yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] Rosepeter:
Invalid Card

Hi Photon-Q-Folks!

First of all, I want to thank CornholioGSM for his outstanding modding-guide! Some colleagues of mine helped me with the soldering stuff (I am a really lame duck regarding soldering ...) and now I am a happy owner of a modded and working Photon Q

However, I could be even more happy if I did not have the following "Invalid Card" issue:

I use a SIM card by K-Classic Mobil a O2-reseller in Germany. It is a prepaid card and it does not offer LTE.

I recently did an OTA upgrade to 98.10.5.XT897.Sprint.en.US

I set the network mode to "GSM/UMTS" in Settings -> Wireless & Networks -> More -> Mobile Networks

The issue only occurs when I am in an area where I only have poor or no signal:

When starting up the phone I unlock the SIM card and I seem to get a proper signal.

After some time a dialogue occurs, telling me that no UMTS/GSM networks exists, the dialogue furthermore asks if it should switch to "global mode" (What does "global mode" mean?)

I choose "cancel" and set the checkmark to remember this decision (the dialogue, however, occurs again and again).

After some time, the signal indicator vanishes and the lock screen tells me something about an "invalid card"

When I restart the phone the story is repeated: First, I apparently get some signal, then the indicator vanishes again and the phone tells me, the card is invalid.

I have never observed this at home, where the signal quality is good. I do not really have a clue what might cause this. Maybe, there is app in the JB-image that assumes there must be a valid Sprint network either CDMA or LTE? Has anyone else observed this or similar behaviour? Any hints? I'd really like to get rid of this, as I could not use the phone at my parents home.

The other issue I have from time to time is "No SIM card":

I seem have pretty well signal strength, I try to access data via 3G => no packets arrive

After some time the connection breaks down and the phone tells me, there is no SIM card

When powering up the phone again, the SIM card is there, I can unlock it and the phone properly logs into the mobile network.

Maybe, this is some soldering issue (the phone is warmer than usual, when this happens), but maybe there also is a software-related side-issue. Any hints?

For now, I am going to check all that Motorola stuff on the phone, maybe I find something suspicious there.

Ciao, Fabian
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] oTToToTenTanz:
Hi Fabian,

Good to see fellow "Modders" from Germany :)

You described your problem in detail, but I am still curious about the following:

At your home you seem to have a good signal. Can you connect to the internet there (3G, GPRS?). Or are you not able to connect to the internet at all?

Do you experience the loss of signal (and with it a Sim Card error) in many places or just at your parents house? O2 should have good coverage, I am currently using E-Plus and never experienced such thing.

Are the APN settings set properly?

Try different settings: Global Mode (I think it looks for any kind of signal then, CDMA, UMTS, LTE. But I might be wrong).

Be sure "Allow GSM data" is checked. My network and provider is set to "choose automatically".

Its a strange error you encounter, but I would not think its due to bad soldering, since you can access your SIM card every time you turn on the phone (right?).

Good luck!

Edit: maybe try all of these 3 options: gsm only, umts only, automatic. And see where you get errors.
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] CoDoJoTyFlow:
HI,

What type of sim card slot is the best for mod ? any links for ebay ?
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] Rosepeter:
After we killed two sim slots that we have desoldered from pretty expensive Galaxy S 3 spare parts, I ordered a Molex mikrosim slot and it fits into the Photon Q. It is available via RS Components using the order-nr. 771-9124, Molex part-nr. is 78723-1001 (sorry, I can't post links yet, although this still worked a few days ago).

Ciao, Fabian

---------- Post added at 10:19 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:58 PM ----------

Yeah - today I saw a modded Photon Q sold via eBay. So, there must be someone else!

Yep, at home gsm and data (3G) work like a charm, at first I missed the APN type "internet", but after setting this, I was able to access the internet without any problems. GSM data is activated. Actually, there are some places around here, where the signal quality is generally low, and I visit one of those places regularly.

I tried a few things today and yesterday:

I deinstalled com.motorola.android.cbs.sprint.dynamic and com.motorola.sprintroaming. Now the network settings are looking a lot more like Android again, but this unfortunately did not have any fruitful effect.

I set the preferred network type to "Global" - again no effect.

I activated data roaming - again no effect.

I think and of course I hope you are right. The error, however, is really strange. Again, I could observe it today:

When we approached at the "bad signal area" the phone already has done some data transfers on its way (got some new emails). It further tried to get data and then the status turned into "no simcard".

I switched the phone off and on again. At first, the phone logged into the GSM network and I also got a 3G indicator, then signal was lost and the phone status turned to "invalid card".

Thanks! Also, I did this already, I will give it another try.

Does anyone know what the best debugging options in this case are? Which logging options could be turned on to get traces providing more insight on this? Is there a way to restart the GSM subsystem only - it is annoying that I have to switch the phone off and on again, just to get some signal again.

Ciao, Fabian
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] CornholioGSM:
...molex slot is not too good as i9300 slot, or alps slot because is not push in/out :)

...in germany are approx 20 photons modded from me so maybe on ebay was from me too:)

...sim card problem is for 90% really with bad connection betwen sim and slot (maybe slot is broken) - not problem of wrong settings
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] oTToToTenTanz:
Oh, I forgot you use a sim card slot. Hmm, then it probably is like cornholio says... you don't want to solder the sim card directly?
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] lilboogs:
I have to say that i'm experiencing the same problem as Fabian. :( Since my photon is modded by cornholio i don't think soldering is the problem.

It's a really strange problem, because it randomly occurs. Sometimes it doesn't happen during a whole day. But sometimes it happens about 2 times a day. And right after rebooting my phone it works again and i have signal (both gsm and internet) for the rest of day. It happens after the signal is really low, and it just looks like it doesn't re-acquire the signal again.

Hope somebody can find a solution, i'm not really making any progress since it's so random. I tried almost every different setting, but it doesn't seem to make any difference.
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] CornholioGSM:
...here can be really problem with sim slot...if you want i can change it gratis :)
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] CornholioGSM:
eee....what manual???
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] Skrilax_CZ:
Try this first:

1) Open dialer

2) *#*#4636#*#*

3) Press Phone information

4) Scroll to bottom, and press "Turn off radio"

5) Wait until the button changes to "Turn on"

6) Press "Turn on radio"

Then check if you got signal. Also make sure you have flashed the Jellybean modem software (i.e stock JB and then some ROM or kept it). ASA14 modem software is quite buggy :(
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] Rosepeter:
That's true, the ALPS SCGD series is nice, it is even smaller than the molex slot w.r.t. height. However, I think I can live without this push in/out mechanism, my mod is not as neat as yours are, I can not even access the sim card without opening the phone completely. At least, the phone seems to work now.

Thanks for this tip! I think, this was the reason. I put the sim slot/card at the same location like you do in your mods. However, there is not enough space - you also cut away parts of that small chip cover. So, the sim card/slot did not rest on the mainboard in a plane manner. When closing the housing of the phone this might have bent the sim card/slot a little, causing a bad connection between sim and slot. Now I rotated it by 90 degrees, it rest smoothly on the mainboard and I did not observe any problems so far :D
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] meteorain:
May I ask you a question? I have a CDMA sim card from a CDMA2000/EVDO carrier, and my phone has been SIM CARD MOD, thanks for your guide! It works with other GSM or WCDMA 3G carrier. But the phone with that CDMA 3G sim card has no signal. However I did it.

Do you think there is a way to solve it :confused: Many thanks!
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] seros222:
Cornholio I sent you a pm :- )
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] CornholioGSM:
....hmmmm good question....

maybe here is problem, because sim in phq is "roaming sim"....cdma has photon inside, so when you put inside cdma sim, so then ha 2x cdma....and default is logicaly sprint.
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] Skrilax_CZ:
Umm ... CDMA doesn't use SIM card at all? I.e even if there is roaming sim for CDMA carrier, in CDMA mode there's Sprint, and in GSM mode there's the roaming SIM for the CDMA carrier (but connected via GSM if there is some kind of domestic roaming etc.).
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] arrrghhh:
In China, CDMA carriers do actually use SIM card's... I think they are called uSIM's?

In the US (and most other places where CDMA is) the information is "burned" into the phone itself.

See R-UIM article if you want more info.
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] schmandroid:
Previous posters interested in antenna purposes, I can confirm the GPS antenna location.

The antenna sticker directly above the volume rockers is for GPS, when looking at the PCB with battery up.

The phone I am using didn't have GPS signal, and I found this sticker missing when compared to my other 2x handsets. Made an antenna up out of stranded wire & now I get GPS satellite lock from inside my toilet!
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] L1011:
Unable to power on

HI All,

Mod was carried out and everything looked good. Re-assembled phone and inspected the work several times to ensure nothing was broken.

Unfortunately the phone doesn't turn on. The green light on top of the phone stays on at all times when plugged into the charger but that's about it. :(

Tried resetting by pressing volume down + power button but it didn't work.

Has anyone had this problem after modding the photon q?

Please advise. Any input is appreciated. Thanks.
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] mrvek:
Perhaps the screen is dead (or the cables connecting it)?

You can try to keep holding volume down to try to boot to fastboot mode to see if anything is on the screen. If still blank, try to use fastboot/moto-fastboot and test if device is beeing recognized by typing "fastboot devices". It is hard without seeing anything on display but it might be worth to try to check if rest of the device is still alive.
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] oTToToTenTanz:
Double checked the wires connecting the screen under the keyboard?
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] GoodWiesKapot:
First of all thnx cornholio for this awesome thread.

So yesterday i finally got my soldiering stuff. So i open my phone and i noticed that some already tried to do a simMod but it wasn't successful. I'm missing 2 of the 5 contact points :crying:. With a magnifying class i can clearly see that there isn't solder on 2 contacts, in fact there is nothing to solder to. Just 2 "holes" i guess. Can this be fixed somehow? or i'm i just screwed. I will try to take a clear picture of it tomorrow or later this day.

Any ideas or advice will be helpful
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] CornholioGSM:
....it is simple....on picture are the ways where you can connect it :)
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] GoodWiesKapot:
I've circled what contact points i'm missing, but if i understand correct all the red connected lines are the same circuit and therefore can be soldered?
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] CornholioGSM:
yesssss :)
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] GoodWiesKapot:
Thats just made my day. You're my hero :laugh:

i will give it a try tomorrow morning. Its not going to be easy though those points are really really small.
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] yeapyh:
just received my mod from cornholio, everything works perfectly! calls and 3g data in malaysia! thank you so much for the wonderful mod, keep up the good work :good:

only thing is i can't access the phone internal /sdcard after plugging into my computer as mass storage, i can see the external memory card, but not the phone's memory. there's only 1 removable storage appear in my computer. if i connect as media device i can see both. is this the norm? thanks all!
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] arrrghhh:
Yes, this is normal.
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] CornholioGSM:
....yes normal :( ...and after upgrade to jb no mass storage :( :( :(
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] yeapyh:
i hear alot of horror stories on jb, hence im sticking w ics, phone doesnt prompt for any ota update anyway, which is surprising
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] dsfdfsdfs:
Cornholio, sent you a PM :) (I hope..)
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] agazza:
witch resistor can i loose without a problem? :silly:

It´s the on the top row, second to the left.

and i still cant get this goddamn chip loose.

Its reeally hot and my plyers start crumbling the chip and no deal. soon i will try just to drill the F*cker away.:good:
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] schmandroid:
Mate - are you using the hot air, or gas torch?
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] agazza:
Still gas torch. Guessing its around 800 celcius... but i cant afford the hot air thingy

Skickat från min HTC Vision via Tapatalk 2
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] schmandroid:
Did you see the pics of how I removed my chips with the gas torch?

Need to make sure your torch is not too big. Why don't you post a pic?

---------- Post added at 07:16 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:14 AM ----------

Your chip will come loose by itself when the solder is hot enough. You won't need to mash it.
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] ombli:
Hi. First, thanks to CornholioGSM and schmandroid, for their instructions.

I lost the 3 components at the bottom, and I know that the capacitor is not necessary, but I have a doubt whit one of the resistors (bottom left) coz I measured 5k5 Ohm, but in the pics I sow 1k7. As well I read ftaka:

So, are necessary both resistors?? Only 40 Ohm and a short circuit in the left one?? The value of left one is 1k7 and probably I have measured the wrong one??

Thank you very much from Spain.
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] schmandroid:
Cornholio has posted values before, he is the guy who can answer or fix this for you.

---------- Post added at 09:56 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:51 AM ----------

Hey agazza, how did you go?
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] agazza:
Went on vacation instead :D

I will check wich resistor i wrecked on cornholios post when i get a computer. I'm will be in a deadzone for three more weeks.

But i did it like you, with like seven layers foil and a small gastorch, its like a storm gaslighter, can post pics when i get back.

But i will send it away, i already ruined it to much, if someone wants to trade they can make a buck. Cornholio did not answer my pm so i guess hes on vacation.

Sdcard reader push function broken but i removed spring so the sd card is just slide in now, ruined camerabutton, meaby fixable, will trade for modded one for cheap :D everything else works fine

Skickat från min HTC Vision via Tapatalk 2
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] CornholioGSM:
....i am now back :)
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] schmandroid:
I've done other smd's with gas torch, such as BIOS chips etc, yours is prob too big, or something like that. Sounds like you've really cooked it!

Your left over bits would probably fix one of the Q's I have with a busted screen.
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] agazza:
I Will probably fix the mod som way, i can live without the camerabutton and The sdcard workshop anyway. Just annoyed that i destroyd those two things

Pm me If you want to do some trade of sorts, i need a modded Q :)

Skickat från min HTC Vision via Tapatalk 2
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] CornholioGSM:
....if you want i can give you camera switch and simmilar microsd slot :)
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] agazza:
For some reason i cant answer on tapatalk but i would really like if you could give it a try cornholioGSM, just answer my pm with your price for fixing the sdcard and button plus mod and where i should ship my phone :)

Skickat från min HTC Vision via Tapatalk 2
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] schmandroid:
I have 2x modded Q's and a stock as a backup (no screen). I'm running stock OS on this one & CM10.1 on the second. Still trying to get the CM handset to connect to my office wifi router so I can daily drive it. Some sort of incompatibility with the CM OS.

If I had CM working fine, I could part with a modded one. Both handsets fail to connect to my a/p when running CM10.1. Alternatively, if there is a way to set up sending MMS on stock OS, I would be happy.
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] agazza:
I Will wait and see if cornholio can fix it or else we can talk some more :) where are you located?

Skickat från min HTC Vision via Tapatalk 2
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] schmandroid:
I'm in Western Australia
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] am3ricain:
Hi there.

I live in France, ordered a Photon Q in USA on eBay, have it shipped to France, and then sent it to Cornholio...

ET VOILA :) !

My phone 's now back to France, with the mod and my french sim card inside (free mobile), working perfectly. So nice. Unlock, root and brand new rom performed just after that :)

I fisrtable wanted to do the mod by myself, but here it is.. 41 years old, my eyes don't allow me anymore this kind of stuff, even with my new glasses.I decided then to have it done, instead.

Good job, thanks a million to the smart guy named Cornholio.
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] CornholioGSM:
...thanks toooo :)
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] ches00ed:
Too impatient to read through the numerous posts to figure this out...

I am very new to all of this... so I apologize if my question has obviously been answered.

I am wanting to know if this SIM card MOD is what will make this phone capable of using CDMA and GSM service simultaneously (so to speak). Say for example, I frequent an area that has poor reception (like non-existent, even with an Airave "signal booster" in use) on the Sprint (CDMA) network but gets great reception on AT&T (GSM). If I were to (successfully) perform the mod, would the phone then have the ability to "bounce" from one service type (CDMA/GSM) to the other with out having to manually select settings. If yes, I would have to have a Sprint account as well as an AT&T (or other GSM provider) account, correct? Or is this just not possible?!? Many thanks in advance, for any info or guidance towards the right direction in answering my question.
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] arrrghhh:
Well, that might work... but I'm not sure anyone has tried.

Also, are you willing to lose LTE? I believe if you remove the fixed SIM, LTE on Sprint's network will not work.

However, I'm just speculating. There's also the potential the SIM slot is locked out from US carriers - although that can sometimes be fixed.

I'm not sure it would be worth 2 cell phone bills either :P
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] oTToToTenTanz:
As far as I know it is not yet clear whether US carriers GSM can be used with this device..But in general, simultaneous usage of CDMA/GSM should be possible, yes.
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] :
How do you protect the other electronic parts of the phone's mainboard from heat when modding? Will they not get damaged?
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] CornholioGSM:
for sd slot i use capton tape or metallic shield
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] schmandroid:
Tinfoil etc
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] :
Will metallic things not conduct heat even more?
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] schmandroid:
Only if you don't apply enough toothpaste
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] CornholioGSM:
...toothpaste? like colgate ? :P
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] Kampfgans:
I got exactly the same problem.

Is there any solution already?

This problem is really annoying :confused:
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] schmandroid:
Yeah - especially if it has menthol, keeps it cooler. :D
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] schmandroid:
Only joking with the toothpaste. Yes, tinfoil is a good heat shield if you don't have anything fancy.

You don't have to take my word for it though, you can prove it yourself.

To test:

Apply a gas torch flame to the palm of your hand...

Repeat this with a sheet of tinfoil over your hand....

Report the difference in heat that you notice.
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] ignaki:
send me a private

CornholioGSM send me a pm, idk why i cant pm you, how much will you charge for mod my photon q 4g lte? im in US.
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] niko99:
also CornholioGSM i send you a PM i have my Photon ready to send but i need ship dtls :)

(i know you must have a lot PM's so i waiting for replay patiently)

kindy regards
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] CornholioGSM:
sorry sorry sorry...i have now too much work :(

i have replied to all pm's now.

I was 7 days without sim slots and now is by me approx 10 photons for modding ... so too much work.
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] antonyfirst:
I am having this dramatic problem: I have desoldered the first sim I had since I had to change. Basically, I am still with the same operator, but I swapped operator in the middle to get a better offer from the one I was already using (as a 'new' customer). Yup, in Italy they force you to do so.

Anyway, now I have random disconnection from the network (Telecom Italia Mobile, TIM, which also is the main one). I am wcdma/gsm.

When the sim card disconnects from the network, it asks me to reboot, after which I am connected to the network... for a while, after which it disconnects again. It's not very usable... what should I do?

Any help?
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] nonamerzz:
Hello, guys, I lose some elements nearby chip area: capacitors (C0-C2) and resistor (R), I marked it on photo. Is there enough to short-circuit resistor to make mod work? Or I need to remove another elements except R-elements and throw jumpers according second scheme?

1

2
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] w0ng88:
Hi all

Not sure if anyone else is facing these issues which I am. The phone works perfectly fine but may randomly lose connection (reception icon switches between emergency triangle with cross and no reception icon), be it in places with strong or weak signal. Even if I enter *#*#4636#*#* to turn on/off radio or change the band preference, it does not work. However a manual restart of the phone solves the problem, so I doubt it has anything to do with soldering/sim card pin connection as pointed out by Cornholio.

However one observation I made was that it occurred when it has LTE/CDMA/EvDo/GSM/WCDMA set as preferred network type. Seems like it is the default option whenever you restart the phone.

I will monitor if this issue arises when phone is set to GSM auto (PRL) type. Network is M1,.Singapore (GSM/CDMA). Meanwhile any better suggestions or ideas for debugging?

Thanks in advance.

*using stock JB rom from sprint
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] antonyfirst:
Looks like many of us are having the same problem.
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] olegfusion:
hello! I plan to make this mode for myself! May somebody please say me, which sim connector and where buy this sim connector for this phone?

Thanks!
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] CornholioGSM:
hi, it is i9300 slot or you can use one v slot...search it on ebay
[Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE] CornholioGSM:
...for 90% is it problem in connection between sim slot and mainboard