You may have purchased a Motorola phone from a cell phone provider only to discover that you have no reception in your office or home. Or, maybe you purchased a cell phone from eBay or Craigslist only to find that the phone is locked onto another carrier and cannot be used with your particular provider. Fortunately, it is possible to manually unlock your Motorola cell phone so it can be used with any cell phone provider.
Instructions
Unlocking Your Phone
1. Download the correct Motorola drivers (see Resources). Run the installation application, and the correct files will be installed on your computer.
2. Open the Motorola software installed on your computer, attach the phone to the machine via USB, check the box labeled "Clean and Reinstall" and click "Start." The software will then erase all information from your phone
3. Install P2KMan software. Once it is installed, Windows will recognize new hardware. When the New Hardware dialogue launches, choose the "Install Software Automatically" option. Once this is completed, another new hardware dialogue will launch; simply repeat this step. This allows the P2Kman software to recognize your phone.
4. Fully charge your Motorola cell phone; the unlocking process can take a lot of battery life and if the phone dies in the middle of the process, it could permanently damage the phone.
5. Turn the phone off, then turn it back on while simultaneously pressing the * and # keys. On your computer, another new hardware dialogue will appear; choose the "install automatically" option. This installs the file you need to "flash" your phone.
6. Ensure that you are running at least version 7 of Motorola's bootloader. To check, restart your phone and press the * and # keys simultaneously and choose "Start." Chances are you will be running a later version of the bootloader. For this process to work, you will need to downgrade to version 7.
Download a program called RSD Lite (see Resources). Once installed, download the version 7 bootloader (see Resources). Open the RSD application, browse for version 7 file and click "Flash."
7. Download specific Motorola unlocking software from Poetic Folly (see References). Restart your phone and press the * and # keys simultaneously to launch the bootloader. At this point, open the Motorola unlocking software on your PC and click "Connect." Once the phone is successfully connected to the software, click "Unlock."
You can now use your Motorola phone with any cell phone carrier.
Tags: cell phone, your phone, your computer, your Motorola, your phone press, another hardware