Thursday, October 30, 2014

How to use Sprint LG Tribute with Page Plus (voice and SMS)

I bought a Sprint LG tribute this week at Bestbuy.  For $39.99, it comes with a solid specification:
  • 1.2 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 (MSM8926) quad-core
  • Android version 4.4.2
  • 4.5" diagonal LCD with 480 x 800 pixels
  • 4G LTE capability
Update: Page Plus phone activation policy is changing and will no longer allow activation of flashed devices after January 15th, 2015. However, this phone is great to use on Sprint's MVNO Ting for its inexpensive mobile family plan with 4G LTE data. No flashing is necessary at all for activating it on Ting and you may also enjoy the 4G LTE data speed instantly with this phone that is not available from Page Plus. As of now, Sprint's MVNO Ting is running a promotion with a $100 credit to new sign ups with a referral until 11:59pm EST on December 1, 2014. The credit is adequate for a few month's free trial with Ting ($12-21/month depending on usage). Click on this link to receive the promotion for $100 credit, which will show up upon successful activation.

I've had a few phones with Verizon or Page plus and like their signal coverage. Therefore I did the following to use it with Page plus:

  1. Obtain its MSL/SPC code: The MSL/SPC code of this phone may be obtained upon activation on Ting. Alternatively you can activate the phone on Ringplus with its $1.99 Kate plan after entering both its MEID and ICCID (activation would fail without ICCID) and obtained it's MSL/SPC code
  2. Enable DIAG mode (Serial/COM port): Dial ##3424# in the phone dialer then enter the MSL/SPC code obtained in the above step. Change the USB PC connection in Settings->Storage (after tapping on the menu icon ) from MTP to Charge Phone (important). If USB PC connection is MTP, the windows MTP driver instead of the serial port driver will be installed when the phone is connected to USB.
  3. Download and install the latest LG USB phone driver (LGUnitedMobileDriver_S51MAN312AP22_ML_WHQL_Ver_3.12.3.exe worked for me)
  4. Connect the phone to the PC via USB. In windows Device Manager, there is a new deivce installed as LGE AndroidNet USB Serial Port.
  5. Download and install the free software cdmaDevTerm 2.85. Extract the zip file with WinZip or 7-Zip to a folder on the hard drive and run the file cdmaDevTerm.exe.
  6. Connect to the phone by clicking on the button connect as red-boxed below. It should read out MDN/MIN and other information about the phone when connected.
  7. Change the SPC to my own (e.g. 000000).  First send the SPC code (manually enter in the box) to the phone by clicking the button send as red-boxed below. The phone should be unlocked now.
     
    Now enter my own SPC code (e.g. 000000) into the box after SPC and click on the button write as red-boxed below. The new SPC code can be read back by clicking on the button read to the left of button write
  8. Manually program the phone: (Update: It is not necessary to cancel plan at Ting or Ringplus prior to the activation of the phone at Page plus.) Activate the phone at Page plus (ESN swap for me as I had a Page Plus phone number on a old device). Obtain the MDN and MIN of the Page plus account and enter them into the two boxes (leaving the other fields unchanged). Then click the button write under the button disconnect as red-boxed below.
  9. Write a Verizon PRL to the phone: Download the PRL from internet and save to the hard drive (e.g. http://www.howardforums.com/showthread.php/1815401-Pageplus-latest-prl-hacked-for-sprint-radio-phones)
    1. Click on the select button to select the .prl file downloaded (53401_spt.prl for sprint phones worked for me)
    2. Click on the write button to write prl to the phone
  10. Reset the phone: Set the MODE of the phone to MODE_RADIO_RESET and click on the send button to reset the phone
  11. Make an outgoing call to test. Worked and also tested with receiving a SMS. The phone is working with Page plus now for voice and SMS. If for some reason, the outgoing call does not go through, repeat the step 8-11.
  12. 3G Data programming: A Verizon 3G capable phone (donor phone) that can be programmed to write new MEID/ESN and read out HA/AAA key may be necessary. The following  guides have detailed instructions on how to get PagePlus 3G data working on non-Verizon phones

Saturday, September 13, 2014

Convert a Korean speaking BlackVue DR550GW-2CH to speak English

Today I installed a BlackVue DR550GW-2CH camera on my car. However, I didn't know that its voice prompt was in Korean until I powered it on. Then I realized the DR550GW-2CH I installed came with a Korean firmware but I don't understand Korean at all. I tried upgrading its firmware to the official international firmware V2.002E but failed as the device keeps complaining "The verision information is different" (in English though) after powering on and refuses to work with this firmware on its MicroSD card.

The list below is a step-by-step guide of what I did to change its language to English (after upgrading its Korean firmware to V2.002K):
  1. Power off the DR550GW-2CH by unplugging its power cord. Wait until all the LEDs are off (and after some Korean voice prompt probably says it's powering off) and take out the microSD card. If its Korean firmware is already on V2.002K, Steps 2-4 can be skipped and jump to Step 5 directly. There is possibility that Steps 2-4 might not be necessary at all, but I did them prior to the conversion.
  2. Make a backup of all the files in the microSD card and then format the card to clean it up. I did the format with Windows explorer as shown in the screenshot below with drive letter K.
  3. Download the Korean firmware V2.002K for DR550GW-2CH from Blackvue's Korean website: Windows ZIP download link and extract the folder Blackvue and all the files within it to the root folder of microSD card (K drive in my case, and there will be a folder of K:\Blackvue after extraction). Inerst the micrSD card back to the device.
  4. Power on the device and it will say "Start upgrading" in Korean to upgrade the firmware to V2.002K. After upgrading, check to make sure the device works properly. Power off the device and take out the microSD card. 
  5. Prepare the conversion files on the microSD card as listed below
    • Download the file upload.rar from this link and extract the folder "upload" to the root folder of the microSD card (NOT under blackvue). In my case, there will be a folder of K:\upload after extraction.
    • Download the file upgrade.cgi from this link and extract the file "upgrade.cgi" to Blackvue\config. In my case, the file is in K:\Blackvue\config after extraction.
    • Inerst the micrSD card back to the device.
  6. Power on the device and push the Wi-Fi button to turn on Wi-Fi. Get on my PC with Wi-Fi connection and connect to the wireless network SSID starting with DR550GW-, the default password is blackvue
  7. Open a web browser on the same PC and copy&paste the following link then enter
    http://192.168.8.1/Config/upgrade.cgi to initial the conversion to English. Upon successful conversion, the following will be shown on the browser

    A critical function of the file upgrade.cgi is setting system_language to English in the firmware to enable upgrade to future versions of English firmware.
  8. Power cycle the device and enjoy its English voice guidance now. If English is all needed, skip Steps 9-11 and jump to Step 12.
  9. If any other language than English is needed, repeat Step 2 to clean it up. Download the English firmware V2.002E for DR550GW-2CH from Blackvue's English website: Windows ZIP download link and extract the folder Blackvue and all the files within it to the root folder of microSD card (K drive in my case, and there will be a folder of K:\Blackvue after extraction). 
  10. Run the program BlackVue\Application\Viewer for Windows\blackvue.exe in the microSD card and click on the setting icon on the right top corner. Select the desirable language and other settings (such as time zone) then save them to the microSD card.
  11. Inerst the micrSD card back to the device and power it on. It will prompt "upgrading firmware" then "restarting" after upgrade. After restarting, it will speak your language.
  12. Take a quick drive, its GPS should pick up the satellites and sync the time. 
  13. Congratulations and it's done.