Help! My Nokia 3310 is making no sense!!

[Dan the Jazzman]

Hi everyone!

I was wondering if you could help me. I have a Nokia 3310 with a Vodaphone contract SIM in it. My friend gave me an old 5110 and I want to transfer the sim card into that instead (my friend used to use vodaphone so there's no problem with locking or so). When I put it in it asks for my security code which I didn't know, so I rang up Vodaphone and they told me what I'd apparently set it to, but when I entered that it still didn't work!!

So somehow I need to reset my security code and/or the sim card. So some questions:

1. The Security code is stored on the sim card, not the phone, right?

2. Is there any way to reset the sim card or codes? Preferably without formatting the address book and things, although I'm willing to make the sacrifice if necessary.

3. I understand I can do this by flashing the phone using a cable. I'd rather not buy a cable if I'm only going to use it once... so is there anything else useful or interesting I can do with a cable? lol a newbie question I'm sure I can download ringtones and logos and things to it, right? Specifically, would I be able to change the stupid preset ringtones? It's a long story... but I hate those preset ringtones

You might be wondering why I'm moving to an older mobile... well, I have an Orange PAYG sim card which I want to use in my 3310 instead. That's not a problem, right? As far as I know the 3310 is dual band and it's been unlocked- the guy at Vodaphone did it for me when I phoned up, we've been using the phone for more than a year so they did it for free

Thanks for your help everyone, this looks like a resourceful place!

Later,
Dan

Edit: Sorry about the stupid title of the thread originally... I hope it's fixed now...that's what I get for trusting autotext in internet explorer

[cjard]

1)nope, the security code is a feature of the phone. if you insert a sim that the phone does not recognise, and phone security is active, it will ask for a security code, 5 digits long.
you can enter it as many times as you time and it will not block the sim card or affect the phone. common combinations to try are 12345 (default on most dct3 nokias) or all the same digits, e.g. 00000 11111 22222 etc..

if the phone is asking for PIN code, do NOT try to guess it; that IS stored on the sim and 3 wrong attempts will block the sim
if the phone is asking for a pin2 code, then likewise that is stored on the sim, 3 wrong attempts will block the sim
a blocked sim will ask for a puk or puk2 code (depending on whether it was blocked by guessing pin or pin2). 10 wrong puk/puk2 and you kiss goodbye to the sim for good

you can get software that will read the security code of the phone if it has been set to something obscure. the only way this would be is if a person had changed it. initially, ask the person who you got the phone off, for the 5 digit code. if they cannot remember, take it to a market stall or local second-hand-phone shop who will likely have softwar ethat can read the security code.
only security code can be read, not pin codes

2) the address book is stored on the sim, or on later phones (not yours) maybe in the phone. resetting the security code by flashing a virgin eeprom or using a tool such as rolis/knok will not afffect the address book, only the tones and phone settings such as game highscores, phonebook view type, operator logos and other inconsequential things. there is no way to reset the code without a data cable,a nd if you dont have one, it is most economical to take it to a market stall/store with a cable.. i wouldnt charge more than a quid to tell someone their security code, as it is so unbelivably trivial job...

3) there are two types of cable, parallel and serial. serial cable tells you most things you want to know; you can upload and download logos with it, send and receive texts, find out your security code, enable net monitor and line 2, and some other little things. you cannot add ringtones to the 5110 as it lacks the on-phone memory space to do so. you can change the tones by flashing a new set of software to it, but for flashing you need a parallel cable, and a parallel cable cannot normally be used for the little stuff mentioned above.

another thing to note is that the 5110 is single-frequency only. as a simple analogy: it is either an AM or FM radio. Orange and 121 (Tmob) are on FM, 02(bt) and voda are on AM.. if the 5110 is an AM phone and you put a sim card in it that is from an FM network, you wont get a signal, and vice versa. there is no visible external clue as to which frequency a 5110 operates on.. if you put a sim in from 121/orange and it works, a o2/voda sim wont, and vice versa.

if you cant get any joy from your 5110, you can part ex it for a better model.. or just buy another one.. i jsut got a 7110 for 20 quid - its the phone ive always wanted (too bad the software is a bug-ridden heap of shite )