[Q] possibly lose imei flashing ROMs? - T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-T989

I have a Telus S3 and I know I/we (S3 users) have to be responsible and backup our imei info in case a flashed ROM wipes that data (supposedly not common but a known issue)
I just bought my wife a Telus S2X (t989) off eBay and I'm rooting it for her (and flashing) when it gets in. I've searched these forums and haven't found anything specific about this being an issue on these models so I just wanted to ask if its possible.
We have a small process to back it up on the S3 but not even sure if that will work on this phone.
Sent from my SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app

no need. for the gs2x/t989/skyrocket that issue is almost non existent. between the three phones over the past year I saw one instance only. even then, your phone has the sticker with the imei inside it under the battery

icenight89 said:
no need. for the gs2x/t989/skyrocket that issue is almost non existent. between the three phones over the past year I saw one instance only. even then, your phone has the sticker with the imei inside it under the battery
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the reply.
I know about the sticker behind the battery, the injecting of the imei is far worse than the backing up. Just wanted to make sure it isn't as common as on the gs3
Sent from my SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app

Related

Purchased used Nexus off Craigslist...what a mistake

Hey guys, So I purchased a used Nexus from a guy locally. I showed up and he had a box with charger, headphones, case, and screen protector. The phone looked perfect and he put his sim in and activated the phone along with showing me data worked along with calls. I bought the phone and took the phone to Verizon and had it activated. It activated fine, so I thought I made out good at this point. However, after looking at the phone further, it appears to have the 1850 Mah battery and the identification sticker under the battery does not have the Samsung logo. It just lists Model SCH-1515 V and shows the serial number and imei number along with STA 02/20/2012 Made in Korea.
I put in a code i found online to check and see if its refurbished and it shows NO for reconditioned. Here is the confusing part, the phone was first activated on 2/28/12 according to the software and has a lifetime call log of 82 calls at around 63 hours. The guy stated he owned the phone since December 17th and he wont return my calls. Do any of you guys know any additional information about this phone that can help me indentify what it is? Also, the phone seems to drop 4G coverage alot and when it first boots and shows the Google logo with a lock logo that appears below it. Does this mean anything? It also has the Superuser icon in my apps list so it appears to be rooted. The software version is 4.0.2 ICS. I feel like an idiot for buying this thing. Maybe I can flash it and fix the radios witha custom rom.
Why exactly are you feeling like an idiot? I still can't understand.
You have purchased the 4G Model of the Gnex, which is called I515:
http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_nexus_i515-4301.php
This version also includes the 1850mAh battery.
If it's rooted, you can easily unroot and lock your bootloader (the little lock thing will disappear then). Concerning the radio signal, you'll find most 4G users are struggling with the Network reception.
So all in all, unless there's something i missed/did not understand, you bought yourself a normal 4G Galaxy Nexus.
Yeah sounds like you got a unlocked and rooted phone. If you choose to download any roms make sure you download the ones for the Toro, Maguro is the GSM variant. If your reception is bad you could flash the leaked 4.0.4 radios. Check the CDMA development thread for radios, roms, etc. There are some great roms on here and rootzwiki.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App
I think I was more concerned about the dishonesty and the date the phone was activated. It just made me doubt my purchase. I mean, shouldn't the phone have a samsung logo behind the battery? I also found an ad where he posted the same phone for sale on 2/28 which is the day the phone was first activated. Thanks for your input!
Dude, it's USED from some random guy ONLINE... expect dishonesty!
AndroidHead05 said:
I think I was more concerned about the dishonesty and the date the phone was activated. It just made me doubt my purchase. I mean, shouldn't the phone have a samsung logo behind the battery? I also found an ad where he posted the same phone for sale on 2/28 which is the day the phone was first activated. Thanks for your input!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it should have a samsung logo under the batter that has the IMEI number on it.
i bet you got a stolen phone, but if VZW activated it, call it a good day and forget about it all. if you want a stock phone, go to the dev forums and read how to flash back to stock with the CDMA version.
AndroidHead05 said:
I think I was more concerned about the dishonesty and the date the phone was activated. It just made me doubt my purchase. I mean, shouldn't the phone have a samsung logo behind the battery? I also found an ad where he posted the same phone for sale on 2/28 which is the day the phone was first activated. Thanks for your input!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How about you post some pictures here so we can tell you? Make sure to hide the IMEI and Serial Number before posting those pics.
Lifetime call log info and activation resets everytime you hard reset or flash a rom
Kind of a weird post. You got GN that you hooked up to Verizon without a problem and it came with a stock battery. What exactly is the issue here?
Anyway, for future if you ever want to buy a used phone locally always make the seller meet you at a Verizon store or whoever you are trying to hook the phone up with so they can check the phone for you in person.
rquinn19 said:
Lifetime call log info and activation resets everytime you hard reset or flash a rom
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is not true. *#*#RTN#*#* will hold you info even through factory resets and flashes. It's not entirely bug-free though, as I've got a screen shot from January showing that I had an incoming call time of 320 hours after only owning the phone for a month, which of course works out to 10 hours of calling a day. In the 7 weeks since it's crawled up to just over 500 hours.
My guess is that it has something to do with Google Voice.
Don't worry about it. Flash 4.0.4 and be done with it! More than likely you will get better reception with the new radios.
Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk
AndroidHead05 said:
Also, the phone seems to drop 4G coverage alot and when it first boots and shows the Google logo with a lock logo that appears below it. Does this mean anything? It also has the Superuser icon in my apps list so it appears to be rooted. The software version is 4.0.2 ICS. I feel like an idiot for buying this thing. Maybe I can flash it and fix the radios witha custom rom.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The "lock icon" on boot means that the phone is already Unlocked, so you dont need to do anything you are ready to flash CWM (if it isnt on there already)... if you want to flash a custom rom you can I would suggest stock 4.0.4. If its dropping 4G may be the crap 4.0.2 radios wait for an update or do it yourself like I said stock 4.0.4 imo is the best way to go you can find it in the Development section.
Thanks for the suggestions guys! Is AOKP Milestone 4 a good rom. What is the recommended radio to flash? If I go to stock 4.0.4, will that affect anything as this phone is rooted and unlocked already?
AndroidHead05 said:
Thanks for the suggestions guys! Is AOKP Milestone 4 a good rom. What is the recommended radio to flash? If I go to stock 4.0.4, will that affect anything as this phone is rooted and unlocked already?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Milestone 4 or Axiom are great Roms. Don't see why you would flash a stock ROM, other ROMs are very stable and offer a ton of customizations.
[email protected] said:
Milestone 4 or Axiom are great Roms. Don't see why you would flash a stock ROM, other ROMs are very stable and offer a ton of customizations.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your help, what radio should I flash with it?
AndroidHead05 said:
Thanks for your help, what radio should I flash with it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The thing about radios is that everyone's experience is different. I use the 4.0.4 CDMA/LTE radios but you'll also find that some people prefer hybrid radios.
I would recommend starting with the 4.0.4 CDMA/LTE radios because that's what I have had the best luck with and I use AOKP Milestone 4 as well.
Just make sure you read the directions carefully when flashing radios.
rquinn19 said:
Lifetime call log info and activation resets everytime you hard reset or flash a rom
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No it doesn't.
ATnTdude said:
That is not true. *#*#RTN#*#* will hold you info even through factory resets and flashes
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This code is not working for me. Galaxy nexus EU, is it US only?
Verstuurd van mijn Galaxy Nexus met Tapatalk
No, but its stock rom only (usually).
Zepius said:
it should have a samsung logo under the batter that has the IMEI number on it.
i bet you got a stolen phone, but if VZW activated it, call it a good day and forget about it all. if you want a stock phone, go to the dev forums and read how to flash back to stock with the CDMA version.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
VZW will not activate a stolen phone.

ICS Leaks Causing Bricks?! Updated With More Info.(New Link)

http://www.xda-developers.com/android/hard-brick-bug-on-galaxy-s-ii-and-note-leaked-ics-kernels/
Maybe someone who is a little more savvy in this field could take a look?
Here is a very good article and discussion about the issue:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1644364
Sent from my SGH-T989 using xda premium
this is kinda scary but so far I never had any problem
We don't even have any kernel source. There is a leaked kernel but that didn't cause any brick in our devices. Also note that the article does not mention sgh t989 or sgh 727 and all its sub variants. If this was the case for us you would see many more "[Q] plz halp I haz brick " threads
Sent from my SGH-T989 using XDA
Hey guys. I just came over from the Sprint version of this phone (Epic 4G touch), and while I know that this article dosen't say that it pertains to our device specifically, one of the devs over there got in touch with samsung about the issues. You can see their progress here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1644364
For those who don't want to read (and I don't blame you if you don't want to, it's heavy stuff and I needed to have it explained to me), long story short: The memory chips (known as the EMMC) in the phone have their own firmware embedded in them, independent of the ROM, kernel, modem, etc. In that firmware, there's a bug that writes a string of zeros to an area of the firmware itself, kind of a self distrusting thing. It's only for certain revisions of the EMMC firmware, and it's only triggered by a specific low-level wipe function that is commonly used in recoveries (I'm not sure which, one of the partition wipes I think), and it for some reason seems to happen more with an ICS based kernel more than in a GB.
Given the nature of EMMC chips and the fact that multiple devices might share these same physical type of EMMC memory chips, it's hard to say how many different kinds of phones and devices might be affected, but it's safer to assume that we might be, rather than to think that we're safe based on this article alone.
There's no official solution as of yet, as far as I know. Samsung has started to patch their 4.x kernels to work around this specific wipe function, thus avoiding triggering the bug, and I think this is because rewriting the EMMC firmware itself is more risky and perhaps harder to do on a wide scale, but again, I'm not sure of their reasons. But, we do know that they're working to find some way around the bugs, and those who built custom kernels also removed/modified that wipe command to work around this bug with success.
Again, I know this doesn't say that it applies to our phones, but because of what was discovered on the Epic 4G touch, I believe that it *may* apply to many, many Samsung phones and devices, and just to be safe, I figure I should share this with you all.
The solution that we were using for time being was: never, ever do any recovery functions from a ICS based kernel/recovery. Always ODIN a GB based kernel/recovery to do what you need to do, then flash the proper ICS back. Kind of tedious, but it worked and prevented me from ever bricking when a LOT of other people were. Food for thought, everyone
TL;DR: You should probably avoid doing anything in an ICS based recovery/kernel on any Samsung device until we hear from them that they've worked out this bug.
kahm said:
Hey guys. I just came over from the Sprint version of this phone (Epic 4G touch), and while I know that this article dosen't say that it pertains to our device specifically, one of the devs over there got in touch with samsung about the issues. You can see their progress here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1644364
For those who don't want to read (and I don't blame you if you don't want to, it's heavy stuff and I needed to have it explained to me), long story short: The memory chips (known as the EMMC) in the phone have their own firmware embedded in them, independent of the ROM, kernel, modem, etc. In that firmware, there's a bug that writes a string of zeros to an area of the firmware itself, kind of a self distrusting thing. It's only for certain revisions of the EMMC firmware, and it's only triggered by a specific low-level wipe function that is commonly used in recoveries (I'm not sure which, one of the partition wipes I think), and it for some reason seems to happen more with an ICS based kernel more than in a GB.
Given the nature of EMMC chips and the fact that multiple devices might share these same physical type of EMMC memory chips, it's hard to say how many different kinds of phones and devices might be affected, but it's safer to assume that we might be, rather than to think that we're safe based on this article alone.
There's no official solution as of yet, as far as I know. Samsung has started to patch their 4.x kernels to work around this specific wipe function, thus avoiding triggering the bug, and I think this is because rewriting the EMMC firmware itself is more risky and perhaps harder to do on a wide scale, but again, I'm not sure of their reasons. But, we do know that they're working to find some way around the bugs, and those who built custom kernels also removed/modified that wipe command to work around this bug with success.
Again, I know this doesn't say that it applies to our phones, but because of what was discovered on the Epic 4G touch, I believe that it *may* apply to many, many Samsung phones and devices, and just to be safe, I figure I should share this with you all.
The solution that we were using for time being was: never, ever do any recovery functions from a ICS based kernel/recovery. Always ODIN a GB based kernel/recovery to do what you need to do, then flash the proper ICS back. Kind of tedious, but it worked and prevented me from ever bricking when a LOT of other people were. Food for thought, everyone
TL;DR: You should probably avoid doing anything in an ICS based recovery/kernel on any Samsung device until we hear from them that they've worked out this bug.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Finally someone with a brain! Thanks for the post
Sent from my SGH-T989 using xda premium
Scary stuff indeed, has anyone confirmed that our devices (T989) is affected by this bug?
Back on the original Epic we used Odin to get the next version. I think it was 2.1 to 2.2 roms. I've always wondered how safe it was to revert to GB by flashing after installing ICS
Sent from my SGH-T989 using xda premium
[Q] plz halp I haz brick
Disregard. Funny how you figure out your issue just seconds after you post and open yourself up to ridicule.
DOH!
mharmon said:
I seem to have hard-bricked my SGH-T989 phone after flashing task650-aokp-Build-36. I don't know if it's a superbrick, but nothing I can do seems to make any difference. The phone does not seem to respond and does not seem to power off, power on or go into download mode. I have swapped with a known good battery and I know that's not the issue. I've tried using a USB jig and that doesn't help. I've contacted Samsung and I should be shipping it to them Monday.
If anyone has any advice, I'm willing to try anything otherwise I'm going to take my lumps and ship my phone off.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Pull your battery sd card and sim card out. leave phone sitting with everything pulled for about an hour. put it back together and try again. make sure your battery is charged for sure. it would suck if it was nothing but a dead battery
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-T989 using xda premium
Micronads said:
Pull your battery sd card and sim card out. leave phone sitting with everything pulled for about an hour. put it back together and try again. make sure your battery is charged for sure. it would suck if it was nothing but a dead battery
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-T989 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the quick response. I've tried pulling the battery, USB jig, etc. and can't get it to power on, off or go into download mode. I know what I did wrong. I made a rookie mistake and flashed a ROM meant for my AT&T I777. I feel stupid for bricking my phone.
mharmon said:
Thanks for the quick response. I've tried pulling the battery, USB jig, etc. and can't get it to power on, off or go into download mode. I know what I did wrong. I made a rookie mistake and flashed a ROM meant for my AT&T I777. I feel stupid for bricking my phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds like you are fizzucked then. Sorry to hear that. That is what sucks about having different phones and flashing stuff. Got to keep track of what is what.
Sent from my Galaxy SII T-mobile using xda premium
Micronads said:
Sounds like you are fizzucked then. Sorry to hear that. That is what sucks about having different phones and flashing stuff. Got to keep track of what is what.
Sent from my Galaxy SII T-mobile using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah sounds dead to me. Send in for warranty. Oh well, stuff happens. Good luck to you!
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using Tapatalk 2
Id rather risk bricking than rock without 4.04
Sent from my SGH-T989 using xda premium
Nobody has said it is necessary applicable to this device.
jim93 said:
Nobody has said it is necessary applicable to this device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're right, it doesn't say it's applicable to our device. But it also doesn't say our device is one of the safe GS2 variants. As you can see in my signature, I'm also using 4.0.4. And if you read my post history, I recommend it to everyone. I'm just saying that it hasn't been proven safe yet, but there's also no proof its dangerous either.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using xda premium
ICS has been flashed to these phones probably a half million times by now. If it was causing bricks we would have heard about it.
Sent from the iPhone graveyard.
I've seen like two threads about bricking in this forum in the last two days. How could you say that there's no proof? I'm sorry to say it but I think everyone is being a little too cautiously optimistic. There's no harm in being safe. If you guys actually read about this, you'd realize that its not ICS causing bricks, its any ICS based recovery.
kahm said:
I've seen like two threads about bricking in this forum in the last two days. How could you say that there's no proof? I'm sorry to say it but I think everyone is being a little too cautiously optimistic. There's no harm in being safe. If you guys actually read about this, you'd realize that its not ICS causing bricks, its any ICS based recovery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Also, people should know that the listed phones in the OP are Exynos based and T989, i727/r and i717 are Qualcomm based. This has been discussed in the skyrocket forums and some devs have explained that.
Just my 2 cents.
kahm said:
I've seen like two threads about bricking in this forum in the last two days. How could you say that there's no proof? I'm sorry to say it but I think everyone is being a little too cautiously optimistic. There's no harm in being safe. If you guys actually read about this, you'd realize that its not ICS causing bricks, its any ICS based recovery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The brick in this thread was due to flashing an i777 rom to a t989. Flashing an i777 rom to t989 regardless of OS will brick your phone.
It seems to be all exynos based, but thanks for the heads up, man.

EMEI Lost, apparently common

I lost my EMEI the other day and subsequently lost my 3/4g data. I restored a backup through CWM and then I noticed I lost it.
I did everything to get it back. I followed the steps on XDA using various tools to reinsert my EMEI, and then another to get my data connection back. Neither works. Then I unrooted to restore it back to factory.
Zip.
Finally I called tmobile and after doing everything they said (including a factory reset) they agreed to replace it. It took three days of dealing with them. On the second day the technician told me that this has been a big problem with the Galaxy SIII. He said it's been happening to all the carriers.
So maybe it has nothing to do with flashing after all....
Maybe EVERYBODY is flashing? EMEI or IMEI?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1808408
its a know issue. check out this thread for a possable fix.
jdyowa said:
I lost my EMEI the other day and subsequently lost my 3/4g data. I restored a backup through CWM and then I noticed I lost it.
I did everything to get it back. I followed the steps on XDA using various tools to reinsert my EMEI, and then another to get my data connection back. Neither works. Then I unrooted to restore it back to factory.
Zip.
Finally I called tmobile and after doing everything they said (including a factory reset) they agreed to replace it. It took three days of dealing with them. On the second day the technician told me that this has been a big problem with the Galaxy SIII. He said it's been happening to all the carriers.
So maybe it has nothing to do with flashing after all....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's IMEI, not EMEI
It has EVERYTHING to do with flashing.
This has been an issue with Samsung phones since the Nexus S (and the original Galaxy S phones as well I believe...I first experienced it on the Nexus S).
The difference is...is the international SGSIII and earlier phones were able to fix the issue by backing up the efs folder.
On the US (read dual core snapdragon) variants it is no longer contained there.
You need a different method of backup/restore. I believe the link posted above is the answer.
Sent from my HTC_Amaze_4G using xda premium
Babydoll25 said:
It's IMEI, not EMEI
It has EVERYTHING to do with flashing.
This has been an issue with Samsung phones since the Nexus S (and the original Galaxy S phones as well I believe...I first experienced it on the Nexus S).
The difference is...is the international SGSIII and earlier phones were able to fix the issue by backing up the efs folder.
On the US (read dual core snapdragon) variants it is no longer contained there.
You need a different method of backup/restore. I believe the link posted above is the answer.
Sent from my HTC_Amaze_4G using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
IMEI...yeah. every time I say that, I screw it up.
I was able to reinsert it, but it didn't bring back my data signal. I'll look at that link to see if it's different. Yeah when the guy told me it was happening to everyone, I was thinking that they haven't caught on to people flashing roms yet. However, years ago when I had many 3 g slide I sent it back for warranty with it still rooted and they never said a word. It still worked but the screen had a shadow under it.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda app-developers app
jdyowa said:
IMEI...yeah. every time I say that, I screw it up.
I was able to reinsert it, but it didn't bring back my data signal. I'll look at that link to see if it's different. Yeah when the guy told me it was happening to everyone, I was thinking that they haven't caught on to people flashing roms yet. However, years ago when I had many 3 g slide I sent it back for warranty with it still rooted and they never said a word. It still worked but the screen had a shadow under it.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea, they don't care if your phone is rooted or at least they never cared about any of my phones that were rooted. Before sending my rooted phone back to them for warranty replacement I did always make sure I loaded the stock Rom though. Tmobile doesn't care. They just throw the phone into a bin. Once the bin is filled with enough pbones, they put them into a box and send them back to Samsung.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda premium
jrwingate6 said:
Yea, they don't care if your phone is rooted or at least they never cared about any of my phones that were rooted. Before sending my rooted phone back to them for warranty replacement I did always make sure I loaded the stock Rom though. Tmobile doesn't care. They just throw the phone into a bin. Once the bin is filled with enough pbones, they put them into a box and send them back to Samsung.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not necessarily I've seen customers who have been charged for being rooted, yet I have sent a phone that was rooted without being charged too with things that may not be obvious like physical damage or water damage its a gamble on how thorough tmobile decides to be when they inspect it stock rom and deleting super user is always a good idea.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2

Zero Bars in my House

Hi guys,
My Galaxy Nexus running stock 4.2.2 started getting zero bars reception in my house in about mid December. At the time, I hadn't done anything different to it, so I assumed it would go away over time, so I focused on my final exams instead. Flash forward to today, it's been months since I have had reception on my phone. This is a really big problem for me, as I can't even take phone calls or send/receive texts. I've been using Rogers One Number and Whatsapp through WiFi to get by, and it sucks.
My brother has the same phone, and I helped him flash the Google stock ROM, so hes running same everything as me. I've tried plugging his Sim into mine and my phone still gets zero bars (his is fine). I've tried plugging my Sim into an old Samsung dumbphone, and it was fine. I don't remember if I tried my brothers phone... I will if I have to.
I had no problems for the months I owned the phone leading to December (since about March last year). I've tried scouring the forums for solutions, but I get flooded with Verizon reception problems... I'm in Canada on Rogers, and had my phone working well until December, so it's not the right problem.
According to the secret menu, it says I have -107dBm (fluctuating to -111dBm within the typing of this message), 1 asu. I have no idea what that means, but I see everyone always posting this with reception issues. I've tried doing a backup and a factory reset, with no results. I've tried flashing to stock 4.1 with no results. This leads me to believe it's a hardware issue, so I tried opening it up to see if the antenna was loose; it was not.
Please tell me what kind of additional information I need to provide for you guys to try to help me. Am I supposed to try flashing a new radio? Which am I supposed to use if I'm in Vancouver, BC on Rogers?
I found this forum (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2163312&page=), with a magical solution of waiting the next day. Unfortunately, I've been waiting for months.
Regards,
Eddy.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1800550
There was also this incident that happened last year that I posted about, but it quickly went away after the "squeeze" solution. I've tried the squeeze solution since then, and even opening it up to check the antenna with no results.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app
Sounds like a hardware issue. If its within warranty, have it replaced or do an insurance claim if you have it.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
JPBeard21 said:
Sounds like a hardware issue. If its within warranty, have it replaced or do an insurance claim if you have it.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately, I have neither options, as I purchased it new through Craigslist. I'm capable of opening it up, and would be happy to replace parts... does anyone know where I can find out what parts I would need in such a scenario as well as where I could purchase?
R: Zero Bars in my House
Take a look to ifixit teardown if you want to know which part is changeable
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app

IMEI backup necessary for the S4?

I'm coming from a Verizon S3 over to a T-Mobile S4. On the Verizon S3, it was imperative that we backed up the IMEI if we were going to flash anything custom, especially AOSP ROMs, or else risk the headache of restoring the IMEI, ERI, etc. If I recall, it was an oversight (or something) by Samsung by not including the nvbackup in some setting or process - forgive me, that gets a bit over my head.
I'm just wondering if that's necessary on the S4? Or maybe that was a Verizon only thing anyway?
Thanks in advance...
jntdroid said:
I'm coming from a Verizon S3 over to a T-Mobile S4. On the Verizon S3, it was imperative that we backed up the IMEI if we were going to flash anything custom, especially AOSP ROMs, or else risk the headache of restoring the IMEI, ERI, etc. If I recall, it was an oversight (or something) by Samsung by not including the nvbackup in some setting or process - forgive me, that gets a bit over my head.
I'm just wondering if that's necessary on the S4? Or maybe that was a Verizon only thing anyway?
Thanks in advance...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you know how to do it, I say go for it. Even the Tmo versions of the S3 were plagued with IMEI loss and other crap when ROMs 1st started rolling out.
I ran "reboot nvbackup" via terminal emulator. On the S3 it would reboot and show two small lines of blue text in the top left corner showing it was backing up, albeit it was brief. Didn't see anything like that with the S4, it just rebooted.
The other method was to flash the synergy zip and it would put a backup on your storage that could be flashed. I'm hesitant only because in don't want to screw anything up, but I still have that zip...
--
Sent from my S4
TWRP has an option to backup efs when you do a nandroid.
I have never heard of losing your IMEI before! Is Sprint unique in that way (that IMEI isn't lost)?
I've been on CDMA phones for years and only started flashing when I got to Sprint, switched to T-Mobile last week.
SF Steven said:
I have never heard of losing your IMEI before! Is Sprint unique in that way (that IMEI isn't lost)?
I've been on CDMA phones for years and only started flashing when I got to Sprint, switched to T-Mobile last week.
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Coming from the T-Mobile Galaxy S2, I have seen people get corrupted EFS folders where the IMEI info is supposed to be stored. I'm not sure how it is on the S4, but there wasn't a way to back it up, that I'm aware of, because a necessary file, nv_data, was hidden or non-existent.
Here is how to backup the efs
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2392632
munchy_cool said:
Here is how to backup the efs
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2392632
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This works on our s4?
Sent from my GT-I9505G using Tapatalk 4
PostMeridianLyf said:
This works on our s4?
Sent from my GT-I9505G using Tapatalk 4
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yes

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