. It's not as simple as pirating apps (which is also illegal).

Why do I get the feeling that this is some fancy way of asking how to change your IMEI (i.e., insert sap story and request on "help" on how to change your IMEI)?

Why would you want to change your IMEI? You have your device back and different IMEI doesn't change anything. All the apps will work as they worked before etc, so I don't think you should worry about that.

PoisonWolf said:
Why do I get the feeling that this is some fancy way of asking how to change your IMEI (i.e., insert sap story and request on "help" on how to change your IMEI)?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hahahaha my thoughts exactly. He want somebody to help him change it. Never heard of anyone changing imei. It's like DNA of the phone.
Sent from my HTC_Amaze_4G using xda premium

well, I for one, would love to change the IMEI on a device so that it can bypass stupid carrier restriction (ie: use t-mobile $5unlimited internet on a mytouch4G for the 4G)
currently, it's not possible since t-mobile has blocked this device from loop-holes like that.
JUST SAYING though.......

Sorry, we don't allow discussion of IMEI changing on xda, as it *can* be used for unlawful reasons.