Flashing a Different PRL

[Tomas]

By the thread title you might think I know what I'm talking about. I don't.

 

In fact, that is why I'm posting: I've diligently attempted to figure out what I need, where to get it, and how to do it, but to no avail.

 

Let's start with what I do know: I know what a PRL is, I can examine the usual "translation" of a PRL and understand the differences between different versions. I know most of what a CDMA device uses the PRL for, and have a very good idea even where it is stored on my device.

 

What I don't understand is how, once I make my decision to change to a particular PRL, to slip it into my device in place of the stock PRL.

 

In my searches I see comments by very knowledgeable people that new PRLs are out, and free to be examined. I see recommendations by many different people for many different PRLs - some of which I can understand and agree with, others, well, let's just say I personally believe their logic is flawed...

 

Often accompanying this information is some competent, knowledgeable person saying that they aren't going to bother telling folks how to change a PRL because there are many, many different resources that already do that - and there lies the problem.

 

I've looked at a lot of those tutorials and threads all over the 'web and to my mind the vast majority assume other knowledge with instructions resembling "once one has the barglefranimus program loaded and the proper drivers found and installed one connects the phone and loads the new PRL one has gotten from somewhere onto the device using the bisfergus option of the barglefranimus program and the hifflewompus whoowhoo from HTC" to the uninitiated, or one reads eventual comments in a thread that complain that while the instructions work on all other possible iterations of any Motorola device, the QPRSTVW application can't find my model of phone even if it trips over it.

 

Let's face it, I'm a smartphone end user, not a smartphone hobbyist or some person who has spent years bricking various devices until I know all the ins and outs, all the pitfalls, all the little tricks, and all the hidden caches of files tucked in secret places all over the 'net and in the devices. I also can't afford, on several levels, to get the transition wrong.

 

While "flashing a new PRL" may be obvious to someone with loads of experience in hacking phones, and may work simply and easily with a wide variety of devices, even being able to guess at which of the 37 different methods is correct for my device and what assorted extraneous bits and pieces one might actually need to accomplish this is insanely difficult to the neophyte.

 

(Making it even more difficult are a number of other assumptions often made by the intrepid phone hackers, chief among them that the entire world, without exception, runs some variant of the Windows OS, and is intimately familiar with that OS. I'm sorry, I've only worked with computers since April 1970, mostly with Unix machines and eventually with Unix based OS X machines, but at no time have I used, worked with, or owned a Windows machine.)

 

OK, that's my rant for the day. Some of us are total n00bs to some parts of this while being old hands at others (I was engineering cellular carrier interfaces with the land line carriers' networks as far back as 1984, but that is far removed from fiddling with a smartphone).

 

Being a n00b means that much of what is said between the experienced folks, based as it is on common, shared knowledge, is simply unintelligible.

[dedub]

On my evo (original and 3d) all you needed was a working epst.apk file and stock htc based android 2.x. I don't think root was needed, but since I was already I can't confirm. edit: Oh I think you also needed the MSL code for the device.

 

I think on android 3.x and 4.x, the epst no longer worked, and I don't think it ever worked on aosp roms.

 

Using the espt you entered the applicable dialer code (I think was ##prl#) you simply loaded a .prl file from the sdcard.

 

The is/was also supposed to be some way to download/update prl via cdma workshop, however I don't recall ever trying that and getting it to work.

 

Great post, I think it can easily be applied to many other aspects of modding/rooting/etc.

 

That said, there is something to be said that if you can't figure it out or don't have time to figure it out, perhaps you shouldn't be messing with it.

 

I remember trying to figure out how to unlock/root/flash my first windows mobiles phones. It was a mess of sometimes seemingly contradictory and inconsistent info spread out in several different places.

Edited November 14, 2012 by dedub

[WiWavelength]

Samsung Android 4.0 handsets can do a PRL swap by way of a simple home screen shortcut. The same may be true of Motorola handsets, though I do not know.

 

AJ

[TheForce627]

Samsung Android 4.0 handsets can do a PRL swap by way of a simple home screen shortcut. The same may be true of Motorola handsets, though I do not know.

 

AJ

yeah I'm not sure about Motorola. One thingy can do is download anycut from the play store and search for prl write and use that as a shortcut and it will flash any prl on the root of your card in the format TEST.prl

[Tomas]

I didn't mention the device I'm on, but it's a Motorola XT897 "Photon Q 4G LTE" which appears to be a real bugger to get into since it's one of their International Business phones.

 

<< (It's in my postbit, right there.)

 

I'm still poking about, looking at things people mention, but so far, no joy.

 

Eventually I'll stumble upon something that actually works.

[S4GRU]

I wasn't able to find any way to do a PRL write on the device with my Motorola Photon Q. Only on my Samsung devices. Which is...awesome. Best feature of the new Samsung devices,

 

Robert

[Tomas]

I wasn't able to find any way to do a PRL write on the device with my Motorola Photon Q. Only on my Samsung devices. Which is...awesome. Best feature of the new Samsung devices,

 

Robert

 

Heck, if even Robert can't do it I might as well give up.

[digiblur]

Most of the time I have found step by step tutorials on the Web, usually at XDA.

What PRL are you interested in?

 

Not trying to be negative on anybody but if somebody can't figure out how to Google and find the guide for their phone then in my opinion they have no business writing a prl. You could mess up something with dfs or qpst if you are not careful.

 

Sent from my EVO sometimes-LTE

 

 

[Tomas]

Most of the time I have found step by step tutorials on the Web, usually at XDA.

What PRL are you interested in?

 

What I was considering was something in the 56XXX range (56006 is the newest I've actually seen), as I'm currently running 55009 as my "stock" PRL.

Not trying to be negative on anybody but if somebody can't figure out how to Google and find the guide for their phone then in my opinion they have no business writing a prl. You could mess up something with dfs or qpst if you are not careful.

 

For the most part I agree with you, as QPST especially appears to be quite powerful (the only way I was even able to peek at it was to fire it up under "Crossover" on my MacBook - and I'm not at all sure I would trust it running that way).

 

DFS I didn't even bother with as is specifically does not include my device under supported devices.

 

I'm generally a cautious player when it comes to poking into things I'm not familiar with - probably because of the "basic training" I got being a Unix SysAd so many years ago.

 

In fact that is likely why I'm unhappy with the fragmentary information out there, often by folks just as perplexed as I.

 

So, until I can feel comfortable digging into my smartphone's brain, I won't be going father than trying to learn.

 

(Oh, yeah, of course I have my MSL. I've had the MSL for all my devices since I was running a Samsung N200 over a decade ago.)

[S4GRU]

 

Heck, if even Robert can't do it I might as well give up.

I was only speaking about doing it from the device and not connected to the computer.

 

Robert via Samsung Note II via Tapatalk

 

 

[PythonFanPA]

Tomas, I can help you learn how to change to a different PRL on the Q (though side note nod to Robert given his last post---with the assistance of a PC, not purely via the device itself, that I don't know even if it can be done on this device, much less how). The info, as digiblur said, can be found on the XDA forum for the Q, but I'd be happy to write it up as simply as possible and PM it to you if you'd like as well. And also, the newest of the 56XXX line is now 56009.

 

Addendum: on further review, if you only have a Macbook and no access to a PC, then I probably can't help you there unfortunately, unless you have Windows emulation or availability via something like Bootcamp or the like.

[digiblur]

Here's your guide...

 

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1211157

[Tomas]

PythonFanTN, I've seen several half decent sets of instructions on XDA, including one that appeared to have worked on the PQ, and indeed I did D/L the latest version of QPST to play with. I did get QPST to run on my MacBook, but being it is a Mac, not a "PC" (Windows machine), I've been a bit leery of letting it try anything while connected to my PQ... (And no, I don't dual boot any of my machines - I use "Crossover" as an interface to run Windows programs on the Mac if absolutely necessary, and it doesn't always work perfectly.)

 

Perhaps I should try it on my Motorola XPRT first as loosing it would not be the blow that the PQ would be.

 

It had been a while since I last looked, it wold not surprise me at all that 56009 is up now.

[PythonFanPA]

Here's your guide...

 

http://forum.xda-dev...d.php?t=1211157

 

That's for the OG Photon, not the Q. And the Q is different anyway, it requires a later version of QPST in order to work properly (and even then there's at least one issue where the results don't 'appear' flawless even though it still works).

[PythonFanPA]

PythonFanTN, I've seen several half decent sets of instructions on XDA, including one that appeared to have worked on the PQ, and indeed I did D/L the latest version of QPST to play with. I did get QPST to run on my MacBook, but being it is a Mac, not a "PC" (Windows machine), I've been a bit leery of letting it try anything while connected to my PQ... (And no, I don't dual boot any of my machines - I use "Crossover" as an interface to run Windows programs on the Mac if absolutely necessary, and it doesn't always work perfectly.)

 

Perhaps I should try it on my Motorola XPRT first as loosing it would not be the blow that the PQ would be.

 

It had been a while since I last looked, it wold not surprise me at all that 56009 is up now.

 

Just to be sure, you should be using v2.7 build 378, the latest version of the drivers you need installed is the file "MotorolaDeviceManager_2.3.4", and one other thing you *might* be missing in order to get the device/port to be recognized properly, after you hook up the phone to your usb cable that's plugged into your Macbook, you have to go into the diagnostic menu and set it to enable (to do so, you input ##3424# in the dialer, then press the menu button in the upper righthand corner, then Edit, then change the dropdown from Disable to Enable).

 

At least on a PC using Windows, once you Enable that, Windows will load up the proper driver that will work with QPST. You shouldn't launch QPST until that step has been completed. Also, you should probably change back to Disable in the Diag menu once you're done.

[Tomas]

Here's your guide...

 

http://forum.xda-dev...d.php?t=1211157

 

Reading that thread now, keeping in mind that "Photon 4G" (MB855) is not "Photon Q" (XT897)...

[PythonFanPA]

And here's the link for PRL 56009:

 

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=33653549&postcount=322

[Tomas]

Just to be sure, you should be using v2.7 build 378, the latest version of the drivers you need installed is the file "MotorolaDeviceManager_2.3.4", and one other thing you *might* be missing in order to get the device/port to be recognized properly, after you hook up the phone to your usb cable that's plugged into your Macbook, you have to go into the diagnostic menu and set it to enable (to do so, you input ##3424 in the dialer, then press the menu button in the upper righthand corner, then Edit, then change the dropdown from Disable to Enable).

 

I have build 378 and MDM2.1.3 (newest available for Mac at Motorola site), and my PQ is already set to turn debug on when connected to Mac via USB.

 

Still reading thread above (a different one from the one I read earlier at XDA dealing with the PQ).

[PythonFanPA]

I don't know if it makes a difference, but even when I was on the Epic, getting QPST to recognize the phone could be kind of qwirky...that's why I'm specifically suggesting leaving it in disable until you have the phone hooked up to the usb cable, and only then toggling it to Enable. With the Epic you kind of had to do the same thing with the UART modem setting as I recall in order to nudge Windows to load the right driver.

[dedub]

If I were a genius and/or had the free time to do it, I would (try to) create an android app that could save/load prl's on any android phone.

[GraPHiC1982]

If I were a genius and/or had the free time to do it, I would (try to) create an android app that could save/load prl's on any android phone.

Sprint galaxy nexus owners are lucky cause we have an app to do just that (granted that you are rooted.) XDA member BigRushDog created the Sprint Diagnostics app that can switch out PRL's on the fly, as well as other various data and debugging options. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1774503&highlight=sprint

[dedub]

@ GraPHiC1982 nice find!

[WiWavelength]

Sprint galaxy nexus owners are lucky...

 

...and thus closes the book on the one way in which Sprint Galaxy Nexus owners are lucky.

 

 

AJ

[protivakid]

Any luck Tomas? Using my Photon Q at work is painful! Hoping you stopped replying because you got it to work. I know the thread is old but the info is still relevant.

[MacinJosh]

Any luck Tomas? Using my Photon Q at work is painful! Hoping you stopped replying because you got it to work. I know the thread is old but the info is still relevant.

He hasn't posted since May 2013. Personally, if you want a different PRL, as long as you aren't using a roaming one all the time, then flash a different one. And you still have a Photon Q? Those phones are obsolete compared to today's higher powered tri-band phones. You can always consider one of them.

 

 

Sent from Josh's iPhone 5S using Tapatalk 2