[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] namdude0373:
TL;DR: My Sprint Nexus 5 died and I bought a replacement motherboard (different IMEI) and Sprint won't take it, claiming they cannot add MEID to system. What if I changed it to my old Sprint Nexus 5's IMEI? I am wondering how to do this and anything I would need to know about it. Thanks!

Alright, before I get started I want to let you know I have done a little searching around the forums so if you find something identical to this, I apologize. Lets also recap what I learned so you do not need to go through the same rollercoaster as me:

Sprint says non-Sprint Nexus 5 models should be interoperable with Sprint but they will not activate them

Sprint's customer support is so inconsistent you should do your research beforehand rather than replying on them for the most accurate information

It seems that there is no way to verify if Sprint will recognize a device that needs to be added to their DNA 2 database and its better to save yourself the headache and get a device that is already on Sprint's database.

Here is the whole story of what happened, you can skip to the last few paragraphs if for my question:

So, I bought a Sprint Nexus 5 at the beginning of 2014 and have loved it, so much so that I was shooting to use it until it died. Unfortunately, that solder balls on the Wi-Fi chip were not holding up as of a month ago and I lost my Wi-Fi functionality. I tried reflowing the motherboard multiple times and had no luck as the fix would only last a day then the phone would be dead again.

I found a Nexus 5 in very very bad shape for $30 on craigslist and I pulled the motherboard out of it and put it into my Sprint Nexus 5 and it worked fine! I even met the guy at a Sprint store to verify if it would work, they said it would be fine once I fixed the screen on it and was able to reset it. A few days later I swapped the motherboards and went to activate it on Sprint.com and it said they couldn't find it in their record. It was connecting to Sprint's network, although it was running into this error:

After a little research, I found out that I should go to a corporate Sprint store so they could add it to their DNA 2 database. I drove 30 minutes into the city to the nearest corporate store and after a technician looked at it, he told me the ones bought through Google Play and Sprint have the MEIDs added to the system and this one would just have to get added and then it would work fine. Then the sales associate called someone, read off the MEID to them, then gave me a ticket number and said to try it again in 2-3 days.

I did just that but it did not work and the ticket didn't register in Sprint's system. I talked to another support person and they said they did not take AT&T models and only T-Mobile ones as it is not not on their list of supported devices. I assumed it was an AT&T device as I got it with an AT&T SIM card but when I called them and provided the IMEI, they said they had no record of it ever being on their network. I also called T-Mobile and they said they do not sell locked Nexus 5 models and the IMEI looked clean (swappa also said it was not blacklisted). After this, I visited another Sprint store and they said that it had the Sprint SIM card in it and was connecting to the network so it should eventually work. yeah..

I tried calling some representatives now, one said that they only took AT&T models and not T-Mobile models. Another one said that it was locked and that is why it didn't work. Eventually one said they honestly had no idea why it was not working and suggested I call up the local corporate store again to see what was going on. I did, they gave me a number to call which was the same one the sales associate called and I filed another ticket to add my device to the DNA 2 database. I waited 2-3 days and the ticket said that it was a T-Mobile device and that is why they couldn't activate it, that is it. A support person helped me file another one and less than a day later it got the same response, I assume they did not even process that second ticket.

Honestly, I am unsure the exact reason why they will not activate the phone but after talking to many people from Sprint about it, I have given up on trying to figure out why they refuse to recognize the device on their network. It really bugs me how inconsistent they have been with me so I am shooting to find a way around it. In the meantime, I bought a new Wi-Fi chip that I plan to put onto the old Sprint Nexus 5 motherboard. Although, today I came up with the idea of swapping the IMEIs.

I am unsure about the legality of doing it, although I own the device that I will be stealing the IMEI from so I am confident that it is for a reason that any IMEI-switching laws are not there for.

Would someone have the expertise to guide me through this process or suggest a different route? I am resourceful enough to take a to do list of swapping an IMEI and go from that.

Also, if I were to do this would it create complications when traveling around the world and popping local SIM cards into my phone?

Thanks for your time to read this and bring on the advice!

(If it were not obvious, I am open to any advice other than to give up. Trust me, I am close to that point.. I am aware I can just buy a replacement phone as well, I am just worried about how I can make this current phone work.)