***WARNING TO ALL***FLASHING ANY FIRMWARE CAN POTENTIALLY BRICK YOUR DEVICE
With that said, PLEASE use some precautionary measures to keep your device alive!
There are many threads out there about making a backup copy of the "/efs" folder. that folder contains all of your IMEI information that is NOT replaceable! There are several cases all over the web, about people who have lost that information causing them not to have service, leaving them with "generic" IMEI's and some with all "0's"
I am posting this to help prevent thoes who are unaware of the consequences that happen when the EFS information is lost!
Here I will post a few guides and informational threads here in XDA to help with this.
EFS Tool for Windows
Guide for the Galaxy S II
A Story From the Vibrant
From the Galaxy Note
I would also emphasize on making a nandroid backup of your complete system in recovery before starting to venture off onto any custom rom!
Here the folks at XDA have built a great community with a outstanding reputation to help one another advancing to the next level, also unlocking the extreme potential of our devices.
Be sure to "hit" the thanks button and when possible post a personal "Thanks" to the great devs and contributers we have here in XDA!
Feel free to add to this thread, any useful tips and such...
Thanks and God bless.
I have not yet confirmed this, but here are three links to what may be a way for those who have lost their EFS to repair it!
there are other guides on how to recreate the efs folder but these tools may enable us to insert the correct information!
http://forum.gsmhosting.com/vbb/f611/android-language-editor-android-language-project-1543222/
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1570342
Thanks to Pierreone, he has provided this link providing a individual from Poland that can repair your IMEI through TeamViewer for a small donation. This may be out only hope!!
http://forum.samdroid.net/f70/repair-imei-s2-5729/
Please if anyone tries these methods, report here to confirm success or failed!
Thanks.
I just copy and paste in my pc the EFS folder, thats enough? and how you can identify if there is a problem in the EFS?
lorddavid said:
I just copy and paste in my pc the EFS folder, thats enough? and how you can identify if there is a problem in the EFS?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That should be enough, but I would make backups in at least to other ways just to be safe, it's better to be safe than sorry. a single file can get corrupt without your knowledge! find a on-line file host like Google drive and that way if your pc was ever to go down it will always be there. Just don't loose your password!!!
to know that there is a problem, check the about phone section in status, the device will show your phone info, look for the IMEI! if it reads all 0's or a generic number starting with "04" and ending like "40000" you have problems! that is a unique serial number that identifies your individual phone!
I'm also not sure that if you were to use it to call an emergency hot line like "911" they would be able to locate you in time! that may not be true tho!
dbrannon79 said:
That should be enough, but I would make backups in at least to other ways just to be safe, it's better to be safe than sorry. a single file can get corrupt without your knowledge! find a on-line file host like Google drive and that way if your pc was ever to go down it will always be there. Just don't loose your password!!!
to know that there is a problem, check the about phone section in status, the device will show your phone info, look for the IMEI! if it reads all 0's or a generic number starting with "04" and ending like "40000" you have problems! that is a unique serial number that identifies your individual phone!
I'm also not sure that if you were to use it to call an emergency hot line like "911" they would be able to locate you in time! that may not be true tho!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
mines is ok, has al ot of different numbers. Just a question, what ab out the serial number? mines has only 00000000000
lorddavid said:
mines is ok, has al ot of different numbers. Just a question, what ab out the serial number? mines has only 00000000000
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the serial number so far is not a problem! it's the IMEI that you need to worry about! some refurbished phones and others that have flashed a custom rom will display an all "0's" serial no.
this is simply a helpful warning to make a backup before doing any modding! and finding ways for others to repair what is lost! if your phone is ok, just make a backup and your good!
One day we will figure out how to completely restore a lost efs and edit what is needed to get back to the norm!
Thanks to Pierreone, I added a link to a thread that looks promising and has success reports!!
Whew, I got lucky. I don't have an EFS backup and have flashed several custom ROMs, but I referenced About Phone against the label under the battery and my IMEI is still intact!
Could someone post what the Generic IMEI is so people can know whether their device is intact?
This is a a bigger problem than it sounds, because in some countries, changing the IMEI may be crime and land you jail time! If the IMEI under About Phone doesn't match the under-battery label, you could be in deep ****.
roothorick said:
Could someone post what the Generic IMEI is so people can know whether their device is intact?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is 004999010640000.
Have it, because the unlock made my network disconnect every 10 seconds.
About the efs folder ?
First of all Thank You for the heads up... I'm finding out a lot about backing up the efs folder but not a lot of detail about what exactly is contained in it other than imei and serial... probably because it shouldn't be fooled with but I like to know how things work in detail... is there any detailed post or site where I can get a complete explanation about it ? Complete file list/tree? What else does it control ? Can it be edited ?
EFS Tool for Windows
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This utility works fine. Just wanted to mention 2 things that you need to set before running this successfully:
Settings -> developer options -> android debugging enabled
Settings ->Developer options-> Root access -> set to 'apps and adb'
I followed the guide from the Galaxy S2 forum, and after the first command:
busybox cp -a /efs /sdcard/efs/
Every line says "can't preserve ownership of..." and "operation not permitted"
Am I doing this right?
I did get an efs folder on my internal storage which is about 5mb in size after that command anyway
The rest of the guide, all of the other commands went through ok.
Holy crap, I wish I had listened to this warning! After flashing a great new rom and getting it 98% set up the way I like it I was deleting some junk apps the marketplace had auto installed, one of them (for wi-fi hotspots I think) was to blame and must have toasted my IMEI.
I thought, oh I'll just restore my CWM backup from an older setup - md5 error can't restore. DOH! After spending most of two days hunting for solutions (none of them linked in this thread worked, except I did get to where I could place calls with a generic IMEI but no data or text). I finally was able to recalculate the md5 manually and restore my old backup, which then got stuck at boot logo, then I flashed a new ROM and the IMEI still isn't back! After much reading I have come to understand NANDROID BACKUPS DO NOT TOUCH THE EFS. That is one thing that that I didn't understand, and the reason I thought I was safe. Please update the OP to state that so more people like me will listen to your advice.
Backup your EFS! Thanks for the warning
Sent from my SGH-I927 using xda app-developers app
Victory!!!! :victory:
I was so close to just paying at http://sam.123unlock.nl/ and using their service to re-write my IMEI (because they show an unlock video using our phone and their software), but I kept digging in XDA and trying everything I could find. I tried the SIII IMEI editor, NV reader-writer, manually restoring the .nv_data.bin, mobiletech videos backup script...blah blah blah. I tried restoring CWM backups, flashing back to stock everything, using kies, I was trying everything! During all this I at times had no IMEI, all 000s, and a generic #, each of which provided different levels of services. I considered keeping the generic IMEI which AT&T didn't seem to mind but then I finally stumbled on a solution.
In reading the http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=859914 post which is linked to in the "A Story From the Vibrant" in the OP I tried the abd EFS tar command and executed it on another Captivate Glide I have that had some water damage but is mostly still functional thinking I could overwrite the entire good EFS of that phone to my good phone with the hosed IMEI. I used AROMA http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1646108 and deleted the EFS from CWM (I felt like adb and terminal weren't effective since the OS was still awake) and then restored from my working EFS tar, then wrote on top of that the first backup of the hosed EFS I had from before I started messing with it (thinking I'd try that before trying just the other phone's E)FS.
When I rebooted I had the correct serial and IMEI back for the phone! It is now working 100%
I flash alot from to rom, if i use the aroma file manager n save the entire efs folder on my external drive ,if i were to ever run into problems can i go bak to aroma file manager n just restore the efs folder and make everythinfunction again ?
Some guys say yes, others say use the tar command to preserve file permissions. I backed it up both ways. When I used aroma I deleted the files and replaced them rather than over-writing the corrupted ones and it worked fine for me.
Sent from my SGH-I927 using xda app-developers app
So I just got my captivate glide bought it used and I followed thegreatones instructions to get CM 10.1 using the factory image to get it to 4.X then flashing the rom.. and after i flashed CM 10.1 my imei was gone. SIGH. I don't have a backup, which of the paid services works the best? who has tried them?
I managed to make EFS Pro work but the glide is not listed and I don't see any partition to backup. Am I missing something?
Timelord83 said:
So I just got my captivate glide bought it used and I followed thegreatones instructions to get CM 10.1 using the factory image to get it to 4.X then flashing the rom.. and after i flashed CM 10.1 my imei was gone. SIGH. I don't have a backup, which of the paid services works the best? who has tried them?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't tried any but I would first give AT&T a call. They can probably assist you. And I believe there's a 14 day return date, I believe AT&T only checks the physical aspects of the phone.
jzamoras said:
I managed to make EFS Pro work but the glide is not listed and I don't see any partition to backup. Am I missing something?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It worked for others. Check to make sure you have all Glide drivers installed and reread the OP please Thanks!
Finally I used an older EFS Tool and it worked!
Related
I have just rooted my Sprint Note 2 SPH-l900. I am learning all of this as I go. I was looking into changing some of my themes and icons and ran into the need of a deoxed ROM which means I need a new ROM. The first thing I tried to do was save my EFS Partition. I navigated to the EFS location, long clicked and chose copy. I then navigated to my external SD to drop it there but I had no choice to paste. I then found the EFS pro from this site. I opened it, added the EFS to the list of partitions and I was then greeted with a note stating I need the readlink: applet and suggested Busybox 1.20.2 All I have to choose from in busybox Pro is 1.21.1 and 1.21.0. If I choose a custom download, I am taking to a page with a 404 display which of course is of no use. I cannot find anywhere to get this applet and I am getting frustrated. I am already trying to learn this and I am stuck in something I cant get out of. All the instructions for EFS Pro don't explain this situation. Please let me know how to get past this and to make sure I have a proper version of busybox at the same time. My actual next step is to get a new ROM so any suggestions for that is helpful as well. I am looking to customize, save battery and I am still learning what else is out there. My battery is lasting 3 days of now, I am looking for 5 days just to see if I can. I have a 9300 mAh battery right now.
I have a SPH-l900 with Titanium Backup Pro, Waze, Tasker, Swiftkey, Super SU ROM Toolbox, Orange Backup, Multiwindow Pro, Goo Manager, Comodo Security, Busybox ProBoat Browser, Android Assistant and some other apps for HVAC Purposes.
Any help is extremely appreciated. Again I am new, have no Android developmental skills but I will do research and I learn quite a bit faster than most people (though I have blocked quite a bit of my synapses in my early years!!)
I have become familiar with the filing system and have made copies of the efs and save it on my external card, laptop and my drop box. I am now looking for a ROM to flash which keeps all of the unique functions of the note such as multi-windows and the s pen I am looking for improved responsiveness/quickness, lots of custom icons/themes/colors/graphics/home screens etc...I am also looking for an efficient setup to keep my battery up and lasting. The last thing which i think is common is that it is deodoxed.
Thanks
Help me
sethvel1 said:
I have become familiar with the filing system and have made copies of the efs and save it on my external card, laptop and my drop box. I am now looking for a ROM to flash which keeps all of the unique functions of the note such as multi-windows and the s pen I am looking for improved responsiveness/quickness, lots of custom icons/themes/colors/graphics/home screens etc...I am also looking for an efficient setup to keep my battery up and lasting. The last thing which i think is common is that it is deodoxed.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello friend, I hope you do not bother, this message is for help, first I would like to know if you are a user of a note L900, I have a problem, delete the EFS folder. Now I have no IMEI, I have seen a technician, he says Get the EFS folder from another note, to retrieve your IMEI.
The question is: lend me your EFS folder?
Ericktazo said:
Hello friend, I hope you do not bother, this message is for help, first I would like to know if you are a user of a note L900, I have a problem, delete the EFS folder. Now I have no IMEI, I have seen a technician, he says Get the EFS folder from another note, to retrieve your IMEI.
The question is: lend me your EFS folder?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think this response and user should be investigated for fishing
I need help
sethvel1 said:
I think this response and user should be investigated for fishing
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Could you help me with the EFS folder? Please :crying:
Hello. I have SPH_L900 but it deleted folder EFS , please help me to recover if there is a backup I would be grateful if you copy can help me .
I was stuck in safe mode from a random reboot. I lost my imei and everything was wiped. I deleted. The efs folder i hope of fixing things but made it worse. I bought another phone 3 months later i decided to fix it or try. I downloaded mc2 stock rom and the mc2 partition file just to try because i tried everything possible til that point. And when i did that my damn phone imei number baseband and everything came back i was shocked. I read on the international g note2 about currupt partitions from flashing. Now i own a lg g2 and a working note 2 i use both phones now. I was using the s5 feat rom which is nice but im on the lg g2 trying this lg g3 rom port. I like both may the note 2 live on . atleast try what i did because my phone was toast before i fixed it
Sent from my LG-LS980 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
4463
bonebeatz1234 said:
I was stuck in safe mode from a random reboot. I lost my imei and everything was wiped. I deleted. The efs folder i hope of fixing things but made it worse. I bought another phone 3 months later i decided to fix it or try. I downloaded mc2 stock rom and the mc2 partition file just to try because i tried everything possible til that point. And when i did that my damn phone imei number baseband and everything came back i was shocked. I read on the international g note2 about currupt partitions from flashing. Now i own a lg g2 and a working note 2 i use both phones now. I was using the s5 feat rom which is nice but im on the lg g2 trying this lg g3 rom port. I like both may the note 2 live on . atleast try what i did because my phone was toast before i fixed it
Sent from my LG-LS980 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well I will try that option but first I need your help , please if you have ROOT , make a copy of the folder EFS and let me please I really want to, thank you!!!
https://www.dropbox.com/s/7kihwcdm9c2thj2/efs.zip. unzip and put it on phone. It won't work i already been there but you can see for yourself. Do what i said above and you will have a working phone again just save yourself the extra time n money i made the mistake so that others don't have too. Ill find the partition file it was hard to find on xda. This the partition pit file https://www.dropbox.com/s/4n789cxgl0hvm51/t0lte.pit if you decide to try it. If you need directions ill be online for 30 min then I'm off
Sent from my SGH-M919 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
thank you! I went to download firmware what you said but not stitched since I already have the latest version, folder efs you can make another backup? z I'll give you the instructions are very easy to install BB_pro_v14_Rus.apk after EFS_Professional . to make a backup in tar format . and send it to me , thank you for the help
in the folder EFS Professional\ EFSProBackup will backup
I think this !worked!
______
I had a bootlop in a l900 efs folder was missing, flashed an n7100 efs folder via odin that I found in xda and the bootloop stopped and the phone went back on, then with root explorer I replaced the n7100 efs folder with this one and the l900 found the Sprint network, I just need to call them and check if I can activate the phone! i
Hi, apparently some genius developing CWM decided it would be fun to allow the factory partition to be formatted with the newest versions of CWM (I'm on 6.0.4.6). Well guess what, I managed to format it on my GNex (it's quite easy to do actually).
Anyways, I've lost my IMEI data and unable to access mobile network (data connectivity is fine, however, surprisingly). Somebody please help me restore my IMEI because I don't have a nandroid backup either.
Thanks a lot!
Deleted, did a search on IMEI and found a bunch of threads. Reading them now...
pherder said:
Deleted, did a search on IMEI and found a bunch of threads. Reading them now...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Paul how did you manage to mess up your phone? Was it the same way I did? The thing is, all is not lost, I'm absolutely certain of that. It's not a brick until it absolutely and completely refuses to power up...
@osm0sis, can you please help me out here? I know there was even an IMEI changing tool but most probably considered illegal or something by the "powers that be" and hence removed most likely. I just need my original phone IMEI back, that's all. Thanks a lot!
rahimali said:
Paul how did you manage to mess up your phone? Was it the same way I did? The thing is, all is not lost, I'm absolutely certain of that. It's not a brick until it absolutely and completely refuses to power up...
@osm0sis, can you please help me out here? I know there was even an IMEI changing tool but most probably considered illegal or something by the "powers that be" and hence removed most likely. I just need my original phone IMEI back, that's all. Thanks a lot!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think I screwed up and flashed my phone with the wrong image (LTE instead of CDMA) that wiped the factory info and all the attempts I have tried do not do anything to get the phone back. I have a nice tablet that just upgraded to 4.3 via WiFi since it isn't on the Verizon network.
Paul
pherder said:
I think I screwed up and flashed my phone with the wrong image (LTE instead of CDMA) that wiped the factory info and all the attempts I have tried do not do anything to get the phone back. I have a nice tablet that just upgraded to 4.3 via WiFi since it isn't on the Verizon network.
Paul
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My maguro CWM thread has all the info you need explained several times. Check it out.
osm0sis said:
My maguro CWM thread has all the info you need explained several times. Check it out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i have gone through your cwm thread. it's suggested taking it to a shop and getting it fixed with spt box or something. unfortunately, i can't do that because nobody in my location has anything even remotely similar to one of those. apart from that, i've done everything i could think of, flashed radios, flashed stock samsung rom, flashed google factory images. what else would you suggest?
i don't have a prior nandroid either
Resolved
Problem solved. Took it to repair shop and got it fixed. Everyone that helped or tried to help, thanks a lot! Mods please close thread, thanks!
I was thinking more along the lines of restoring a backup and grabbing what you need to fix Factory from Radio, which was detailed a couple of times.
Glad you got it fixed, nonetheless. :good:
rahimali said:
Problem solved. Took it to repair shop and got it fixed. Everyone that helped or tried to help, thanks a lot! Mods please close thread, thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you ask them how they fixed it?? we need to know so we can help others..:--))
osm0sis said:
I was thinking more along the lines of restoring a backup and grabbing what you need to fix Factory from Radio, which was detailed a couple of times.
Glad you got it fixed, nonetheless. :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i didn't have a nandroid, nothing in factory since i had wiped it accidentally via the new cwm's new ""feature". i didn't like twrp until now but i ain't budging from it now that cwm has screwed me up so bad!
buhohitr said:
Did you ask them how they fixed it?? we need to know so we can help others..:--))
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the guy connected it to a couple of external devices which in turn were connected to his pc, i guess one of them was something along the lines of an spt box, the other thing looked like a miniature spaceship, so maybe ET was involved in fixing it as well...
Not CWM's fault, though I definitely understand your sentiment. But "with great power.."
I make damn sure I know what I'm pressing Yes on when I'm wiping.
osm0sis said:
Not CWM's fault, though I definitely understand your sentiment. But "with great power.."
I make damn sure I know what I'm pressing Yes on when I'm wiping.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
with great power comes great tragedy
anyways, I was just browsing through my phone with root explorer and with twrp's file manager and surprisingly there's no efs folder there! is that normal?
i've taken a twrp nandroid backup to include efs as well but i'm thinking to take a raw backup as well as described here. i've also copied the /factory and /data/radio folders.
i was wondering whether flashing a stock samsung ROM might result in the creation of the efs folder? on yakju 4.2.2 stock google image right now...
Nah efs is the partition but it's mounted to /factory :good:
osm0sis said:
Nah efs is the partition but it's mounted to /factory :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's great thanks!., I'll clean flash 4.3 yakju in a day or two and see if the IMEI sticks after the wipes. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to backup using EFS Commander or the terminal/shell commands (got error both ways) so I'm hoping the TWRP backup (without MD5) and manual file copy should be sufficient insurance...
So, this is a long process I've been through-- First thanks so much for just taking the time to read this and any input would be awesome
I tried to flash a new slimkat 4.4.2 rom today and it flashed fine came up had service all was well except I think i did it as a "dirty" flash. I don't want to think any errors possible would be from that so i immediately did a "clean" flash and wiped everything except external sd-card in TWRP
Rebooted and noticed i didn't have any signal or data. First thought was modem so I started flashing MJ4 and reboot, nothing, so I flashed MK6 and reboot, nothing, so i changed to CWM recovery and flashed them, nothing, then at this point i just want a phone back doesn't even matter so i always seem to have several ROMS on my phone so i flashed another Sky Note 4.3 and reloaded nothing... So i started really wondering now and looking at my baseband to see what it said and noticed "Unkown Baseband" and Imei "unkown" (All while at work) So I came home did a little research while trying various other roms and none worked. So I read one way is to use Kies and do a "firmware upgrade initialisation"
Now it rebooting and completed going back to 4.1.2 CAMA4 and i still have nothing.. So I flashed UCALJ modem (Which should work as well) and I still have no data or signal because of unknown IMEI and Baseband. I don't really care about using triangle away or not, but i can get around and flash roms and everything thats what I don't understand.
Oh I did use CF-autoroot to install TWRP to install the modem as a .zip
Any ideas I would love you forever!!!
Bradbetheman said:
So, this is a long process I've been through-- First thanks so much for just taking the time to read this and any input would be awesome
I tried to flash a new slimkat 4.4.2 rom today and it flashed fine came up had service all was well except I think i did it as a "dirty" flash. I don't want to think any errors possible would be from that so i immediately did a "clean" flash and wiped everything except external sd-card in TWRP
Rebooted and noticed i didn't have any signal or data. First thought was modem so I started flashing MJ4 and reboot, nothing, so I flashed MK6 and reboot, nothing, so i changed to CWM recovery and flashed them, nothing, then at this point i just want a phone back doesn't even matter so i always seem to have several ROMS on my phone so i flashed another Sky Note 4.3 and reloaded nothing... So i started really wondering now and looking at my baseband to see what it said and noticed "Unkown Baseband" and Imei "unkown" (All while at work) So I came home did a little research while trying various other roms and none worked. So I read one way is to use Kies and do a "firmware upgrade initialisation"
Now it rebooting and completed going back to 4.1.2 CAMA4 and i still have nothing.. So I flashed UCALJ modem (Which should work as well) and I still have no data or signal because of unknown IMEI and Baseband. I don't really care about using triangle away or not, but i can get around and flash roms and everything thats what I don't understand.
Oh I did use CF-autoroot to install TWRP to install the modem as a .zip
Any ideas I would love you forever!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I gots more love than I know what to do with.....
Do you have a backup of your /efs? Hopefully when (if) you did a backup in TWRP you choose to back up efs also ..... ???
dicksteele said:
I gots more love than I know what to do with.....
Do you have a backup of your /efs? Hopefully when (if) you did a backup in TWRP you choose to back up efs also ..... ???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lesson learned... no backup
I'm going to try and repair (backup and re-put) my EFS folder there, but how do i tell if its a complete EFS folder or if it is damaged? On the note 2 ATT is there a way to manually put in your IMEI? or reasons why this couldn't be my problem please
Bradbetheman said:
I'm going to try and repair (backup and re-put) my EFS folder there, but how do i tell if its a complete EFS folder or if it is damaged? On the note 2 ATT is there a way to manually put in your IMEI? or reasons why this couldn't be my problem please
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Last time this happened to me, a very long night, I had a guru on hangouts with me and we tried everything we could think of..
Only thing that got me back was a restore of an old backup, as a wild ass last resort.... Lost my mind when it worked
This problem is not weird, unfortunately it's common.
Starting surfing for your error and read read read.... I've had a long fricking day ..
Like a maniac I'm trying to port over a 7100 ROM.. I get that error also.
Only thing that gets it back is restoring a backup rom that had an efs backup in it.
dicksteele said:
Last time this happened to me, a very long night, I had a guru on hangouts with me and we tried everything we could think of..
Only thing that got me back was a restore of an old backup, as a wild ass last resort.... Lost my mind when it worked
This problem is not weird, unfortunately it's common.
Starting surfing for your error and read read read.... I've had a long fricking day ..
Like a maniac I'm trying to port over a 7100 ROM.. I get that error also.
Only thing that gets it back is restoring a backup rom that had an efs backup in it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In my EFS folder i can't find any .nv_**** files so I'm assuming they are gone and I don't have a back-up. I've been reading and reading with nothing coming out of it other then how to fix it on alot of other samsung phones. I can't seem to find a way to re-build and manually enter my own IMEI (because i know the IMEI) Driving me nuts!! but thanks for your reply
EFS folder anyone?
Any chance i can get a copy of someones EFS folder so that i can edit the .nv_data and add my IMIE? Please of a ATT Note 2
Thanks so much and just PM link
Bradbetheman said:
Any chance i can get a copy of someones EFS folder so that i can edit the .nv_data and add my IMIE? Please of a ATT Note 2
Thanks so much and just PM link
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sadly no...
It is both illegal...and unethical for someone to give you a copy of an EFS folder...
It contains the user data and carrier information for the device...making the folder private...and unique to it's owner ....g
Sent from my SGH-I317 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Have you tried restoring firmware from Kies or flashing official firmware via Odin?
Sent from my GT-I9505G using Tapatalk
nikzDHD said:
Have you tried restoring firmware from Kies or flashing official firmware via Odin?
Sent from my GT-I9505G using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have done official firmware and over odin and before that Kies recovery. Also, knew it wasn't smart but didn't know it was illegal.
Any idea's for programs that will scan for deleted folders? or other ways to re-build EFS or .nvdata?
Bradbetheman said:
I have done official firmware and over odin and before that Kies recovery. Also, knew it wasn't smart but didn't know it was illegal.
Any idea's for programs that will scan for deleted folders? or other ways to re-build EFS or .nvdata?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was going to try this but didn't have to because I found a backup with my efs. I was going to try putting a new sim in and see if phone would see it and rebuild.
Actually was going to pull the sim out of my wife's note 2 and try it.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
So I tried from my wifes sim today with no avail. Still don't have my phone and wondering if there is any way to recover it? Do i try to set it back to stock everything fix the flash counter then call samsung? I don't think its under warranty anymore since i've had it for almost 2 years. I know its a long shot but I wonder if taking it to one of those "cell phone repair" places would be any help? I'm out of options and actually had to drop back to my old HTC Inspire
Bradbetheman said:
So I tried from my wifes sim today with no avail. Still don't have my phone and wondering if there is any way to recover it? Do i try to set it back to stock everything fix the flash counter then call samsung? I don't think its under warranty anymore since i've had it for almost 2 years. I know its a long shot but I wonder if taking it to one of those "cell phone repair" places would be any help? I'm out of options and actually had to drop back to my old HTC Inspire
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea, the sim deal was to simple to work...
So never heard I don't think. What were you on before you flashed slimkat? Did you do the 4.3 OTA update?
Have you tried flashing an original rom with the Pit file? That's your last resort, EFS is unique to each phone by using someone's else's this is illegal as your modifying the IMEI. I've had efs issues in the past but always had a backup to hand. Try flashing everything with a pit file if that doesn't work then you will have to take it in for repair, Samsung official could do it but don't know what they will charge as it's out of warranty or maybe a local phone repair shop could do it or someone with jtag services can do it perhaps too.
Sent from my GT-I9505G using Tapatalk
nikzDHD said:
Have you tried flashing an original rom with the Pit file? That's your last resort, EFS is unique to each phone by using someone's else's this is illegal as your modifying the IMEI. I've had efs issues in the past but always had a backup to hand. Try flashing everything with a pit file if that doesn't work then you will have to take it in for repair, Samsung official could do it but don't know what they will charge as it's out of warranty or maybe a local phone repair shop could do it or someone with jtag services can do it perhaps too.
Sent from my GT-I9505G using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was on another 4.4 rom before I went to slimkat
What is a pit file? I don't know much about it and is there a "trusted" guide on how to use one with the Note 2? I mean I'm familiar with Odin so I know its there but I've never had to use one
Bradbetheman said:
I was on another 4.4 rom before I went to slimkat
What is a pit file? I don't know much about it and is there a "trusted" guide on how to use one with the Note 2? I mean I'm familiar with Odin so I know its there but I've never had to use one
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here's the info...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2609871
A couple of other people are having worse problems like not being able to flash a recovery in ODIN or a ROM saying it can't read partitions. That's a good choice for a PIT flash.
But I'm reading and reading and everything is saying, yep that will work.... IF you then have the efs backup to restore
dicksteele said:
Here's the info...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2609871
A couple of other people are having worse problems like not being able to flash a recovery in ODIN or a ROM saying it can't read partitions. That's a good choice for a PIT flash.
But I'm reading and reading and everything is saying, yep that will work.... IF you then have the efs backup to restore
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks so much for the help!! I'm just worried that its not going to fix it and only make it worse possibly. I can't find how to pull my PIT file to analyze it so my next option is... Call a professional tomorrow... I'm going to call because apparently a "Z3X box" will fix my phone in like 3 minutes. I will post back though letting people know in the future whether they can or not. Because of legal reasons I don't know if they can even write my own IMEI back to the device. Will post back though regardless after tomorrow when I call them.
This happened to me a while back and I just flashed back to stock using Odin and all was fine
Sent from my GT-N7105 using Tapatalk
GREAT NEWS!
So I got desperate and realized this was going to take a professional. I called around to my local "cell phone repair" shops that really only know how to change the screen and asked about recovering the EFS file. It started out: "Hi can I talk with someone knowledgeable about the Android file system?" and every time the person said they were an "expert" So I said "I deleted or corrupted my EFS file and I need a repair for it" and EVERY time they told me they had no clue what I was talking about. I read and read everything I could find on the internet and most pointed me to some international "send you phone here" and of course I'm very skeptical of shipping my phone just about anywhere. So I found a person in the US at mobiletechvideos.com and looked him up with the BBB and found reviews from multiple sources.
I can say mobiletechvideos.com is legit and awesome! Josh fixed my phone and repaired the IMEI in less the 10 minutes remotely. I have my note 2 back! Please do not hesitate to give this guy a try he is legit and really down to earth guy. This thread can end here because whatever he did I have no clue but it worked!
Also a lot cheaper then I though it was going to be
Bradbetheman said:
GREAT NEWS!
So I got desperate and realized this was going to take a professional. I called around to my local "cell phone repair" shops that really only know how to change the screen and asked about recovering the EFS file. It started out: "Hi can I talk with someone knowledgeable about the Android file system?" and every time the person said they were an "expert" So I said "I deleted or corrupted my EFS file and I need a repair for it" and EVERY time they told me they had no clue what I was talking about. I read and read everything I could find on the internet and most pointed me to some international "send you phone here" and of course I'm very skeptical of shipping my phone just about anywhere. So I found a person in the US at mobiletechvideos.com and looked him up with the BBB and found reviews from multiple sources.
I can say mobiletechvideos.com is legit and awesome! Josh fixed my phone and repaired the IMEI in less the 10 minutes remotely. I have my note 2 back! Please do not hesitate to give this guy a try he is legit and really down to earth guy. This thread can end here because whatever he did I have no clue but it worked!
Also a lot cheaper then I though it was going to be
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is great news. Congrats ! How in the world did he do it remotely ?????
I root and flash my phone to Clockmod(file name cm-12.1-20150829-NIGHTLY-d2att) however when it booted back up my phone had no sound and no services(talk Txt etc) when i open my setting i saw that my baseband and imei both says unknow
The wifi works and the bluetooth however still no sound
Also when i tried to flash back with odin with the stock rom its say aboot and my phone says SW REV CHECK FAIL : [aboot] Fused 3 > Binary 2
Do you have the i747 or i747m?
I recommend you flash the latest cm11 to your phone and see what happens. If it works, you may need to update your bootloader and modem before cm12.1 will work.
Same problem...
I recently bought a galaxy edge, so I decided to mess around a bit with my old Galaxy S3 and maybe turn it into just an MP3 player (I like being able to switch sd cards and stuff). But I am at the same point now where there it says Unknown for baseband, IMEI and there is no volume of any type. Like not even that little beep when I press the volume up and down buttons. I also tried a piano app just to make sure, and still no volume. This is just frustrating to me because I've spent like 25 hours trying to figure out what to do. This is actually my first post asking for help because usually i've been able to figure this stuff out. Sound is the only thing i want from this phone now and its not working anymore. I have a feeling its something that I messed up with the EFS folder, but I don't really know what that folder is supposed to be for, I've just read a lot about how important it is. I hope someone has an idea of how to fix this.
The first thing you need to do is flash back to full stock, including the firmware. For that you need to know what build you are currently running though.
Open terminal emulator and enter:
getprop ro.bootloader
Let us know what it returns and we can tell you what you can safely flash.
It would also be helpful to know how this all happened. What were you doing when sound and baseband were lost? Did you flash something? If so, what and how? And what exactly have you already done to the EFS folder? It used to be important in regards to the imei, but it's mostly for drm type stuff now. (Still important though).
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk
DocHoliday77 said:
It would also be helpful to know how this all happened. What were you doing when sound and baseband were lost? Did you flash something? If so, what and how? And what exactly have you already done to the EFS folder? It used to be important in regards to the imei, but it's mostly for drm type stuff now. (Still important though).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, the first place I messed up was when I tried installing TWRP through a terminal emulator. I didn't know about things like flashify, so I used
su
dd if=/sdcard/twrp.img of=/dev/block/mmcblk0p18
which was listed as a way to install TWRP manually. I must have misspelled something because that actually bricked the device and I had to use a debrick image on an SD card to bring it back. I was able to get the phone to boot up properly again without having the debrick sd card in there, so i decided to install CM 12.1. This was about 2 weeks ago so its kind of difficult to remember the exact order. But at some point I noticed the sound wasnt working, so i flashed a stock rom at attempted to make sure the bootloaders matched. When I turned the phone on, I was stuck in factory mode. I found some threads explaining that to fix this I needed to go to the FactoryApp folder inside my EFS folder and find the FactoryApp and Keystr files and change the text inside these files to ON. When i checked inside my EFS folder the first time, I did not find any FactoryApp folder, and instead I found a FactoryApp text file with a string of random letters and numbers. Another forum post had explained that if this scenario occurs, it is possible to just delete that and do a reset through TWRP or whatever recovery. So I did that and was able to get out of factory mode. This is the reason I felt like the problem was rooted in some corruption in my EFS folder. I've tried many things though... so i might be leaving something out. Anyways currently I have restored from a NAND backup that i did from TWRP.
The bootloader I have installed currently is I747UCUFNE4 however i have JSS15J.I747UCUEMJB android 4.3 installed... Maybe this is the problem? I'm really sorry for the wall of text lol.
Ok, thanks for the extra info. I have a feeling that this may be primarily a modem related issue. It's been a while, but I'm pretty sure I have the NE4 modem available in a thread in the General section. Either flash that, or reflash the NE4 bootloader/modem package from enewman17. (Do not try to flash the updated NJ1 or NJ2 bootloaders yet. Only NE4)
Depending on the result, I would also flash the NE4 system (also from enewman17). Just so everything is stock and matching. MJB should run just fine on your ne4 bootloader though, but just in case....
The thing that's got me most confused though is your efs folder. From what you said, it sounds like the contents are quite different from what I've seen on every other S3 I've worked on. This is why I am thinking it's a modem issue though. I've seen some items missing before, but only when the wrong modem is used. Still, yours sounds a bit different from those that I've seen, so it may or may not be the case here.
I have no idea if the sound will be helped by any of this or not, but maybe you'll get lucky! :fingers-crossed:
(BTW, you didn't happen to make a back up copy of that efs file you deleted, did you?)
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk
DocHoliday77 said:
Ok, thanks for the extra info. I have a feeling that this may be primarily a modem related issue. It's been a while, but I'm pretty sure I have the NE4 modem available in a thread in the General section. Either flash that, or reflash the NE4 bootloader/modem package from enewman17. (Do not try to flash the updated NJ1 or NJ2 bootloaders yet. Only NE4)
Depending on the result, I would also flash the NE4 system (also from enewman17). Just so everything is stock and matching. MJB should run just fine on your ne4 bootloader though, but just in case....
The thing that's got me most confused though is your efs folder. From what you said, it sounds like the contents are quite different from what I've seen on every other S3 I've worked on. This is why I am thinking it's a modem issue though. I've seen some items missing before, but only when the wrong modem is used. Still, yours sounds a bit different from those that I've seen, so it may or may not be the case here.
I have no idea if the sound will be helped by any of this or not, but maybe you'll get lucky! :fingers-crossed:
(BTW, you didn't happen to make a back up copy of that efs file you deleted, did you?)
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OH MY GOD. FLASHING NE4 MODEM YOU HAD POSTED BROUGHT THE SOUND AND BASEBAND VERSION BACK. I HAD JUST ABOUT GIVEN UP AND YOU SAVED ME. YOU'RE THE ABSOLUTE BEST.
Sorry for capslock, but I am excited. Now I just wanted to ask, do you know if everything would still work fine if I flashed CM 12.1 again?
It should work just fine.
Glad to hear you got it working again and I'm glad I could help!
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk
sorry to bring back an old thread from the dead but im having the same error that OP is having, i cant flash my stock rom back on my galaxy s5 at all and ive been scouring the internet for 3 weeks now for a fix, in odin it fails and the device says "SW REV CHECK FAIL : [aboot] Fused 3 > Binary 2" what does this mean and how do i fix it? im puling my hair out here
I believe XDA has a separate forum for the Samsung s5. It's also important to post the phone's exact model # as Samsung made several versions of the S5 for sale.
Hi guys,
Being the arrogant bigheaded know-it-all that I am I thought I could do this by myself. Alas I was wrong.
I was attempting to carrier unlock my s4 mini (i9195) on EE, I rooted it first which was a success. I then tried the "regionlockaway" approach which claimed to be a success but after several reboots was not =[
I then delved deeper into the forums and read that it may work if i were to odin flash my device to MJ7.
I followed the steps of un checking the auto-reboot and F. reset boxs and proceded to put phone into "odin mode" and then Flash, disconnect, power off, boot back into odin mode, reflash and then boot normally.
This went horribly wrong. my poor little phone is very confused. it doesn't know its baseband and is displaying IMEI null.
I have done some further research and all post seem to say I must reflash to original ROM or inject IMEI?
I cannot find the required ROM files and IMEI injection, unless as simple as "download file x, insert IMEI from phone sticker into box x, flash with program x and all will be fine" then I am stuck in a lonely phoneless place.
PLEASE HELP ME! and i promise I wont try these things again!
Thanks in advance guys!
Not an expert at trying to restore IMEIs but maybe try flashing the latest unbranded firmware ... Though the download is slooow but it's worth a shot http://www.sammobile.com/firmwares/download/48645/I9195XXUCOD3_I9195BTUCOD1_BTU/
Also just for the future your best to save EFS folder from your phones root. Also developer Wanam does a partition backup tool which will allow you to backup and restore your EFS.
RuffBuster said:
Not an expert at trying to restore IMEIs but maybe try flashing the latest unbranded firmware ... Though the download is slooow but it's worth a shot
Also just for the future your best to save EFS folder from your phones root. Also developer Wanam does a partition backup tool which will allow you to backup and restore your EFS.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks man i'll give it a go and EFS folder?
i love you! IT WORKED! thanks dude!!!