How to Fix a "Permanently" Network-Locked Atrix Phone

One unfortunate feature of the Motorola Atrix is that if you try to unlock it with an invalid network unlock code more than ten times, it will permanently lock up. After this point, no matter which SIM card you insert (even the one from your own carrier), you will be given a dialogue to enter your network unlock code. However, even if you enter the correct unlock code at this point, it will not work.
On top of this, calling AT&T customer support and/or going into their store won't get this problem solved (trust me, I tried it ;-)...

Your Atrix is now is useless... or is it?
There is actually a solution that I was finally able to find. It will involve some hacking, so follow this guide at your own risk. For reference, I used these steps to fix my AT&T Atrix using a Windows XP system (side note: the XP was actually installed on a VirtualBox instance).

This guide also works for Atrix 2, but nobody has reported it working for the Atrix HD.

1. Download and install RSDLite 5.0 (it can be found through a web search or here).

2. Download Retail Brazil Radio.sbf from here (preferred) or here. This file will work regardless of where you bought your phone.

3. Turn off your Atrix and remove the SIM card and MicroSD card.

4. While pressing the volume up key, reboot your atrix. If you are using the Atrix HD, you may need to hold both the volume up and volume down keys.

5. The phone will display "Starting RSD protocol support" (and "Unlocked" if you have unlocked your bootloader, which is not necessary for this guide).

6. Connect the USB cable from your Atrix into your computer.

7. Open up RSDLite on your computer. Your phone should be recognized as "NS Flash Olympus" or "SE Flash Olympus". If not, try searching online for a newer version of RSDLite and try again.

8. Press "..." next to the "Filename:" box and select your "Retail Brazil Radio.sbf."

9. Press the "Start" button and cross your fingers. This will take a few minutes and your phone will reboot in the process. If this process fails, please read through the comments below as some users have found workarounds.

10. Once this is done, you may be asked to log in to Motorola Blur.
11. Bypass this log in by:

1. Holding down the menu button (bottom left button on your phone), which will bring up the virtual keyboard
2. Press the keys ?123, ALT, ABC, e, ?123, ALT, ABC, e
3. Then, type "bluroff" (with no quotes)

12. Put your phone into airplane mode by holding down the power key and selecting airplane mode.

13. Now, shut off your Atrix and insert your original carrier-provided SIM card (my AT&T SIM card in my situation).
14. Disable airplane mode.

15. Congratulations! Your Atrix should work again!

16. If you know you have the correct network unlock code (either by calling your carrier directly or by having purchased it online), let's quickly unlock your phone permanently.

17. Open up the dialing pad and type "#073887*", which should open up a "SIM network unlock PIN" prompt. If this does not work, turn off your Atrix, insert a non-accepted SIM card (i.e. from another carrier), and reboot.

18. Enter your network unlock code.

19. Congratulations again! Your Atrix should now be permanently network-unlocked!

20. Now that your Atrix is unlocked, don't you wish you could select your network operator manually (disabled by default on Atrix)? If so, see the other guide I wrote exactly on this topic.
21. [Extra step] If you want to restore the original AT&T radio, see this comment. Note that this is not necessary and requires a lot of extra work.


If you run into any issues, try searching for a solution (either in the numerous comments below or online) before posting a comment.

Special thanks to antoniolcrd for his forum post that proposed the Brazil Radio solution, Whipon for uploading the Retail Brazil Radio SBF, and to the entire Atrix development community as a whole!

How to enable "Select network" on the Motorola Atrix 1

If you are using a Motorola Atrix (version 1 or 2), you may realize that it that the option to "Select Network" is grayed out.

Ironically, AT&T posted a "how-to" video for selecting the network which actually shows the option grayed out.

This guide will show how to enable this option. However, if all you want is the ability to force your phone to use 2G or 3G only, there is a very easy way to do so, as described in this guide.

For the record, I am using version 4.5.141.MB860.
Note that you will need to root your Atrix for this guide.

1. Root your Atrix. Here is an excellent guide on how to do so. Unfortunately, there is no way around this because the files we need to modify to enable this setting are system-protected files that cannot be modified without root permissions
2. If you are willing to pay $3.99, download Root Explorer, which is what I will use for this guide. Otherwise, download ES File Explorer and enable "Up to Root" and "Root Explorer" in settings.

3. Open Root Explorer and grant it SuperUser privileges (once you root your Atrix, this option will pop up automatically)
4. Navigate to "/system/etc/motorola/com.android.phone/defaults.xml" and select "Mount R/W"

5. Long tap defaults.xml and select "Open in Text Editor"
6. Change 'network_select_menu' value='false' to 'network_select_menu' value='true'

7. Select "Save Changes" and return to Root Explorer
8. Finally, delete the backup file created, which is defaults.xml.bak in this case

9. Navigate to "/data/data/com.android.phone/shared_prefs/"

10. Repeat steps 5-8 for ALL files in the share_prefs folder. Note that these files have slightly different syntax (i.e. using single quotes instead of double quotes). Just ignore this and change the value of network_select_menu from "false" to "true" in all files

11. Exit Root Explorer and go to Setting->Wireless & networks->Mobile networks. If you did everything right, the options should be enabled! Tapping "Select Network" gives you a pop up allowing you to select "2G only," "3G only," or "Automatic." Below is an image of what you get when you select "Operator selection"

Special thanks to mistadman, jjwatmyself, crnkoj, and liranm2 for their forum posts, which I compiled into this guide after running into a lot of trouble myself. Also, kudos to the Screenshot ER application, which allowed me to take all of these nice screen shots.

Accessing the Hidden "Testing" Settings on a Motorola Atrix

There is actually a hidden "Testing" control panel on the Motorola Atrix 1.

Accessing it is very simple and does not require root access, simply go to the dialer and type *#*#4636#*#*

Doing so, will bring up the menu pictured below:

Under "Phone information," you can do things like forcing the phone to only connect to 2G networks or 3G networks by setting the preferred network type. If you are more interested in this, here is a full guide.

Finally, to make things easier, you can actually add this number to your contacts list: