Samsung A920 mobile phone root
Step 1
Install Drivers. Since the A920 does not have USB drivers you will have to use Samsung A900 drivers.
Make sure your phone is not plugged into the computer then install the drivers. REBOOT. Back in Windows go to "My Computer>Control Panel>System>Hardware>Device Manager>Modems". Your phone should be listed here, if it isn't, try reinstalling the drivers.
Step 2
Getting your MSL code, also known as “Master Unlock Code”, “Programming Code” or “SPC Code”. This is a 6 digit numeric code. There are three ways to get this code listed below. If you already have this code move on to Step 3.
Method 1
This is a very powerful program and can brick your phone or cause you to lose all of your data. If you are not technologically savvy (or uncomfortable with this method) continue to Method 2 and Method 3.
- Download UNICDMA.
Install the program then connect your phone to the computer with your USB cable. Once this is complete open UNICDMA and click "Setup". The next dialog will show a "Port" dropdown menu, a "Baud Rate" dropdown menu and a "Password" box.
You need to find what Port (COM) your phone is connected to, usually COM3, but it can be different (many people have an issue with trying to change the port when it is higher than what is listed). You will know it's the correct port because information about your phone may appear on the left hand side.
Go to the top left just under the menu to the "Mode" dropdown menu and select the option that says "SKY IM-1200/1400/2000".
Next click the button on the top menu that says "DM". This will put your phone in “DM” mode. Don’t worry, it goes back to its normal mode after you close the program properly.
Third and final step is make sure you are on the Window that says "Main". Here you should see your "ESN" listed along with your "SCM". You will also see that in the "SPC" box it says "[unknown]", this is the location of your "SPC" or "Master Unlock Code". This is the 6 digit numeric code which is needed to do any kind of hacking on your phone.
Click the button labelled "Read All" and your SPC code should appear now.
Once you have this code I recommend writing it down in multiple places and even saving it as a memo on your phone so you always have it.
Method 2
If the above way is to complex for you and you do not want to mess with powerful programs just call your service provider and tell them you found a program that lets you take pictures off of your phone (think of a cool name for it) but you need the 6 digit MSL or SPC code (Bell refers to it as “Programming Code”) so you can get your pictures off. Chances are they will say sure here it is. If they say no move on to Method 3.
Method 3
Call up the Customer Service department of your network from a land-line telephone. Tell them your phone is giving you a message "not registered to network" and you cannot place calls. They will suggest that you go outside; they will also get you to reset the phone. Pretend that it keeps coming up with the "not registered to network" message. The customer service rep will then start to walk through the reprogramming steps over the phone. You won't harm your phone by going through the steps, so go ahead and do what they tell you. The MSL (SPC) code you need is 6 digits long and is one of the last steps of the reprogramming process (there will be a combination lock picture above where you enter it), so just be patient and make sure you write it down!
As soon as you hit "end" to get out of the reprogramming process, your phone will reboot and the customer service rep will likely have you make a test call, which will work because your phone was already working in the first place.
If none of the above methods work then you are out of luck. Try calling customer service another day and you might just get a different person who will help you.
Step 3
Next you will need a program known as QPST which is made by Qualcomm.
Step 4
Connect your phone.
Open up QPST Configuration. Here you will see three tabs labelled “Active Phones”, ”Ports” and “Active Clients”. Click on the “Ports” tab. Here you will see ports COM1 and COM2, if your phone is on one of these then great. If not, click the bottom right button labelled “Add A New Port”. You will be presented with a dialog that has two boxes labelled “Port” and “Port Label”. If these values aren’t prefilled then enter what COM your phone is connected to.
Your phone should show up in the “Phone Column” probably named something like “SURF1000-800”, if you see this you are in luck and QPST has recognized your phone.
Step 5
Single click the “Port” that your phone is connected to and then you will see a button on the top menu that says “Start Clients”. Click this and a dropdown menu will appear with a bunch of options. Select “EFS Explorer”, it should be the first in the list.
Step 6
In this new window your phone should be listed along with your phone number and whatever the “banner” may be on your phone (if there is one). At the bottom you should see a box that says “SPC” with 6 zero’s in it. Input the code!
A loading box should appear and then EFS explorer should open.
Step 7
Browse to "Brew>shared>jas>content"
When you are in there take note of the highest numbered .jar and .jad files (if there are jar and jads from 1 to 10 then you would take note of the number 10).
Step 8
Installing a game. You have to download a free game online to do this step (My Suggestion).
You may find that lots of the games you download only have a .jar file and not a .jad file. In this case you need to make a .jad file yourself, the program below it does this for you. Just drag the .jar file over and it will make a .jad file for you.
Rename the .jar and .jad files of your game to one higher than what you noted in Step 7. Example: If your highest was 10.jad and 10.jar then rename the game to 11.jad and 11.jar. When you have the game renamed then you can drag and drop it into the following folder
- Brew->shared->jas->temp->install
It will transfer each file individually. After it finishes there may be an error saying that there is no proper date assigned to the file, just ignore it and click "OK".
Step 9
Close EFS Explorer. After it is closed and your phone has been reset you can unplug your phone from the computer and browse to "Menu>downloads>(games/applications)".
Ringtones
For ring tones and other file types you do essentially the same thing just with different file extensions. Instead of .jar and .jad you would have 91.m4a and 91.gcd.
Here is an example of a gcd for an m4a file
- Content-Type: audio/mp4
- Content-URL: Far_Away_Nickelback.m4a
- Content-ID: 3ginferno/audio/mp4
- Content-Vendor: duggyb
- Content-Name: Far_Away_Nickelback
- Content-Version: 1.0
- Content-Size: 110448
The content size needs to be exact size in bytes NOT size on disk.
Once again, if you are making your own ring tones you are going to need something to make that .gcd file for you, the program below can do this.
A list of all other files along with their extensions in case you may need them at some point.
- qcp audio/vnd.qcelp Compressed audio.
- wbmp image/vnd.wap.wbmp Wireless bitmap -- not a Windows bitmap.
- jpg, jpe, jpeg image/jpeg JPEG compressed image.
- png image/png PNG compressed image.
- pmd application/x-pmd Animation.
- mid, midi audio/midi MIDI sound sequence.
- txt text/plain Text files.
- gif image/gif GIF compressed image.
- mp3 audio/mp3 MP3 File.
- mmf application/vnd.smaf MMF Audio File.
- mp4 video/mp4 MP4 Video.
- m4a audio/mp4 M4A Audio.
- amr audio/3gpp AMR Audio.
- 3gp, 3gpp video/3gpp 3GP Audio/Video/Text.
- wma audio/x-ms-wma WMA Audio.
- wav audio/x-wav WAV Audio.
- cab application/octet-stream CAB files.
- aac audio/x-aac AAC Audio.
- bar x-pcs/theme Sprint PCS Theme
Pictures/Video
You can find your pictures saved to the phone by browsing to "Lightsurf>Mediastore". Just right click on them and select "Copy from phone" to save them, or drag-and-drop them somewhere.
Memory Card
You can access your memory card by selecting the "mmc1" folder. If you want to listen to MP3s on your phone, create a new folder in that folder by right-clicking on it and selecting "New>Directory" Name it "media" and just drag-and-drop all of the MP3s from your computer into the "media" folder.
External Links
- Original post at Howard Forums - Downloads in this link not active as of July 1st, 2007
