UNLOCKING CDMA I910 GPS - please help us!

[Guest Apo11on]

Not only the 10.00 fee, I was on the phone with them and you HAVE to pay the 29.99 a month too for Data Package weather or not you use it. I can't get the DATA signal in my area and they still want to charge me.

Thanks, JASTECH ô¿ô

JASTECH whoever told you $30/month for data is mandatory was either stoned or doesn't work for Verizon. I give you 100% guarantee its optional feature you may or may not select. If you chose not to get data connection plan you may still use it - in that case you will be charged at the $1 per 100kb rate - that extortion...err plan is called "pay as you go". Meaning watching a single 10mb youtube video will cost you $100 bucks. Goto Verizon's main page, click Wireless tab and find phone plans there - you'll see plans like Basic, Select do not include data. I just switched to Verizon few days ago and I assure you sales rep offered me a data package as optional feature - it is in no way mandatory, regardless whether or not you use VZN. Personally, since i get a 20% discount from work my line is considered business and im not paying full price for neither calls or that data package.

[Guest hatchback19]

JASTECH whoever told you $30/month for data is mandatory was either stoned or doesn't work for Verizon. I give you 100% guarantee its optional feature you may or may not select. If you chose not to get data connection plan you may still use it - in that case you will be charged at the $1 per 100kb rate - that extortion...err plan is called "pay as you go". Meaning watching a single 10mb youtube video will cost you $100 bucks. Goto Verizon's main page, click Wireless tab and find phone plans there - you'll see plans like Basic, Select do not include data. I just switched to Verizon few days ago and I assure you sales rep offered me a data package as optional feature - it is in no way mandatory, regardless whether or not you use VZN. Personally, since i get a 20% discount from work my line is considered business and im not paying full price for neither calls or that data package.

Actually JASTECH is correct, Verizon no longer offer the pay-as-you go plan. They are now flate rate plans. Here is the press release:

http://news.vzw.com/news/2008/04/pr2008-04-14b.html

If you search around, you can find more information about how they are eliminating the other plans as people upgrade. If you currently have one you can continue, but if you upgrade your device you must switch.

[Guest angel12]

Not sure if anyone has posted this yet, but it sounds like the omnia's gps is locked down just like the stock roms for the xv6800 and xv6900 were that enabled GPS. If that is the case, the fix will have to be in a rom afaik, not just simple registry key edits. And look at my thread in rom upgrades, i need someone with an omnia to dump the rom for me to start getting a custom rom setup going

[Guest aleis]

Not sure if anyone has posted this yet, but it sounds like the omnia's gps is locked down just like the stock roms for the xv6800 and xv6900 were that enabled GPS. If that is the case, the fix will have to be in a rom afaik, not just simple registry key edits. And look at my thread in rom upgrades, i need someone with an omnia to dump the rom for me to start getting a custom rom setup going

now THAT is what we need! B)

i am at your mercy...

how do i dump the rom....?

[Guest Anubis119]

Maybe it's based on your location, but here in Idaho I was able to purchase an XV6900 a few months ago and the Omnia about a week ago both without data plans (I believe the rep had to enter in some sort of override though). I don't know about the pay-as-you-go plans, but they did offer to disable the data on it if I wanted (however that blocks MMS as well). Although, I did add on the data plan within a few days of getting each. Again this may just be a local thing here.

Thanks for posting those links for me Apo11on. I'll post back here with results as soon as I poke around in it a bit.

An idea I had brewing: Just as the XV6800/6900, I'd assume VZNavigator would use the same DLLs (or very similar anyway) to access the GPS, but likely the encryption or calls themselves have changed. Has anyone yet cracked open the files? As you guys have already found, I wouldn't expect the lock/unlock to be found in the registry as that wouldn't be nearly as much fun to unlock ;]

Since VZNavigator is able to access the GPS/aGPS hardware using the stock ROM, I would really think that swapping out the ROM isn't necessary. The only potential problem and advantage of switching the ROM that I can think of is if the stock ROM requires connecting to the cellular network to obtain some sort of key or value to supply to the GPS hardware. If this is the case, they would probably know if you're using the GPS (VZNav or not) and you'd probably have to pay for the VZNavigator (or "GPS-unlocking") service. This doesn't seem the case as others have stated prior that (at least with past phones) they were able to get GPS signal while out of range of cellular service.

I'm going to take a crack at those DLLs and VZNavigator files here in a bit and will post back anything interesting.

[Guest hatchback19]

Not sure if anyone has posted this yet, but it sounds like the omnia's gps is locked down just like the stock roms for the xv6800 and xv6900 were that enabled GPS. If that is the case, the fix will have to be in a rom afaik, not just simple registry key edits. And look at my thread in rom upgrades, i need someone with an omnia to dump the rom for me to start getting a custom rom setup going

Theres plenty of us willing to dump the rom if you can provide us with some directions, as I am unsure about this also. Let us know! Thanks!

[Guest M Moogle]

I'm uploading a ROM now as I type this - it should be done in about an hour. One question however: does the ROM dump contain any ESN or serial numbers? I'm a bit wary of sharing the file if that's the case.

[Guest angel12]

I'm uploading a ROM now as I type this - it should be done in about an hour. One question however: does the ROM dump contain any ESN or serial numbers? I'm a bit wary of sharing the file if that's the case.

it will not contain any esn or serial afaik, but i will search through the dump and remove all of that stuff if it is there. The info that will be there is basically an image of the windows install. I will remove anything that is not needed or might be personal before continuing on with the rom though.

shoot me an email with the link when it is done uploading, spencermcguire (at) g mail dot com

[Guest M Moogle]

it will not contain any esn or serial afaik, but i will search through the dump and remove all of that stuff if it is there. The info that will be there is basically an image of the windows install. I will remove anything that is not needed or might be personal before continuing on with the rom though.

shoot me an email with the link when it is done uploading, spencermcguire (at) g mail dot com

You've got mail.

[Guest angel12]

You've got mail.

as do you

[Guest JASTECH]

I just talked to AT&T and she told me I do not need a Data Package..hmmmm..Well onto the ROM and lets get these Omnia unlocked. What will be funny I think is when we get the GPS unlocked and thousands find out how and they do it then Verizon will say "We are going to give our customers free GPS, thats how good we are"..ROTFLMBO

Thanks, JASTECH ô¿ô

[Guest rapcon]

I just talked to AT&T and she told me I do not need a Data Package..hmmmm..Well onto the ROM and lets get these Omnia unlocked. What will be funny I think is when we get the GPS unlocked and thousands find out how and they do it then Verizon will say "We are going to give our customers free GPS, thats how good we are"..ROTFLMBO

Thanks, JASTECH ô¿ô

It's real quiet here, I hope this is good!

[Guest rgorzkajr]

Where do we stand with the gps issue? I havent seen any progress from any other forums except this one. Has anyone run this problem past www.samsung-omnia.org? it looks like a very in depth forum for the i900. I know these phones are not the same but they may have some insite. good luck to all, and happy holidays.

[Guest aleis]

Where do we stand with the gps issue? I havent seen any progress from any other forums except this one. Has anyone run this problem past www.samsung-omnia.org? it looks like a very in depth forum for the i900. I know these phones are not the same but they may have some insite. good luck to all, and happy holidays.

based on what i read, we are under the impression that a rom will bypass the verizons program blocking the gps. though i believe it is the radio that is the issue. but...i believe that even though i have no way or know how to prove it. i just remember reading that the gps is enabled and disabled in the radio. to be determined.

[Guest pazminoj]

My registry is completely different than anyone for GPS settings.

based on what i read, we are under the impression that a rom will bypass the verizons program blocking the gps. though i believe it is the radio that is the issue. but...i believe that even though i have no way or know how to prove it. i just remember reading that the gps is enabled and disabled in the radio. to be determined.

[Guest mangeman08]

Okay so here's what I've discovered so far.

I signed up for vznav for a month so I could try to see what it does to enable the gps...... and well guess what? VZNav doesn't work! I've got an open ticket with Verizon and they can't figure out why it's not turning on the gps chipset. Oops sounds like they rushed another device out the door before fully testing it.

But anyways there is one thing that I've noticed VZNav does to the registry that might help us out.

under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWARESAMSUNGRILGPS there is a key that says running = 0. When you activate VZNav that key changes to 1. (my guess would be that it's trying to turn on the gps chip)

I've attempted to change that key to =1 and then run google maps or live search. When I do that I get a different error message on those apps. Instead of being stuck on initializing GPS....it says connecting to gps, then it changes to searching for satelites. Then it's never able to find a sat to connect to but hey sounds like it talking at least.

So in conclusion it sounds like even Verizon screwed up and possibly turned off the chipset for good. They're suppose to call me back today or tomorrow with a fix so I'll post when they've at least got VZnav to work. So since we already know what VZnav does to the reg maybe that's all it needs once they enable gps.

[Guest cosmo99]

Okay so here's what I've discovered so far.

I signed up for vznav for a month so I could try to see what it does to enable the gps...... and well guess what? VZNav doesn't work! I've got an open ticket with Verizon and they can't figure out why it's not turning on the gps chipset. Oops sounds like they rushed another device out the door before fully testing it.

But anyways there is one thing that I've noticed VZNav does to the registry that might help us out.

under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWARESAMSUNGRILGPS there is a key that says running = 0. When you activate VZNav that key changes to 1. (my guess would be that it's trying to turn on the gps chip)

I've attempted to change that key to =1 and then run google maps or live search. When I do that I get a different error message on those apps. Instead of being stuck on initializing GPS....it says connecting to gps, then it changes to searching for satelites. Then it's never able to find a sat to connect to but hey sounds like it talking at least.

So in conclusion it sounds like even Verizon screwed up and possibly turned off the chipset for good. They're suppose to call me back today or tomorrow with a fix so I'll post when they've at least got VZnav to work. So since we already know what VZnav does to the reg maybe that's all it needs once they enable gps.

Unfortunately it must be something on your handset in particular. I used a one day free trial of VZnav (before we were looking at what that did to GPS) and it worked fine on my i910. With GPSID and GPStoggle I'm able to get Win Live to say "Getting position" but it just never locks - as several have noted before. As others have posted, the apps can talk to the GPS, they just aren't getting any useful data back. Sorry, no real useful or new info in this post, but VZNav does indeed work correctly on my phone.

[Guest mangeman08]

Unfortunately it must be something on your handset in particular. I used a one day free trial of VZnav (before we were looking at what that did to GPS) and it worked fine on my i910. With GPSID and GPStoggle I'm able to get Win Live to say "Getting position" but it just never locks - as several have noted before. As others have posted, the apps can talk to the GPS, they just aren't getting any useful data back. Sorry, no real useful or new info in this post, but VZNav does indeed work correctly on my phone.

dangit. oh well. The Verizon tech said there were about 20 open tickets all with my issue, so I was hoping for a widespread issue.

Maybe they'll give me a diag code to enable it permanently....one could only wish

[Guest johntchow]

dangit. oh well. The Verizon tech said there were about 20 open tickets all with my issue, so I was hoping for a widespread issue.

Maybe they'll give me a diag code to enable it permanently....one could only wish

i would do a hard reset and then try to install vznav. i orinally was trying to hack the gps thru registry and didnt do anything advanced but then when i tried to install vznaw a couple days later it wouldnt get past the inisital privacy agreement screen.

so i hard reset and installed it first and then it worked fine.

so i am not sure if one of my reg changes caused a problem or maybe 3rd party software.

the only reg changes i made to the gps was the one to emable the external gps icon by deleting the REDIRECT key and i also isntalled the GPS toggle.

[Guest ronaldb3]

Okay so here's what I've discovered so far.

I signed up for vznav for a month so I could try to see what it does to enable the gps...... and well guess what? VZNav doesn't work! I've got an open ticket with Verizon and they can't figure out why it's not turning on the gps chipset. Oops sounds like they rushed another device out the door before fully testing it.

But anyways there is one thing that I've noticed VZNav does to the registry that might help us out.

under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWARESAMSUNGRILGPS there is a key that says running = 0. When you activate VZNav that key changes to 1. (my guess would be that it's trying to turn on the gps chip)

I've attempted to change that key to =1 and then run google maps or live search. When I do that I get a different error message on those apps. Instead of being stuck on initializing GPS....it says connecting to gps, then it changes to searching for satelites. Then it's never able to find a sat to connect to but hey sounds like it talking at least.

So in conclusion it sounds like even Verizon screwed up and possibly turned off the chipset for good. They're suppose to call me back today or tomorrow with a fix so I'll post when they've at least got VZnav to work. So since we already know what VZnav does to the reg maybe that's all it needs once they enable gps.

One quick point from a i900 att&t user. There are several posts out here that basically say that you must have a helper program between some gps map sw (ie Tomtom) and the gps chip. I use gpsgate. With a helper Tomtom works. Without, just does not get a strong enough signal to work.

Search for the Tomtom problem.

Ron...

[Guest mangeman08]

i would do a hard reset and then try to install vznav. i orinally was trying to hack the gps thru registry and didnt do anything advanced but then when i tried to install vznaw a couple days later it wouldnt get past the inisital privacy agreement screen.

so i hard reset and installed it first and then it worked fine.

so i am not sure if one of my reg changes caused a problem or maybe 3rd party software.

the only reg changes i made to the gps was the one to emable the external gps icon by deleting the REDIRECT key and i also isntalled the GPS toggle.

yeah... thanks... I've done a hard reset already. didn't fix it.

Just my luck...Probably just got a bad device or something.

[Guest Cixelyn]

Alright guys, there seem to be several fundamental misconceptions in this thread. From what I've read and gathered, this issue is not a simple registry hack, and monitoring the registry is not going to work at all. We may as well let that rest. The issue is much more complex and lies in a ) enabling the GPS driver, and b ) communicating properly with the GPS driver.

I'll give a brief overview of the problem here: from previous posters in the thread, running VZNav allows other applications to at least see the GPS device -- this is highly reminiscent of the problems on the x6800. The first problem is that the GPS starts off locked. It can be unlocked by sending a specific challenge-response sequence to the driver to initialize it. This must also be constantly sent back and forth every so often to ensure that the GPS remains unlocked. The next problem is that once the GPS is unlocked, it would be too easy for any other application to access the data (eg: you could just run vznav in the background and then pull up tomtom or something to that effect). So verizon has also encrypted the GPS output. This output needs to be decrypted in order to be used properly.

For us to use the GPS, what needs to happen is that a proxy dll needs to be written in order to intercept the various calls made by programs wanting to access the GPS. It would then translate those calls into ones that work with verizon's secret protocol. Then, the proxy needs also be able to receive location data from the gps and translate it back into something the applications can use.

If i recall correctly, in a previous post Skywing has even come out himself and told us that the methodology is the same, but some of the timings are different in the gps communications. I would imagine that if he is either not willing to help us or won't release his source code, then short of building a custom frankenstein zombie rom, some entrepreneurial individual will have to go in with a debugger, redo all the hard work themselves, and then build a proxy app for everyone to use. (Hey, look at it as a chance to practice your reverse engineering skills / build a little fame. B) )

I'd love to help out, but I don't have an Omnia.

For the more tech-oriented, I've attached the original x6800 exploit paper. For anyone with a computer science background, the steps necessary are laid out pretty clear. Hopefully someone can get something out of this.

Cheers,

Cix

uninformed_v10a4.pdf

Edited December 8, 2008 by Cixelyn

[Guest somedude]

Alright guys, there seem to be several fundamental misconceptions in this thread. From what I've read and gathered, this issue is not a simple registry hack, and monitoring the registry is not going to work at all. We may as well let that rest. The issue is much more complex and lies in a ) enabling the GPS driver, and b ) communicating properly with the GPS driver.

I'll give a brief overview of the problem here: from previous posters in the thread, running VZNav allows other applications to at least see the GPS device -- this is highly reminiscent of the problems on the x6800. The first problem is that the GPS starts off locked. It can be unlocked by sending a specific challenge-response sequence to the driver to initialize it. This must also be constantly sent back and forth every so often to ensure that the GPS remains unlocked. The next problem is that once the GPS is unlocked, it would be too easy for any other application to access the data (eg: you could just run vznav in the background and then pull up tomtom or something to that effect). So verizon has also encrypted the GPS output. This output needs to be decrypted in order to be used properly.

For us to use the GPS, what needs to happen is that a proxy dll needs to be written in order to intercept the various calls made by programs wanting to access the GPS. It would then translate those calls into ones that work with verizon's secret protocol. Then, the proxy needs also be able to receive location data from the gps and translate it back into something the applications can use.

If i recall correctly, in a previous post Skywing has even come out himself and told us that the methodology is the same, but some of the timings are different in the gps communications. I would imagine that if he is either not willing to help us or won't release his source code, then short of building a custom frankenstein zombie rom, some entrepreneurial individual will have to go in with a debugger, redo all the hard work themselves, and then build a proxy app for everyone to use. (Hey, look at it as a chance to practice your reverse engineering skills / build a little fame. B) )

I've love to help out, but I don't have an Omnia.

For the more tech-oriented, I've attached the original exploit x6800 exploit paper. For anyone with a computer science background, the steps necessary are laid out pretty clear. Hopefully someone can get something out of this.

Its a shame that the guy who cracked the gps(Skywing?) doesnt want to help us. I think hes the only one who can do it.

-Sigh-, i guess ill be buying a external bluetooth gps receiver.

Edited December 8, 2008 by somedude

[Guest krelvinaz]

Perhaps a bounty would perk the interest of someone who has the ability to develop/fix/crack the issue?

I'd be willing to put in $50, may be even more.

I've paid close that for other 3rd party apps that provided functions not included with the phone.

[Guest JASTECH]

Confermation on these settings working please.

1st - Settings:

I use in external GPS settings - program port "COM7" and hardware port "COM9" at 4800. (note: Make sure your TomTom configure also follows COM7 port!)

2nd - Reboot

Then I shut off the device completely (complete off), and reboot. Once I reboot.

3Rd - Delete the 'GPSID_log' files

I go to File Explorer --> My Device and I delete the TWO 'GPSID_log' fileS.

[note: the reboot step is absolutely necessary, because if you don't reboot, then it won't allow you to delete one of the 'GPSID_log' file!!!]

4th - Start TomTom OUTSIDE (under the clear sky) and within 20 - 30 secs the program catches the satellites (they show up on the configure screen). But not only that - after 1-2 minutes the software actually CONNECTS to the satellites (the satellites turn BLUE) and in the front screen it says - no route planned! Note: You Must Wait Until The Front Screen Says "No Rote Planned" and the map is in color (opposed to black and white) before you start setting your destination, otherwise it will keep on hanging and just showing you the satellites in grey without ever turning into blue.

Thanks, JASTECH ô¿ô