Develop Bugs

Help... I will PAY for help!

First person to help gets paid for your time...
Problem: I have a s3 i747 from att.
it has 4.3 stock.
I use srs to unlock all my phones.
well when I went to unlock this one it said it had new security.
Usually when this happens I odin this file that downgrades the modem.
well I did it and now I have null imei and unknown baseband
I tried restoring to stock, didn't help. Through kies and odin.
I need to put it back the way it was... can someone please help..... ill paypal you as soon as its working again...thanks

So you're currently at stock, unlocked? Does the phone boot at all?

These threads may help:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2658486
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2722660

yes it is still stock 4.3. no its not unlocked. everything works and boots fine. just no signal because of null imei and unknown baseband.
I think I need to just flash a modem via odin....I just don't know which one

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1831898
There's seems to be a rash of this happening in the past month. You'll probably find that link helpful but first check and see if others found a better solution.

Yes. Flash the 4.3 modem.
As of 4.3, flashing any older modem will no longer work, resulting in an unknown imei and baseband version. Flashing back to the correct modem nearly always solves this issue.
It will be like this from now on btw. You cannot use any modem except the one which matches your current firmware build.
This means our free unlock method no longer works unfortunately. But you can get unlocked for just a few bucks using one of the many services online. I know some are on ebay, but google will find others as well.

I installed cwm and downloaded the modem but im lost from there.
do I rename it update.zip?

Nope, just flash like you would any other rom.
Because you asked about renaming it to update.zip though, I have to ask if you are certain you are in cwm? If you had previously updated via ota it may restore the stock recovery every time you reboot. If this is happening, reflash cwm in Odin, but uncheck auto reboot. Wait until it says PASS, then unplug and pull the battery.
Next put the battery back in and boot to recovery. (Volume up, home, power. Release power only after it vibrates)
If you are sure you are in cwm though, just flash the modem normally.

Yes im sure its cmw. when I open recovery and look for the zip its nowhere to be found. that's why I was asking if I should change the name.
I did try it by changing the name but the file still doesn't show up.

It's an IMEI problem. If you haven't made a backup of the IMEI folder you can't do anything.
Sent from my SM-G900H using XDA Free mobile app

daddydv said:
Yes im sure its cmw. when I open recovery and look for the zip its nowhere to be found. that's why I was asking if I should change the name.
I did try it by changing the name but the file still doesn't show up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Make sure the sdcard is mounted. Have you tried getting to it on both internal and external cards?
Thin_Bezel said:
It's an IMEI problem. If you haven't made a backup of the IMEI folder you can't do anything.
Sent from my SM-G900H using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not true. 90% of unknown baseband and imei problems ive helped people with lately just needed the correct modem. And even if it were the imei, I can still help with that. Im convinced in this case its just the modem though.

Thanks doc... that was the problem...imei and baseband are back. donation has been sent....thanks again.

Hey thanks man! I do appreciate it, but I am just glad I could help! I will definitely put it to good use though! (Broke the lcd on my S3 a while back and haven't had the disposable funds to fix it. Something always comes up...lol!) Will be adding it to my savings for this purpose!
Anyway, since we were slightly on the IMEI topic, there is a backup you should do if you haven't already. (Root is required for this to work though.)
Its super simple and will create an on device backup of your nv data. The backup will be stored on a couple of partitions we never touch, not even with firmware flashes. This essentially makes it a permanent backup. The cool thing about it is every time you reboot, the system checks for any corruption, and if detected, it will automatically restore from this backup. So if it were to ever happen, you probably wouldn't ever even notice it!
Install the Terminal Emulator from the play store. Open and enter this:
su
reboot nvbackup
Thats it! Device will reboot and create your backup. This should prevent you from ever suffering from a lost IMEI!

DocHoliday77 said:
Hey thanks man! I do appreciate it, but I am just glad I could help! I will definitely put it to good use though! (Broke the lcd on my S3 a while back and haven't had the disposable funds to fix it. Something always comes up...lol!) Will be adding it to my savings for this purpose!
Anyway, since we were slightly on the IMEI topic, there is a backup you should do if you haven't already. (Root is required for this to work though.)
Its super simple and will create an on device backup of your nv data. The backup will be stored on a couple of partitions we never touch, not even with firmware flashes. This essentially makes it a permanent backup. The cool thing about it is every time you reboot, the system checks for any corruption, and if detected, it will automatically restore from this backup. So if it were to ever happen, you probably wouldn't ever even notice it!
Install the Terminal Emulator from the play store. Open and enter this:
su
reboot nvbackup
Thats it! Device will reboot and create your backup. This should prevent you from ever suffering from a lost IMEI!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can also use qpst to backup imei. Windows app. Free. Lots of walkthroughs around for those less comfortable with cli.

Nvm. 10char

azuziel said:
You can also use qpst to backup imei. Windows app. Free. Lots of walkthroughs around for those less comfortable with cli.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know, I already have it and have used it and other tools to help fix at least 700-800 S3's, probably more! (No, i do not charge for my help either.) I dont tell about it or give it out unless its absolutely needed for a legitimate imei restore though. Too many people try to use it illegally and Im not willing to take the chance. Its the main reason most of the info has been deleted from everywhere. Only a few threads here and there get by the mods it seems.
Anyway, to my knowledge, no one who has run this backup has ever lost their IMEI. It even seems to help for those occasions after flashing a cm rom where the imei displays "unknown". (Apparently, at least on the T999, cm sometimes has problems reading the nv data. If rebooting several times doesnt solve, stock firmware does).
At this point I believe if you run this backup, you will have no need for a .qcn or .txt file backup, which is why I just dont mention it anymore. And if it does happen, people can pm me and ill be happy to help fix it.
Because of how I understand this backup to function, I do believe if it had been run during first boot, we would've never seen so many imei problems to begin with! I just dont understand why Samsung refuses to do this!
Anyway, that's why I dont mention those tools anymore. If you have any questions about any of it, please feel free to PM me and ill try to explain better.

SM-T705 EFS Problem, How to restore?

Hi, Yes you're probably right I shouldn't have messed around without knowing exactly what I'm doing, but any help would be greatly appreciated, I have tried to search for answers on here, but the forum is running so slowly for me at the moment that searches just time out for me.
Anyway, heres what I did - I rooted via ODIN, (CF-Root) and installed CM12.1 - First though, having read about the EFS risks I thought I was covering my ass by downloading EFS Backup from the Play Store - I then backed up my EFS Partition, there were three options, and I assumed the safest option was to leave as default (tar.gz)
So when I saw I'd lost my IMEI after flashing CM, I reinstalled the app, tried to restore - which directed me to an app "Partition back up", which turned its nose up at my tar.gz files! (thanks for that EFS Back up!)
Can anyone tell me what I need to do with the tar.gz files? and do I need all of them?
Thanks in advance.

Partition backup?
Just use the restore options in EFS PRO. What's inside the archive, images or files?

I've just got a file of tar.gz's Radio, CDMA Radio, EFS, and three named M9kefs1 ,2, & 3
I copied them onto my Mac and managed to open them, which gave me .img files too, Which I've tried restoring on the tablet (using Partitions backup app) It reported success but didn't work.
I'll try this EFS Pro, I had seen it mentioned wasn't sure if thats the way to go, thanks!

I've got to ask, why through all of this you didn't use the one tool that would have solved your problem in minutes. TWRP?

ashyx said:
I've got to ask, why through all of this you didn't use the one tool that would have solved your problem in minutes. TWRP?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To back up EFS you mean? Quite simply I didn't think I needed to, I thought I'd done it with the EFS Back up app

zoidster said:
To back up EFS you mean? Quite simply I didn't think I needed to, I thought I'd done it with the EFS Back up app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There's nothing better than making a full backup in recovery.
It's your one and all get out clause if your device ever doesn't boot or something goes wrong.
Backup apps rely on a Bootable system.
In fact I would suggest you do it before going any further.

I suppose I wasn't too bothered, as coming from an "empty" tablet with no data loss to worry about, I had in my mind that if all went tits up I could simply flash the stock firmware with Odin. (Which I've now done anyway as EFS Pro wouldn't play ball)
Thanks for you help! Lesson learned on Backups.

zoidster said:
I suppose I wasn't too bothered, as coming from an "empty" tablet with no data loss to worry about, I had in my mind that if all went tits up I could simply flash the stock firmware with Odin. (Which I've now done anyway as EFS Pro wouldn't play ball)
Thanks for you help! Lesson learned on Backups.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Stock Firmware does not flash the EFS partition.
If it gets wiped or corrupted it's gone and not recoverable.
You have been lucky.

Well flashing the stock firmware back cured the problem, Must be a CM12.1 issue. That would explain why restoring the EFS .imgs didn't work either then.

Hi, I have a similiar issue with my SM-T705. I have the stock rom installed. My IMEI number seems to be broken. It's a generic imei 00499 number. However, I still have my box laying around which it came in. Is there any way to restore it from that?

haimann95 said:
Hi, I have a similiar issue with my SM-T705. I have the stock rom installed. My IMEI number seems to be broken. It's a generic imei 00499 number. However, I still have my box laying around which it came in. Is there any way to restore it from that?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you been able to resolve it? I am in the same boat as you

einsteino said:
Have you been able to resolve it? I am in the same boat as you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are dozens of us, DOZENS! Seriously though, if you get a method please share.

bricked?

is my phone bricked it only boots into fastboot and if I go on recovery or start the phone just shows a black screen this is after a twrp restore

You are clearly not bricked if you get to Fastboot. You can try writing the boot.img to both slots, and if that doesn't recover you install the factory image using flash-all (get rid of the -w in the batch file to retain your data). Read up a bit before posting. There are a lot of guides and good info here.

sliding_billy said:
You are clearly not bricked if you get to Fastboot. You can try writing the boot.img to both slots, and if that doesn't recover you install the factory image using flash-all (get rid of the -w in the batch file to retain your data). Read up a bit before posting. There are a lot of guides and good info here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i took it to a shop they said they flashed it but it was doing the same thing

atari260 said:
i took it to a shop they said they flashed it but it was doing the same thing
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What did you restore in twrp?

jd1639 said:
What did you restore in twrp?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i think it was system can't remember i did a backup then restore

jd1639 said:
What did you restore in twrp?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
all i know is it said restored failed then started doing this

atari260 said:
all i know is it said restored failed then started doing this
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, I assume you made a backup of boot, system, and data in twrp and then restored that? You backed up system and not system image? Have you flashed a factory image before using fastboot commands or have you been using a tool kit of some sort to do your flashing? I'm trying to gauge your proficiency and how your PC is set up to determine the next steps.

jd1639 said:
Ok, I assume you made a backup of boot, system, and data in twrp and then restored that? You backed up system and not system image? Have you flashed a factory image before using fastboot commands or have you been using a tool kit of some sort to do your flashing? I'm trying to gauge your proficiency and how your PC is set up to determine the next steps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have never flashed a factory img before took me while to grasp how to root not a software person what i got told by a friend who's tried fixing it for me is that he has flashed the stock rom on to it and it is still doing the same thing

atari260 said:
I have never flashed a factory img before took me while to grasp how to root not a software person what i got told by a friend who's tried fixing it for me is that he has flashed the stock rom on to it and it is still doing the same thing
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When you tried to restore in twrp, was it a backup you made on your device or was it backup from some other device? Is your friend pretty proficient at flashing google devices? It may be that there's nothing you can do at this point. To walk you through flashing a factory image is going to be a time consuming process.

jd1639 said:
When you tried to restore in twrp, was it a backup you made on your device or was it backup from some other device? Is your friend pretty proficient at flashing google devices? It may be that there's nothing you can do at this point. To walk you through flashing a factory image is going to be a time consuming process.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
backup I made on the device and you got any idea what has actually happened?
and he owns a repair shop so presume he does

jd1639 said:
When you tried to restore in twrp, was it a backup you made on your device or was it backup from some other device? Is your friend pretty proficient at flashing google devices? It may be that there's nothing you can do at this point. To walk you through flashing a factory image is going to be a time consuming process.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
sad times ah i broke the lcd 2 weeks after i got it the phones been in a repair shop longer then I have had it

atari260 said:
backup I made on the device and you got any idea what has actually happened?
and he owns a repair shop so presume he does
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't have an idea of what happened. Google devices are pretty hard to brick. And if they turn on and boot to anything they technically aren't bricked. But with that said, these dual slot devices are a bit finicky. It could be just a coincidence that something failed while you where restoring.

jd1639 said:
I don't have an idea of what happened. Google devices are pretty hard to brick. And if they turn on and boot to anything they technically aren't bricked. But with that said, these dual slot devices are a bit finicky. It could be just a coincidence that something failed while you where restoring.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
a dumb question would a rma work if I relocked the bootloader?

atari260 said:
backup I made on the device and you got any idea what has actually happened?
and he owns a repair shop so presume he does
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is not a certainty that he does. He could have sideloaded the OTA or even used the wrong factory image. Here is the guide for the 3XL. #4 has the information on a factory image.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/pixel-3-xl/how-to/guide-pixel-xl-android-9-0-pie-unlock-t3857195

atari260 said:
a dumb question would a rma work if I relocked the bootloader?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your biggest problem with a RMA is that you had the screen replaced. Something could have been damaged when doing that. Whether the bootloader is locked or not usually isn't an issue with Google. But it's worth a try. If you don't ask you definitely won't get a RMA. But I don't condone you fib on anything they ask you.
If it were my device I'd flash the factory image. Then change the active slot and flash it again. Then if that didn't work I'd flash each partition separately to both slots. That's a real pita as there's 20 to 30 different partitions, maybe more I haven't looked for awhile. That probably wouldn't do me any good but it might tell what partition is failing, not that I could do anything about it if one did.

I would probably even take it a step farther and fastboot erase the system on both partitions, the data, and the vendor on both. Then install the factory image.

If u can get to fastboot you are far from bricked

jd1639 said:
I don't have an idea of what happened. Google devices are pretty hard to brick. And if they turn on and boot to anything they technically aren't bricked. But with that said, these dual slot devices are a bit finicky. It could be just a coincidence that something failed while you where restoring.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well i got told by the shop/dads friend who owns it that I've apparently messed around with the system files and that it's ****ed tbh i think he is bs but idk as i did a system twrp backup and restore which the restore then failed

atari260 said:
well i got told by the shop/dads friend who owns it that I've apparently messed around with the system files and that it's ****ed tbh i think he is bs but idk as i did a system twrp backup and restore which the restore then failed
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
None of the suggestions here have involved using TWRP. The days of just restoring a TWRP backup on your phone do not apply for this device. Even the most skilled have issues with TWRP and the Pixel series. I have been on it since the OG Pixel and Pixel XL, and to be honest I haven't bothered restoring a TWRP backup. I can reinstall the factory image (with or without a wipe) and be back to normal sooner and with less headaches.

I ran into a similar situation after restoring a backup a little while ago. I ended up fixing it by flashing the stock build to both slots using the flash all bat. At this point I wouldn't be concerned about removing the -w. Just let it wipe everything and start from scratch.

Problems restoring nandroid backup to new phone

Hi all,
I believe the original motherboard for my RN5 whyred went bad (spontaneous reboots) and so I found a replacement for it - but it is a RN5Pro whyred board. Since they are both whyred, I figured it would be ok to replace the RN5 with the RN5Pro board. The boards look identical and they're both whyred, so why not? Right?
I made a nandroid backup with OrangeFox (9.2.3 I think?), swapped the boards, everything booted great with the new board. I unlocked the bootloader, installed a slightly newer version of OrangeFox (10.0.3) and then restored the nandroid backup. It restored without any errors, but when I tried to boot it - then the problems started. Since there was no logo or anything to see on the screen, I thought I hard bricked it, but MiFlash saw it and I was able to reinstall a stock MIUI 11.0.3 image. Now it boots, but I have a few questions/issues:
1. It doesn't recognize the SIM any more. It did recognize it when I first booted the new board, so I know it's not an issue of the board not recognizing the SIM by nature. Maybe the nandroid restore bonked it? Not sure what I can do at this point besides asking for a replacement SIM. Any ideas?
2. Is it not possible to restore a nandroid backup from the RN5 to the RN5Pro? Or do you have to use the exact same version of recovery to restore that you used to backup? I would really like to not have to reinstall and reconfigure all my programs, which includes 2FA apps that will be a pain to refresh.
Any help is appreciated,

eisenbergw said:
1. It doesn't recognize the SIM any more. It did recognize it when I first booted the new board, so I know it's not an issue of the board not recognizing the SIM by nature. Maybe the nandroid restore bonked it? Not sure what I can do at this point besides asking for a replacement SIM. Any ideas?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK, so I put the SIM in another phone and it works fine. So the problem is somewhere else. Can anyone point me in the right direction? The new board definitely recognized the SIM before I restored the nandroid backup and now after a stock ROM reflash, it doesn't recognize it. Driver?

eisenbergw said:
OK, so I put the SIM in another phone and it works fine. So the problem is somewhere else. Can anyone point me in the right direction? The new board definitely recognized the SIM before I restored the nandroid backup and now after a stock ROM reflash, it doesn't recognize it. Driver?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Persist partition and 1 more are corrupted... Search it on xda

drnightshadow said:
Persist partition and 1 more are corrupted... Search it on xda
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the reply. I found some resources for flashing the persist partition. Which is the other partition you suspect of being corrupted, or how can I discover that? Is it the modem partition/non-HLOS.bin? I've already done the regular stock ROM flash through fastboot, so the 'normal' partitions have already been rewritten. What other 'special' partitions are there besides persist?

eisenbergw said:
Thanks for the reply. I found some resources for flashing the persist partition. Which is the other partition you suspect of being corrupted, or how can I discover that? Is it the modem partition/non-HLOS.bin? I've already done the regular stock ROM flash through fastboot, so the 'normal' partitions have already been rewritten. What other 'special' partitions are there besides persist?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ha, you have them CCA 28 partitions. You need to find out by your self. Start with persist, vendor,... Most common ones than less common. Maybe you should try flashing under EDL mode. I would advise you to check which partitions did restored and start there.

drnightshadow said:
Ha, you have them CCA 28 partitions. You need to find out by your self. Start with persist, vendor,... Most common ones than less common. Maybe you should try flashing under EDL mode. I would advise you to check which partitions did restored and start there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow, no idea there were that many. I haven't been this deep into the phone before.
I see there is a file called partition.xml in the fastboot images directory, I assume that is the full list of partitions on the phone (but there are 64 entries there)? Do you actually check them all for corruption, or just try to reflash them all until it starts working? Some of them do not have a filename listed. Not sure what to do with those.
<partition label="apdp" size_in_kb="256" type="E6E98DA2-E22A-4D12-AB33-169E7DEAA507" bootable="false" readonly="false" filename=""/>
The 'flash_all.bat' file (that did the flash that got it working again) looks like it flashes 24 images by default, so I guess there aren't too many others to try.
Any links you can refer me to, to understand how to start poking at this? Thanks!

eisenbergw said:
Wow, no idea there were that many. I haven't been this deep into the phone before.
I see there is a file called partition.xml in the fastboot images directory, I assume that is the full list of partitions on the phone (but there are 64 entries there)? Do you actually check them all for corruption, or just try to reflash them all until it starts working? Some of them do not have a filename listed. Not sure what to do with those.
<partition label="apdp" size_in_kb="256" type="E6E98DA2-E22A-4D12-AB33-169E7DEAA507" bootable="false" readonly="false" filename=""/>
The 'flash_all.bat' file (that did the flash that got it working again) looks like it flashes 24 images by default, so I guess there aren't too many others to try.
Any links you can refer me to, to understand how to start poking at this? Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Start with EDL MODE and flash all.... Check and search 1st how EDL MODE works and how to get into it... Read a lot before you'll mess with your phone... for persist you need to patch file (like notepad++), very simple and for the rest like I said read a loooooot..
But if you use OrangeFox recovery than you should only look at those partitions + persist.. For everything else you need research by yourself, sorry no easy way out.
BE CAREFUL DON'T LOCK YOUR BOOTLOADER OR YOU'LL GET EVEN MORE TROUBLES !!!!!
Good luck.

You should be fine flashing 2 files, persist partition and modem file.
Extract the files from the fastboot rom installed in your device.
Please read and document yourself how to flash those files.
Modem file is called "NON-HLOS.bin" and is fastboot flashable.
Persist partition is recovery flashable by OrangeFox.
The best part is that you managed to hardware repair your device! The software part is easy.
Take care and good luck!
Follow @drnightshadow advice also.

MadK9 said:
You should be fine flashing 2 files, persist partition and modem file.
Extract the files from the fastboot rom installed in your device.
Please read and document yourself how to flash those files.
Modem file is called "NON-HLOS.bin" and is fastboot flashable.
Persist partition is recovery flashable by OrangeFox.
The best part is that you managed to hardware repair your device! The software part is easy.
Take care and good luck!
Follow @drnightshadow advice also.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the info. I tried both items, flashing modem from fastboot and persist from OF, but it didn't change anything.
So I tried an EDL flash, but it won't flash persist.img. It recognizes that it is sparse, but still gives me a 'ERROR_BAD_FORMAT' error and that is the end of that. Reflashed persist.img from OF, no results. Tried a regular stock fastboot-based flash with no tweaks and now it won't flash the modem with the error:
error:FAILED (status read failed (Too many links))
There's really not much left in the images directory that isn't already flashed -
* ddi.elf
* misc.img
* lksecapp.mbn
* uefi.elf (but that looks like a bootsector kind of thing)
My Google-fu is not strong enough to find any mentions of the first three images or what they are used for.
I do note that rawprogram0.xml mentions a lot of partitions that have no files associated with them. I'm a bit wary of just dropping those images into there without a good reason to do so. But again, Google is not helping here.
Any ideas before I toss the phone and go buy a new one?

Oh, man... I'm no expert at all and really cannot help anymore... There are more android experts here then anywhere else on this web and still your issue found no fix. In my opinion you should try to flash the factory image, the rom which your device came. I did encounter the issue when flashing went wrong a few years ago. No other image was flashable! Had errors with more recent ones but when I went and flash the factory image, my RN5 came to life.

MadK9 said:
Oh, man... I'm no expert at all and really cannot help anymore... There are more android experts here then anywhere else on this web and still your issue found no fix. In my opinion you should try to flash the factory image, the rom which your device came. I did encounter the issue when flashing went wrong a few years ago. No other image was flashable! Had errors with more recent ones but when I went and flash the factory image, my RN5 came to life.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did that and it did come back to life... except for not recognizing the SIM.
There is a lot of help here on xda, but I guess even that has its limits sometimes. If you or @drnightshadow don't have any other ideas, then I guess it's time to get a new phone. A shame really, this one lasted me about 3 years and I've had no reason to replace it until now.

No, you tried and accomplished a lot! You should not give up just because of us. We're no experts. Just try to look and search for similar issues but on other brands! Try this approach. And even if you buy a new phone, continue to look for solutions in order to have a RN5 functional again! I remember I even lost imei and all mac addresses for bth and wireless... Not quite like your issue but similar. Only flashing persisit partition brought my device back.
SIM not recognized after flashing at DuckDuckGo
DuckDuckGo. Privacy, Simplified.
duckduckgo.com
L.E.
You could also try to flash persist partition from other rom version, older or newer from stock images... an idea, something else to try...

MadK9 said:
No, you tried and accomplished a lot! You should not give up just because of us. We're no experts. Just try to look and search for similar issues but on other brands! Try this approach. And even if you buy a new phone, continue to look for solutions in order to have a RN5 functional again! I remember I even lost imei and all mac addresses for bth and wireless... Not quite like your issue but similar. Only flashing persisit partition brought my device back.
SIM not recognized after flashing at DuckDuckGo
DuckDuckGo. Privacy, Simplified.
duckduckgo.com
L.E.
You could also try to flash persist partition from other rom version, older or newer from stock images... an idea, something else to try...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm thinking - I got into this problem because I tried to restore a nandroid backup from the first board to the new board. I'm wondering if there is something like an IMEI or other 'burned in' identifier that got written in and now the phone has a mismatch so the OS won't recognize the SIM as being installed.
Fortunately, before I started doing anything with the new board I did a nandroid backup of what came shipped with it (I unlocked it and put OF on it first, obviously). A bunch of reading I did today made me think about the efs partition - I had restored persist and modem, but not that one. So I did a full nandroid restore of the clean backup, including efs. Rebooted and it went straight to fastboot, would not boot. No problem, used MiFlash to put MIUI 11.0.3 cleanly on it (no tweaks). When it booted after that - the SIM is back! Woo-hoo!
I'm guessing the EFS partition has something to do with it, but I'd have to do more reading to understand it more fully.
In any case, I have a usable board again. *finally*.
For the record (and for anyone else that might have this problem in the future):
* restore original clean nandroid backup (but probably only needed the *efs* partition)
* forced to do a stock rom install via fastboot (used MIUI 11.0.3)
** got use of the SIM again!
* flashed twrp in fastboot to be able to flash OrangeFox from inside twrp
* updated firmware to latest stable v12.0.2
* flash Lineage 18.1
* flash Magisk
* wipe caches and dalvik
* install gapps
* wipe caches and dalvik
* reboot to usable phone
Thanks for being part of the journey!

Sweet, that's nice to hear... Resurrection of whyred wuuuhuuu ..
good job... See, you just don't give up and success is here.. Remember that I told you persist and 1 more partition are corrupted... You find it, EFS
If it isn't hardware problem, whyred can be always unbricked.

Really, really happy for you man!!!
Well done!!!
Yesterday was about to do more research in order to find a way out for your issue but had something else at my job, only downloaded a fastboot rom and was trying to find that troubled partition, even to tell you about efs... And now, the good news from you is that you were busy and had success!!!
Enjoy your zombi phone! I mean resurrected!

Question Has anyone been able to restore nand backup since Android 13?

I tried backup and restore on POCO F3 and I think it was successful on A11 but I dont think restore ever worked since A12. Always had error 255 at the beginning of restoring data partition. Has anyone been successful restoring a backup of android 13?

Aserar said:
I tried backup and restore on POCO F3 and I think it was successful on A11 but I dont think restore ever worked since A12. Always had error 255 at the beginning of restoring data partition. Has anyone been successful restoring a backup of android 13?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Of course. Backup and restore work fine on OrangeFox.

Bit unrelated, but I always use Swift Backup for backing up apps+appdata. It can backup other things as well.
Requires Root, but you can always uninstall Magisk Root

DarthJabba9 said:
Of course. Backup and restore work fine on OrangeFox.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Both OFX and TW failed me at restore I can't think of any reason why if it's working with others. Do you remove screen lock before backing up? Never had to before but it's the only thing I could think of

cyanGalaxy said:
Bit unrelated, but I always use Swift Backup for backing up apps+appdata. It can backup other things as well.
Requires Root, but you can always uninstall Magisk Root
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah I do a swift backup also messages call log all of it but setting up the rest of the phone, logging back into accounts, is a pain, plus I always find an app or something that I forgot to refresh its backup. Nothing is like nand backup if you're testing new rom and might just go back

Aserar said:
Both OFX and TW failed me at restore I can't think of any reason why if it's working with others. Do you remove screen lock before backing up? Never had to before but it's the only thing I could think of
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Possibly a result of user error. If you explain the process that you went through in order to restore the backups, and provide logs of the restore process, then I might be able to comment.
And you might want to read this wiki very carefully.

DarthJabba9 said:
Possibly a result of user error. If you explain the process that you went through in order to restore the backups, and provide logs of the restore process, then I might be able to comment.
And you might want to read this wiki very carefully.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh I've gone through the ofx wiki before with no success. It could be the screen lock on EU A13 roms. I had the issue two times then I gave up on backing up roms. I didn't care to save a log sadly bc I was in a hurry to get the phone working again. The restore process was straight forward. Restore from OTG. It starts normally and as soon as it hits restoring /data it ends with error 255. It doesn't start restoring data then fails after a while. It fails instantly as soon as restore data partition appears. I'll try without screen lock if it still fails I'll send you the log. Thank you for your hard work though

Aserar said:
Oh I've went through the ofx wiki before with no success. It could be the screen lock on EU A13 roms. I had the issue two times then I gave up on backing up roms. I didn't care to save a log sadly bc I was in a hurry to get the phone working again. The restore process was straight forward. Restore from OTG. It starts normally and as soon as it hits restoring /data it ends with error 255. It doesn't start restoring data then fails after a while. It fails instantly as soon as restore data partition appears. I'll try without screen lock if it still fails I'll send you the log. Thank you for your hard work though
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. Idk about EU. But I have backed up and restored stock MIUI 14 many times, with no problem.
2. "Error 255" is always accompanied by an explanatory message in the recovery logs, which will show what caused the error.
3. Firstly, ensure that your OrangeFox is actually up-to-date (ie, that you are using the latest release).
4. Whether or not you have a screenlock before making the backup should not affect anything (as long as there is no screenlock set up at the time of restoring the backup). The lockscreen PIN/password is not included in the backups.

DarthJabba9 said:
1. Idk about EU. But I have backed up and restored stock MIUI 14 many times, with no problem.
2. "Error 255" is always accompanied by an explanatory message in the recovery logs, which will show what caused the error.
3. Firstly, ensure that your OrangeFox is actually up-to-date (ie, that you are using the latest release).
4. Whether or not you have a screenlock before making the backup should not affect anything (as long as there is no screenlock set up at the time of restoring the backup). The lockscreen PIN/password is not included in the backups.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah screen lock was never an issue before but it is the only thing I could think of. It could be something with EU. And yes I keep recovery up to date even when I don't switch roms. I made a backup of AOSP rom that I will probably restore soon. I'll keep you updated if the issue persists.

Aserar said:
Yeah screen lock was never an issue before but it is the only thing I could think of. It could be something with EU. And yes I keep recovery up to date even when I don't switch roms. I made a backup of AOSP rom that I will probably restore soon. I'll keep you updated if the issue persists.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I have now made backups and restores of the latest EU ROM (14.0.6.0) - boot and data partitions - without any problem (both with and without screen locks - obviously there must be no lockscreen PIN/password when restoring).

DarthJabba9 said:
Well, I have now made backups and restores of the latest EU ROM (14.0.6.0) - boot and data partitions - without any problem (both with and without screen locks - obviously there must be no lockscreen PIN/password when restoring).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And I restored my AOSP backup with no errors! I wish I hadn't deleted my EU backup that I got the error with. The EU rom I had was the latest weekly release V14.0.23 bc the official release had issues but I doubt its that. I'm at a loss :/

Aserar said:
And I restored my AOSP backup with no errors! I wish I hadn't deleted my EU backup that I got the error with. The EU rom I had was the latest weekly release V14.0.23 bc the official release had issues but I doubt its that. I'm at a loss :/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you have a link for that release?

Sorry for also deviating, just my two pennies worth,
I moved away from Migrate-GPE and Swift backup and have been using DataBackup.apk, this also requires root.
As usual DB saves your Apps and there Data, you also have the option to save Media Folders, DCIM, Download, Music, Pictures, Folders, i also save these to my Usb Stick using a OTG adaptor, DataBackup can be found is my "Temporary Recovery" folder.

DarthJabba9 said:
Do you have a link for that release?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Honestly I can't be sure of the exact release since its weekly. I looked it up and I can narrow it down to like 3 or 4 releases but it could be this one
https://sourceforge.net/projects/xiaomi-eu-multilang-miui-roms/files/xiaomi.eu/MIUI-WEEKLY-RELEASES/V14.0.23.4.10.DEV/xiaomi.eu_multi_HMK40_POCOF3_V14.0.23.4.10.DEV_v14-13.zip/download

johnr64 said:
Sorry for also deviating, just my two pennies worth,
I moved away from Migrate-GPE and Swift backup and have been using DataBackup.apk, this also requires root.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is this on the Play Store?
johnr64 said:
As usual DB saves your Apps and there Data, you also have the option to save Media Folders, DCIM, Download, Music, Pictures, Folders, i also save these to my Usb Stick using a OTG adaptor, DataBackup can be found is my "Temporary Recovery" folder.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Having an alternative backup plan is good. But I have always found nandroid backups sufficient - as long as you know what you're doing.

Aserar said:
Honestly I can't be sure of the exact release since its weekly. I looked it up and I can narrow it down to like 3 or 4 releases but it could be this one
https://sourceforge.net/projects/xiaomi-eu-multilang-miui-roms/files/xiaomi.eu/MIUI-WEEKLY-RELEASES/V14.0.23.4.10.DEV/xiaomi.eu_multi_HMK40_POCOF3_V14.0.23.4.10.DEV_v14-13.zip/download
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have backed up and restored this release as well, with no problem. I have satisfied myself (again) that there is no problem with backup/restore in OrangeFox Recovery, so, for me, this investigation is concluded.

DarthJabba9 said:
I have backed up and restored this release as well, with no problem. I have satisfied myself (again) that there is no problem with backup/restore in OrangeFox Recovery, so, for me, this investigation is concluded.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol there was no need for investigating my friend! The point of the thread was to see if its generally working with others and so eliminate it as the reason for the fail.

DarthJabba9 said:
Is this on the Play Store?
Having an alternative backup plan is good. But I have always found nandroid backups sufficient - as long as you know what you're doing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry for not getting back sooner,
I found DataBackup while watching youtube videos "Like You Do",
the source is on GitHub

Aserar said:
Lol there was no need for investigating my friend! The point of the thread was to see if its generally working with others and so eliminate it as the reason for the fail.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's no big deal. I always try to investigate problems, since they might possibly point to a problem in the recovery.

Same here. Since a12 that nandroid gives error on restoring. After that I don't count with that anymore. Ive been relying on Google to restore some apps, and on swift backup to restore the ones that are out of ps.
Before I was using migrate, but have put it aside, since the last time I've got error on zip file and so unable to restore my apps (a real pita). Swift have working flawlessly, and with the advantage of restore app settings too.