yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] AlpineMan:
If you have access to a Tmobile or AT&T inactive SIM card, that would be a good way to test if your unlock worked. I'd hate to find out that it didn't work when I'm already overseas.

Not too long ago, you can order a SIM card from Tmobile web site for free. Not sure if that sale is still on.
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] vipersinu2:
note 3 zip worked great for me, but I anciently did a ##72786# and reset phone,

I cant get the backup to work,

All I get is preparing network in task bar and wont go away,

If I change permission on properties.db to something other than (rw rw -), device will try to do a hfa but fail get error 106
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] AlpineMan:
Check your MDN and MSID in DFS. Set them both to your phone number as described in the OP's steps. Then rerun Update Profile.
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] vipersinu2:
every time hfa occurs it wipes the MDN and MSID, can you tell me what are the permision of the carrier file its self?

also I do not have any of mms files under setting do you think that is my problem?

this all happend because I was in terminal #su

am start -a android.intent.action.MAIN -n com.sec.sprextension.phoneinfo/com.sec.sprextension.phoneinfo.SprintEpstActivity

this brings up hidden menus, stay way from ##72786# ##scrtn# I just touched it by accident.

can I just use the note 3 zip file without my files in the folder?
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] AlpineMan:
Yes. Backup the contents of your /carrier folder, then extract the Note 3 zip file in your /carrier folder. Overwrite the files in that folder if there are any. Again, don't forget to reflash your MDN and MSID.
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] vipersinu2:
I think I may have misplaces the original backup carrier file and thats why I can't get it to work, I am out of resources. thanks for the replies though.

I see the 3g icon for 2 seconds an then the phone reboots and powers on like it did another ##scrtn#

I did ##786 reset, and also used twrp to wiped cach and factory rest, used odin stock kitkat 4.42
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] t0mmyr:
Did this work for aosp
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] AlpineMan:
Touchwiz based ROMs only.
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] eazy3445:
I have a galaxy mega with the same problem.....do u think this will work for my mega?

---------- Post added at 04:18 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:01 PM ----------

SO I Rooted my Galaxy Mega and disable the Hands Free but now it can't do the update profile....ugh what do i do?!?!?! such a headache!!

---------- Post added at 05:14 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:18 PM ----------

im really confused for some reason how to do this....so copy on it on my SD card and unzip the folders and then thats it?
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] AlpineMan:
I don't have carrier files for Mega. Not sure if the Note 3 or S4 files will work on your Mega.
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] eazy3445:
yea im scared to try the galaxy s4 file because under my carrier file i another folder called "lost+found" and it doesnt look similar to the glaaxy s4 or note 3.... i get no internet as well..my 3g is not there and it cant do the hands free..i just disabled the hands free for now cause it was annoying. so i can only get internet thru wifi for not

p.s and my mmsc on my mega is http://mms.plspictures.com no sprint? lol im confused
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] vipersinu2:
Fixed
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] spearoid:
This thread is above my head a bit as I have never messed with DFS or any special flashing tools beyond Odin and whatever that crap was Motorola required for the X back in the day. :)

I have a friend who bought a Verizon GS4 on eBay flashed for Boost. Ever since day 1 she has lived with the HFA nag and the SIM card warning but data worked as well as MMS.

Recently her phone took the 4.4.2 update somehow and broke her MMS. I've looked at the info at ##3282# and it is blank. I set the URL, proxy, and port info but it never sticks. I'm fairly sure that's the only reason her MMS isn't working.

I would like to try some of the things in the OP because the HFA and SIM messages would annoy the crap out of me and I'd like to at least help her with that.

My question is, should I even bother? Does the MMS symptom I described speak to a different problem altogether? Should I try and flash her phone back to 4.3?

Her phone works with data, just not MMS. She would love for me to fix her MMS but I don't want to break her phone's Boost flashing so that she can't do anything. Especially since I don't know how to fix that if it happens.

Planning on tackling things tomorrow at work when she brings in her phone. Hoping for some wise counsel before diving in.

This thread is amazing and daunting. I probably just need to freaking learn how to use DFS and all those special tools since my wife also has a Boost flashed phone and I just recently paid a guy on eBay $60 to fix hers when it lost activation altogether.

Thanks AlpineMan!
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] makkonen:
I just flashed a Galaxy Mega, using /carrier files I had extracted. They worked perfectly. If you can tell me what I need to do to scrub them of personal information, I'll do that and upload them for the benefit of the rest of the people who need them.

If not... well, I'll upload them anyway, since it isn't actually MY personal information, and it doesn't look like there's anything particularly sensitive in there.
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] AlpineMan:
There isn't much to scrub. If you want, you can upload it somewhere first, then PM me the link. I'll scrub it for you. Have to use SQL Lite.

Thanks.
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] AlpineMan:
The instructions in this thread won't work on Verizon phones. Also, as far as I know Verizon Galaxy S4 phones don't have Android 4.4.2 yet. In addition, I don't believe anyone has found a way to get native Verizon GS4 messaging app to work 100‰ especially MMS.

Are you sure she has a Verizon S4? From what you described, it sounds more like she has a Sprint S4. If so, have a look at my signature. Follow the MMS fix thread.
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] spearoid:
Okay, so I was an idiot....the Verizon logo was on the battery cover...and since the Sprint GS3 my wife has that was flashed for Boost didn't have a SIM card slot at all, I took the VZW logo and the presence of a SIM card slot as believable evidence that this GS4 was in fact a Verizon GS4.

Apparently not! Inside the battery it says SPH-L720 and has the Sprint logo.

So, I guess that was an unnecessary rabbit trail I got myself on.

I actually found your MMS post fix a few days ago and already did that. I didn't realize it was the same XDA user with all these helpful posts!

Did your APN fix, then tried to edit the MMSC URL, proxy, and port info, but it won't stick. Those fields are blank every time I come back to them

So I guess, this conversation has shifted to one that belongs in that MMS thread, but I am still hopeful that I can use the instructions in this thread to kill the HFA nag and the SIM nag without breaking 3G
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] spearoid:
So I went ahead and did the OP instructions with the carrier folder, permissions and everything....and it looks like I am having the exact same experience as bond17_007 from what I read in this thread. The only difference being bond17_007 actually knows what he's doing :) and knows how to use DFS, and I don't!

3G is no longer and the activation continues to try and never actually goes anywere. But, the MMSC URL info sticks now! :p

So, it's time to load up your flashing thread, and then some other thread that teaches the things assumed in the flashing thread's OP about DFS. :)

I knew this day would come eventually. Time to learn!
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] AlpineMan:
You have to be careful when copying files to /carrier. The .chameleon.hash file is a hidden file. Without this or with the wrong hash file, your Boost flash will get undone. Do not use Windows to copy and paste the carrier files to your phone. You have to use something like Root Explorer or ES File Explorer with hidden files visibility enabled to extract the carrier zip files to be able to extract the hidden hash file.
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] AlpineMan:
Added Sprint Samsung Galaxy Mega carrier files in OP courtesy of makkonen! Have at it. Please test.
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] ndno:
Crap, I bought a Sprint Samsung Note 3 online for a niece to use on a new Framily line. Before activating I had it rooted, custom recovery flashed, and updated to a 4.4.2 KitKat ROM (Stock Sprint). Since this was used for about a month and had someone's MDN and MSID programmed already, I thought it would be good to factory reset with ##786# (I did this with my S3 before and it worked fine), which I did after figuring out the MSL#. Bad move! :( We went to the store to activate it today and it just won't. The HFA keeps trying but won't; trying to do a PRL or Profile update always brings up the HFA screen. I couldn't open a new Framily line of service because of my existing line so my niece and I went to the store today to open up a new line and activate it; after signing up, the CSR at the store said the HFA will just do it automatically since he placed the Note 3's esn into her account; we couldn't get it working for an hour and he said we'll have to come back another time with another phone because he thinks something is wrong with the Note 3. Anyways, I came home and look at the status and noticed the Network status was registered as "Samsung"; I guess when you reset with ##786# this happens. I searched the web and found this thread. I followed the instructions exactly and download the carrier zip file for the Note 3 and extracted it to the /carrier directory using Es Explorer in root mode; I rebooted it and HFA stills pops up but failed to activate; however, the Network status now says "Sprint". I'm running of ideas; is the attached zip Note 3 for 4.3 only? I have 4.4.2 KitKat. Can anyone who has a Note 3 with KitKat be a darling and zip their carrier directory and post it? Alpineman, any further advice? Thank you so much for this thread; I followed you on Howards Forum to get my S3 working on the cheap $30 SERO plan so thank you very much.
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] AlpineMan:
I don't know if the attached carrier file will work on KitKat for the Note 3. So far, no one has reported so. All reports so far says it doesn't work. S4 KitKat works according to one report. I have not personally tried on either KitKat. Yes, all attachments are from 4.3.

I can't think of a reason why a Note 3 with legit clean ESN won't activate even if it doesn't have a complete /carrier. What I would do:

1) Make sure it is legit clean ESN. White sticker in battery compartment match what it says in System Settings, About Phone, Status?

2) Call Samsung to verify or go online and login to your sprint.com account and do an ESN swap. When you do, it will tell you make/model number/color of phone. See if they match.

3) Put a completely stock ROM. Attempt to activate via WiFi.

4) If it still doesn't work, send it to Samsung for repair. Their customer service is great. Got a few phones repaired under warranty for free. Just paid shipping to send phones to them.

5) When you get it working on KitKat, please share your /carrier. ;)

Speaking of that... Anyone using KitKat willing to share their /carrier?
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] ndno:
Thanks. Yes, the ESN is clean; I verified it online and the Sprint CSR also verified it; the Status screen in the About Phone has the same ESN as the sticker behind the battery.

I used ODIN and reflashed the phone back to a complete stock KitKat (unfortunately, since I'm already on KitKat, there's no way to flash it back to Jelly Bean 4.3 :(). After flashing, the /carrier directory is completely empty! The phone still acts the same with the HFA, though the status screen said it sees the Sprint network and device looks it can talk to the Sprint network. One big note the account for this phone was opened on Friday but a number was being ported in; apparently the number is still not ported in and should be sometime tomorrow; so this may be the reason the HFA is not completing successfully; I should have asked for a temporary number and then call to have the number ported in. I assume the MDN/MSID will automatically be programmed by the HFA, correct?

Another question: the Note 3 I bought didn't come with a sim card; is that needed at all? Not planning to use this phone internationally... just get that annoying message and no sim card notification; I assume the sim card is not needed for regular CDMA operation on the Sprint network in the US, correct?
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] AlpineMan:
Yes... You need a SIM card for the Note 3! I'm not surprised the Sprint store rep missed that. I have extremely low confidence with those guys. And yes, when the phone activates, it will automatically populate your MDN, MIN, and Profile 1 username and password.
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] ndno:
Thanks. Can I use any sprint sim card? I called yesterday and they said I need to go to the store. But when I was at the store they said to call customer service. These guys are incompetent. I have a sim card from a touch pro 2 and I can use an online cut out template to cut it down to a micro sim size to fit it into the note 3.
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] AlpineMan:
The SIM card in the TP2 is for GSM roaming only I believe, while the one Sprint uses on the Note 3 and S4 is for LTE provisioning. A Sprint corporate store (a store owned and operated by Sprint) should have these cards in stock. Independent cell phone stores may not have these cards.

When you activate the Note 3 online, it will also tell you the ICCID of the SIM card that the Note 3 came with when originally purchased new. You need to change this ICCID in the activation screen to match the numbers found on the SIM card you get from the store.
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] guitarman_715:
I have been flashing phones to Boost for quite a while now and just acquired a Sprint Note 3. Do I need the SIM card for activation and profile update on Boost Mobile? Or where you referring to Sprint activation? I can't seem to get the data or profile to work, its on KitKatt 4.2.2.
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] vipersinu2:
I have note 3 runing kitkat 4.4.2 on boost, and that carrier file brought life back to my phone, I do not have any sim card or ever had a sim card to achieve boost cut over, you never want to do a ##786# or ##72786#, the carrier file wouldn't work, flashed another phone number to note 3 ( i guess we should not talk about this) and dropped carrier file and it took, worked great, put back old phone number all good. if that helps anybody
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] AlpineMan:
My post above was for a user trying to activate a Sprint Note 3 to a new Sprint LTE account. Thus, the person will need to have a Sprint LTE SIM card for LTE provisioning.

To get 3G data to work on Sprint Note 3 with KitKat ROM flashed to Boost, my understanding is that you'll need to downgrade the radio (and only the radio!) to MJ4.
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] vipersinu2:
you are correct
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] guitarman_715:
I did downgrade to MJ4. Still can't get 3G or Update profile to work. Maybe I need to downgrade to 4.3 and that will fix my problem.
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] ndno:
Thank you alpineman. Yes, I'm activating a Note 3 on Sprint. Since I had trouble activating I thought this thread would help but the steps in this thread weren't necessary as my number was still being ported in. Once it was ported into Sprint, my Note 3 activated fine using the phone's HFA. So I didn't need the carrier directory. It's actually empty after I flashed it to stock KitKat. Sorry I can't help anyone because the audience here is mainly interested in getting their phone to work on Sprint's MVNOs. If the carrier directory wasn't empty after I activated it, I would post the zip here.

My Note 3 didn't come with a sim card so I'm going to the store this weekend to get it so I can use LTE on it.

By the way, I bought the Note 3 for my niece and joined the Sprint Framily plan for $25/mo (unlimited talk/text, 1gb data) . If anyone is interested you don't need to find your own people to form a group of 7 to get the $25 price. Just go to framilycodes.com and find a group to join. There are a lot of other sites you can find to join. The biggest advantage for me is the ability to use LTE. Everyone here, by flashing to MVNOs, can only use 3g. What's nice is that you can get 3gb LTE data just for another $10 ($35/mo) and unlimited for just another $20 ($45/mo). I was tired of 3g so I went this route.

Besides LTE, the other advantage is roaming. Sprint MVNOs don't include roaming. What's also nice is that the $10 (3GB) or $20 (unlimted data) add-on can be discounted if you have employee discount from your company. So for me if I want unlimited data (3G + LTE), I would just pay $25/mo + $20 - 25% employee discount on the $20 = $40/month. My other SERO Premium line is costing me $50+/mo; it balances out because with the Framily plan because I can get equipment upgrade discount for 2 year renewal on SERO Premium.
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] AlpineMan:
Thanks for the update. Are you using root enabled ES File Explorer with hidden files enabled to see if indeed your /carrier folder is empty?
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] ndno:
Yes, after I successfully activated the phone, I re-rooted it, flashed TWRP, and relashed it with Freeza stockish KitKat. I used Es Explorer and the /carrier folder is empty.

I would suggest starting a new thread to ask if someone with KitKat for the Note 3 could post their /carrier folder.

EDIT: No I take that back. I see it there now (hmmm... I must have not enabled root on Es Explorer). Give me a minute and I'll upload it.

OK, everyone; attached is a zip of the /carrier directory on my Note 3 with KitKat that was successfully activated on Sprint with the builtin HFA application. I have no way of verifying if this will works so I recommend you back up your /carrier folder before unzipping the attached file. Good luck and let everyone know if it works.

EDIT2: I forgot to enable hidden file display so one file that alpineman mentioned was missing. The attached file now contains the full carrier folder.
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] AlpineMan:
Thanks for sharing. On ES File Explorer, do you see a file ".chameleon.hash"? I do not see it in the zip file. Not sure if you've got your Explorer configured to show hidden files.

One more thing if you don't mind. Can you turn off your wifi then try to send yourself MMS with a picture? There's been a few folks having issues with MMS... Not sure if this is due to flashed phones or a Sprint MMS outage.

Thanks!

Btw, when you get your LTE SIM card you may notice that your LTE still doesn't work unless the Sprint store changes the SIM card ICCID associated with your Note 3. By default, when you activate the phone, it will provision the original LTE SIM card the phone came with. Not sure if Update Profile will automatically fix this for you if the Sprint store can't replace the associated ICCID. You may have to call Sprint tech support.
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] ndno:
[MENTION=1130160]AlpineMan[/MENTION], yeah, I forgot to enable display of hidden files under Es Explorer. I just re-zipped the carrier folder again and it now contains the hidden hash file. The attached file in the post above yours is now updated.

Yes, MMS works fine. I was able to send and receive MMS to a different phone using the Note 3 3g data. If I get a chance tonight and remember, I can try to grab the APN xml from it and post it here.

Yes, I'm going to the store this weekend to get a sim card for the phone; you're correct, Sprint has to pair the UCCID number on the sim card with my phone before it will work.
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] AlpineMan:
Yes! Thank you! Perhaps Sprint changed MMS APN settings without notifying us flashers. ;)
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] vipersinu2:
sprint message board

SprintCare replied (in response to BigDaddyCass) 19 minutes ago

BigDaddyCass, I am showing we are currently having a nationwide issue with MMS at this time. I am not showing an ETR but we are working as fast as we can to get this resolved. I am sorry for the inconvenience. Thank you, Barry Sprint Social Care
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] ndno:
Here's the APNs xml file I was able to save from the Note 3 with KitKat. And yes, mms works on it through cellular data
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] AlpineMan:
Thanks a lot for your contribution in this thread!

Looks like the MMS issue we had yesterday is fixed. It was indeed a Sprint outage. I can now send/receive text over 3G...I didn't have to do a thing.

Your APN settings is still useful however. I can use it to compare/contrast what's different in the MMS fix thread that may be breaking LTE connectivity for some.

Thanks again!

In light of [MENTION=2272359]ndno[/MENTION] carrier files for the Note 3 w/ KitKat, anyone willing to test this on their Note 3 w/ KitKat ROM and KitKat modem to see whether or not this will fix a full KitKat phone? I don't have a Sprint Note 3 to test.
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] ndno:
You're welcome. I finally went to one of the Sprint stores that does repair service also. They gave me a new sim card for the Note 3 without charge! Yeah I was asking around 3 other regular stores and they didn't have them; and if they did, one of the CSRs said I would have to pay $50 for it! No way in hell! But he did point me to the store I went to today and said I can get the sim card for free. So they paired the sim card with the phone in my account and LTE worked immediately after it was installed. So the APNs xml above is from a working Note 3 with LTE service and KitKat.
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] guitarman_715:
I still can't get this stupid Note 3 to work on Boost. I have tried all the carrier files and everything. It won't even activate. Every time I reboot the phone it wipes my flash pretty much, the NAM file that I write to it just will not stick. Anyone have any suggestions? I have tried almost everything.
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] AlpineMan:
The reason why it wipes your flash is because file permissions and/or hidden files were not set correctly in your carrier folder. Make sure your files and permissions match the screen shots. Are you on KitKat? If so, are you using MJ4 modem or KitKat modem?
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] guitarman_715:
I am on KitKat and I have flashed the MJ4 Modem. I will recheck my file permissions. Thanks.
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] guitarman_715:
I checked the file premissions and that fixed the flashing part. However, the phone will not activate. *2 no longer launches sprint zone, even after doing a full recovery. I then go into the settings and hit activate device and it fails everytime. So update profile/prl still dont work but I am guessing it is because the phone isn't activated. What am I doing wrong?

---------- Post added at 01:57 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:02 PM ----------

So the phone is working under Boost now following all instructions. 3G and all. I still can't get profile to update though. It says "instalizing application" and thats it. Nothing else happens.
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] eazy3445:
for my galaxy mega it didn't work for me....i did overwrite from exd card to the carrier folder, then rebooted, and it still has HFA loop
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] ecs87:
Sprint Note 3 (N900P) HFA Fix

UPDATE ON PAGE 14! N900P HFA fix (Odin flashable!)
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] eazy3445:
im doing this for my mega but it still shows the HFA