# QPST shows GSM Radio settings on Tbolt



## brianburen (Jul 14, 2011)

Ok so I was "playing" around with the ##DIAG, wanted to see more so I connected via QPST and read the NV memory and it has alot of GSM settings listed and they all have values. See attached pic

Now my curiosity is up!

I know this is beating a dead horse already, but why would they put all that information in there taking up valuable space if it either doesn't have a GSM radio or they originally planned to put a GSM radio in it.

Someone with more knowlege explain this to me please...

Also if anyone has experience with the NV memory settings and what they mean please lead me to a post or PM me.


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## z71kris (Oct 11, 2011)

I find this interesting, somebody recently released a Rezound GSM ROM, works on any GSM network... heres a link...http://www.droid-life.com/2012/05/17/fully-deodexed-gsm-based-rom-released-for-htc-rezound-goodbye-verizon/


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## Hellboy (May 8, 2012)

maybe the bolt was suppose it be a world phone or maybe it was first slated to be a GSM phone on another network.

Maybe its linked to the 4g sim card. Wonder if the ril is somehow connected to this? I know devs say the ril is tough to crack.

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk 2


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## rester555 (Jul 20, 2011)

If I remember correctly, even if you have the radio values stored to memory and have a chip that can handle GSM radios inside the TBolt. The antenna is missing from the back cover of the phone that is tuned to those particular GSM frequencies. Also the traces that provide the GSM radio are probably not on board either. That's just my opinion why GSM radios won't work.


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## brianburen (Jul 14, 2011)

z71kris said:


> I find this interesting, somebody recently released a Rezound GSM ROM, works on any GSM network... heres a link...http://www.droid-lif...oodbye-verizon/


After reading that I am really curious about "WHY" the RIL is so complicated? Was it engineered that way to hide the GSM radio capabilities?


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## brianburen (Jul 14, 2011)

Hellboy said:


> maybe the bolt was suppose it be a world phone or maybe it was first slated to be a GSM phone on another network.
> 
> Maybe its linked to the 4g sim card. Wonder if the ril is somehow connected to this? I know devs say the ril is tough to crack.
> 
> Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk 2


I thought the same thing that it must be connected to the LTE radio, but if I remember correctly the LTE network runs on a 700mhz band but I didnt see anything to do with 700mhz. Time to dig deeper.....


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## Hellboy (May 8, 2012)

I know I have been told that the sim card is for the lte radio to work. My wife's HTC merge has a sim card also but her phone isn't 4g. Could Verizon be somehow in a way coming up with a type of GSM? I read of how the rezound could be flashed to T-Mobile and operate on it. So it would seem the sim port has more functions than first realized. Its an interesting find and something devs should look in to.

I went under phone settings and under modem for hdr lte it says 9000 . So i thought that was the frequency lte ran on?

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk 2


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## barcodelinux (Jun 19, 2011)

Hellboy said:


> I know I have been told that the sim card is for the lte radio to work. My wife's HTC merge has a sim card also but her phone isn't 4g. Could Verizon be somehow in a way coming up with a type of GSM?


.

The Merge is in fact a "world" phone and has both CDMA and GSM radios, but not LTE. See at about the 3:40 mark here ---> 




SIM (subscriber identification module) is just a way to store data (subscriber info, contacts, network info). Here is a good explanation of how/why there are SIM card in LTE devices. --> http://www.gemalto.com/uicc_role/index.html

I think the take-away here should be that just because a device has a SIM card, that doesn't mean that it has GSM radios.

On a non-related topic, let me know if your wife ever wants to get rid of her Merge. I love that keyboard!!


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## barcodelinux (Jun 19, 2011)

brianburen said:


> After reading that I am really curious about "WHY" the RIL is so complicated? Was it engineered that way to hide the GSM radio capabilities?


The RIL (Radio Interface Layer) provides a bridge between the processor and the hardware radio(s). It is proprietary to Qualcomm. They are the ones that made the radios, not HTC. HTC has to wait on Qualcomm to provide (atleast) the code for the RIL so that HTC can develop libraries that work with the RIL. Basically, until the RIL is released, the ROM doesn't know how to talk to the radios.


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## barcodelinux (Jun 19, 2011)

brianburen said:


> Ok so I was "playing" around with the ##DIAG, wanted to see more so I connected via QPST and read the NV memory and it has alot of GSM settings listed and they all have values. See attached pic
> 
> Now my curiosity is up!
> 
> ...


You are seeing this information in NV (Non-Volatile) ram because of the MSM8655 chip capabilities and not what radios are actually in the device. That MSM8655 chipset has the capability to operate GSM and CDMA radios concurrently, but that doesn't mean that both (or any) of the radios are present on the device. It's like buying a base model car without the radio and then ripping apart the dash and finding out that all the wiring for it is already there. It is cheaper for manufacturers to make one chip that CAN do everything, rather than making multiple versions of the same chip that won't.


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## brianburen (Jul 14, 2011)

barcodelinux said:


> You are seeing this information in NV (Non-Volatile) ram because of the MSM8655 chip capabilities and not what radios are actually in the device. That MSM8655 chipset has the capability to operate GSM and CDMA radios concurrently, but that doesn't mean that both (or any) of the radios are present on the device. It's like buying a base model car without the radio and then ripping apart the dash and finding out that all the wiring for it is already there. It is cheaper for manufacturers to make one chip that CAN do everything, rather than making multiple versions of the same chip that won't.


OK.... well bummer there.... but it does make sense.

EDIT: I wonder why I didn't see anything in there about LTE or 700mhz? That too is wierd..


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## yarly (Jun 22, 2011)

Could it support GSM? Maybe.

Would I want to be the first to flash any GSM based radio firmware to test that theory? No.


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## barcodelinux (Jun 19, 2011)

brianburen said:


> EDIT: I wonder why I didn't see anything in there about LTE or 700mhz? That too is wierd..


Because the MSM8655 chip does not handle LTE communications. That is handled by the MDM9600 LTE modem. Completely different chipset.

See here ---> http://www.techrepub.../6230716?seq=65


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## brianburen (Jul 14, 2011)

barcodelinux said:


> Because the MSM8655 chip does not handle LTE communications. That is handled by the MDM9600 LTE modem. Completely different chipset.
> 
> See here ---> http://www.techrepub.../6230716?seq=65


The Tbolt has the MDM9600 LTE modem but when I googled the spec's, I find a site about the Ipad using the same modem chip and it had GSM.

See here: http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1336260

Apparently there is a GSM radio, because it is rumored the Liquid Roms team has "Found" a GSM radio.

See here: http://rootzwiki.com...240#entry757461


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