Related
I apologize in advance if any of this makes you roll your eyes at my stupidity.
Good Afternoon
I have an ATT samsung galaxy s3, Because of the glitches with 4.3 I was experiencing I decided to install custom software on my phone. So I looked up guides and got everything I needed. I did manage to get root access, and verified with super user. I also installed TWRP and CWM because each kept giving me errors when I tried to install CM 11 onto my phone. I tried CWM first, and when that didn't work I tried TWRP. It says there was no MD5 information found when I try to install any mod. how ever I have used the md5 file checker program and the MD5 matches up to what was listed in this one for example.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=2518998
Download:
CM 11.0 Unofficial Beta 7 for d2tmo and d2att
MD5: ef93957db1e6704f23f9015231a82826
So the MD5 matches, yet when I try to install it keeps giving me errors. I also tried other versions of CM that I found on here via links. Right now my phone has no OS as another guide I read some where also said to wipe system data (sorry if that was stupid, I was just following a guideline) And even more stupid, no I don't have a backup because in my naivety and stupidity I didn't think I'd need one as it seemed so simple from all the guides and videos I'd seen.
Yesterday a friend of mine knowledgeable with tech stuff took one of the original stock Image ROMs I'd downloaded and using linux and some program he managed to do some crazy stuff I can't even describe on here. All I saw was a lot of typing of command lines and it got my phone working again, how ever it wasn't exactly the stock image I guess because the phone would not make or receive calls/texts.
Since my phone was powering on again and the android OS was loading I figured I could connect it to my computer and use KIES to download the official latest update so my phone would be back on the legit software. But trying to do that...well broke my phone again. So I'm at a loss now of what to do. Right now I can still get to download mode on my phone, but when I try to get into recovery mode I get an error that "firmware upgrade encountered an issue. Please select recovery mode in KIES & try again." Which I've tried, and every time I try it gives me an error message.So I'm at a loss of what to do next.
So I'd like to get a working OS on my phone asap so I can get calls and texts.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. And being new I'm sorry if I broke any taboos or did not give some information that is typically given when describing a problem.
gvazquez82 said:
I apologize in advance if any of this makes you roll your eyes at my stupidity.
Good Afternoon
I have an ATT samsung galaxy s3, Because of the glitches with 4.3 I was experiencing I decided to install custom software on my phone. So I looked up guides and got everything I needed. I did manage to get root access, and verified with super user. I also installed TWRP and CWM because each kept giving me errors when I tried to install CM 11 onto my phone. I tried CWM first, and when that didn't work I tried TWRP. It says there was no MD5 information found when I try to install any mod. how ever I have used the md5 file checker program and the MD5 matches up to what was listed in this one for example.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=2518998
Download:
CM 11.0 Unofficial Beta 7 for d2tmo and d2att
MD5: ef93957db1e6704f23f9015231a82826
So the MD5 matches, yet when I try to install it keeps giving me errors. I also tried other versions of CM that I found on here via links. Right now my phone has no OS as another guide I read some where also said to wipe system data (sorry if that was stupid, I was just following a guideline) And even more stupid, no I don't have a backup because in my naivety and stupidity I didn't think I'd need one as it seemed so simple from all the guides and videos I'd seen.
Yesterday a friend of mine knowledgeable with tech stuff took one of the original stock Image ROMs I'd downloaded and using linux and some program he managed to do some crazy stuff I can't even describe on here. All I saw was a lot of typing of command lines and it got my phone working again, how ever it wasn't exactly the stock image I guess because the phone would not make or receive calls/texts.
Since my phone was powering on again and the android OS was loading I figured I could connect it to my computer and use KIES to download the official latest update so my phone would be back on the legit software. But trying to do that...well broke my phone again. So I'm at a loss now of what to do. Right now I can still get to download mode on my phone, but when I try to get into recovery mode I get an error that "firmware upgrade encountered an issue. Please select recovery mode in KIES & try again." Which I've tried, and every time I try it gives me an error message.So I'm at a loss of what to do next.
So I'd like to get a working OS on my phone asap so I can get calls and texts.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. And being new I'm sorry if I broke any taboos or did not give some information that is typically given when describing a problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
same error happened to me yesterday and spent the whole day figuring it out. get into download mode. boot up ODIN and reflash your preferred custom recovery. after that, i couldn't find anything else to restore my phone with so i installed 4.3 leaked from here. doesn't matter which one you select. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2498233. place it on your sd card and head into recovery mode, wipe data/factory reset and cache. head to install zip from sd card and select the 4.3 zip you downloaded. reboot system and it should work. the at&t boot screen takes a while so be patient
MrHaPpY66 said:
same error happened to me yesterday and spent the whole day figuring it out. get into download mode. boot up ODIN and reflash your preferred custom recovery. after that, i couldn't find anything else to restore my phone with so i installed 4.3 leaked from here. doesn't matter which one you select. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2498233. place it on your sd card and head into recovery mode, wipe data/factory reset and cache. head to install zip from sd card and select the 4.3 zip you downloaded. reboot system and it should work. the at&t boot screen takes a while so be patient
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First of all thank you for trying to help me, I hope you are having a good Thanks Giving.
I used the thread you linked to, and downloaded the version with out knox. I followed the instructions
transferred ROM and flashed kernel file to SD card
used odin to flash TWRP,
used twrp to flash rom and kernel file.
and it takes the file thankfully, there's only one issue. My phone can't make or receive calls/texts. Is yours able to?
I messed up and was playing with things That I had no business playing with and decided that I should do a restore of a backup (TWRP) I made as soon as I rooted the 4.3 OTA. well it has soft bricked my phone. it was a TWRP 4.3 Nandroid and has me messed up a little.
so far I tried My nandroid (no dice now a soft brick) cleared cache and dalvik, It was booting as far as the white at&t spinning thing,
Factory reset same on booting,
Tried a format of the internal sd this is where it gets sketchy it now goes as far as the second samsung screen(the one that says Samsung GALAXY S III)
4.3 OTA .zip (no dice TWRP wont flash it) same on the booting 2nd samsung boot screen
Tried the files in the link above and got a Hard brick
Used the debricking .IMG file and got TWRP and download mode back
Any suggestions?
Looks like I might need a JTAG/RIFF BOX for this one. If nothing else I spent many Hours of darkness discovering the darkness of android 4.3
If I get recovered from this and with a different rom like 4.1.2 I will be happy. the 4.3 OTA was very stable but I did miss wifi tether and the whole hardbrick thing was kind of a bummer. it would be real nice to have an ODIN file to fix this (AHEM samsung) or atleast perhaps stopped the progression of it to a hard brick.
New update
I got my phone booting up again however there is a catch. That unbrick.img file on my 16GB sd card is still required to boot the phone and I have no cell service what so ever. Tried to check apn settings because at home I sometimes get poor service and I run net10 so I was going to fix my apn and it says insert sim??? the sim is properly inserted???
Next Update
the bootloader I flashed apparently flashed to the external sd card? I flashed another one and it is booting from the internal sd. I had to flash a different modem the one in the bootloader/modem file I flashed from the link above didnt take? I got most everything sorted out, but im getting tired, it has been an all night adventure. its 08:23 est now
sorry for the delay in updating this I had to get some rest.
theramsey3 said:
I messed up and was playing with things That I had no business playing with and decided that I should do a restore of a backup (TWRP) I made as soon as I rooted the 4.3 OTA. well it has soft bricked my phone. it was a TWRP 4.3 Nandroid and has me messed up a little.
so far I tried My nandroid (no dice now a soft brick) cleared cache and dalvik, It was booting as far as the white at&t spinning thing,
Factory reset same on booting,
Tried a format of the internal sd this is where it gets sketchy it now goes as far as the second samsung screen(the one that says Samsung GALAXY S III)
4.3 OTA .zip (no dice TWRP wont flash it) same on the booting 2nd samsung boot screen
Tried the files in the link above and got a Hard brick
Used the debricking .IMG file and got TWRP and download mode back
Any suggestions?
Looks like I might need a JTAG/RIFF BOX for this one. If nothing else I spent many Hours of darkness discovering the darkness of android 4.3
If I get recovered from this and with a different rom like 4.1.2 I will be happy. the 4.3 OTA was very stable but I did miss wifi tether and the whole hardbrick thing was kind of a bummer. it would be real nice to have an ODIN file to fix this (AHEM samsung) or atleast perhaps stopped the progression of it to a hard brick.
New update
I got my phone booting up again however there is a catch. That unbrick.img file on my 16GB sd card is still required to boot the phone and I have no cell service what so ever. Tried to check apn settings because at home I sometimes get poor service and I run net10 so I was going to fix my apn and it says insert sim??? the sim is properly inserted???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Go into Settings, About Phone, Status and check to see if your IMEI and Serial Number are present. If you only lost your IMEI there's a guide on how to inject it back (I'm not sure where the guide is). However if you've lost your serial number and don't have a Nandroid that can restore it I don't know what to do.
spongdangly said:
Go into Settings, About Phone, Status and check to see if your IMEI and Serial Number are present. If you only lost your IMEI there's a guide on how to inject it back (I'm not sure where the guide is). However if you've lost your serial number and don't have a Nandroid that can restore it I don't know what to do.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i have my serial number showing but no IMEI number. So is that all that's needed for me to be able to call and text again?
gvazquez82 said:
i have my serial number showing but no IMEI number. So is that all that's needed for me to be able to call and text again?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I updated my post above and showed my soultion. I simply had to flash a new modem and almost everything was kosher. I also had to flasah a different kernel but that was for preference not because things werent working.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=47817339&postcount=23 Modem download
I used that modem, flash it and see if your problems go away. I use Net10 so after I flashed the Modem I had to create an APN aswell, but that is nothing new for me.
theramsey3 said:
I updated my post above and showed my soultion. I simply had to flash a new modem and almost everything was kosher. I also had to flasah a different kernel but that was for preference not because things werent working.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=47817339&postcount=23 Modem download
I used that modem, flash it and see if your problems go away. I use Net10 so after I flashed the Modem I had to create an APN aswell, but that is nothing new for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I will give that a shot, but what's an APN, sorry. And how do I create one, and is it needed for me to do so?
gvazquez82 said:
i have my serial number showing but no IMEI number. So is that all that's needed for me to be able to call and text again?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It should be, I'm working right now so I don't have time to fine the guide on how to inject your IMEI. If I remember correctly it involves using QPST. If you have an old (or any) working Nandroid backup that should fix the problem.
FYI, make sure you don't use the guide for the international S3 as it has different hardware and folder structure/contents.
As for the APN, it should automatically fill itself in since it reads it off the SIM Card (I might be wrong).
theramsey3 said:
I updated my post above and showed my soultion. I simply had to flash a new modem and almost everything was kosher. I also had to flasah a different kernel but that was for preference not because things werent working.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=47817339&postcount=23 Modem download
I used that modem, flash it and see if your problems go away. I use Net10 so after I flashed the Modem I had to create an APN aswell, but that is nothing new for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried it and it work!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
67 texts just came in. Sir, I thank you oh so kindly. You have made this gloomy rainy day oh so joyous.
No problem. Glad I could help you.
The real credit should go to -Mr.X-, loserskater and anyone else(no disrespect there were alot of files) whose stuff I tried to flash lastnight thank you all in the dev community who contribute.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app
So I guess the next question, do I try again to install kit kat on my phone.
I've already made bucks of my existing working phone haha....but I'd still like to have kitkat in place. I believe the issue of my phone not reading MD5 confirmations would still be in place, does anyone know how to remedy that situation?
At the same time I'm more than happy to leave my phone as is.
gvazquez82 said:
So I guess the next question, do I try again to install kit kat on my phone.
I've already made bucks of my existing working phone haha....but I'd still like to have kitkat in place. I believe the issue of my phone not reading MD5 confirmations would still be in place, does anyone know how to remedy that situation?
At the same time I'm more than happy to leave my phone as is.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Pretty sure you can turn off MD5 checks in TWRP. Probably in CWM too. Sorry if this has been mentioned. Didn't have time to read the whole thread. Just skimmed through.
2nd, there is a major difference between an IMEI that reads 0 and an IMEI that shows unknown. If it shows an unknown simply reflash your ROM and modem and you will be good to go. Sometimes a reboot is all you need. If your IMEI is showing a 0 on the other hand its gone and will require that it be injected back in which is a messy situation that usually results in tour phone being stuck on EDGE.
3rd, as someone mentioned on the previous page, restoring a working nandroid will NOT reinject your IMEI if it shows up as 0. No amount of flashing anything will get it to come back. Not even stock. It needs to be reinjected manually.
flexfulton said:
Pretty sure you can turn off MD5 checks in TWRP. Probably in CWM too. Sorry if this has been mentioned. Didn't have time to read the whole thread. Just skimmed through.
2nd, there is a major difference between an IMEI that reads 0 and an IMEI that shows unknown. If it shows an unknown simply reflash your ROM and modem and you will be good to go. Sometimes a reboot is all you need. If your IMEI is showing a 0 on the other hand its gone and will require that it be injected back in which is a messy situation that usually results in tour phone being stuck on EDGE.
3rd, as someone mentioned on the previous page, restoring a working nandroid will NOT reinject your IMEI if it shows up as 0. No amount of flashing anything will get it to come back. Not even stock. It needs to be reinjected manually.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
do you know of a good stable kit kat like ROM I could use for the s3? And any speculation as to why the ROMs werent taking for me?
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.
Hi everybody.
I have rooted my device few days ago to flash Havoc. With success.
One day after, i tried crdroid but since return on Havoc, my 2 IMEIs doesn't exist.
I remember i wiped by error every partitions in twrp. I wiped system, data and vendor.
So i tried to flash with Odin a Stock Samsung rom which i've downloaded on sammobile site.
I tried with nand erase, with erase on twrp...
Everything works well but no success with my IMEIs.
So i return again on Havoc waiting resolve my problem.
I made research on the web to try to resolve it.
I saw IMEI can return with Factory reset and flash with odin.
I Wonder if i can change it in a file of my device such as build.prop and others.
Here's my screens to let you see.
But for now, my device became a tablet ??
Thx a lot for help
totofe69 said:
Hi everybody.
I have rooted my device few days ago to flash Havoc. With success.
One day after, i tried crdroid but since return on Havoc, my 2 IMEIs doesn't exist.
I remember i wiped by error every partitions in twrp. I wiped system, data and vendor.
So i tried to flash with Odin a Stock Samsung rom which i've downloaded on sammobile site.
I tried with nand erase, with erase on twrp...
Everything works well but no success with my IMEIs.
So i return again on Havoc waiting resolve my problem.
I made research on the web to try to resolve it.
I saw IMEI can return with Factory reset and flash with odin.
I Wonder if i can change it in a file of my device such as build.prop and others.
Here's my screens to let you see.
But for now, my device became a tablet ??
Thx a lot for help
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First of all you need to regenerate EFS partition cause your's is lost, also you can't use other device EFS cause u will be ended with IMEI but not services which means u can't make calls or use data
Check this out
Fixed IMEI
BIOKNOX said:
First of all you need to regenerate EFS partition cause your's is lost, also you can't use other device EFS cause u will be ended with IMEI but not services which means u can't make calls or use data
Check this out
Fixed IMEI
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thx for reply.
That's wright. I can use my phone but i'm unable to use calls and data. I can enter my Pin code and my provider is recognized. That's all.
I tried everything i could find but no success.
I know it's EFS partition causes that. But i'm unable to know how i can restore it. I tried flash official stock rom from sammobile with Odin but it's the same.
I Wonder If a downgrade should help me.
I looked to your link but i can't find process. But i'm in the same case. I just want to restore my IMEIs
So if i can't restore my IMEIs, i think i'll return my device on warantee.
Thanks a lot.
totofe69 has chosen not to receive private messages or may not be allowed to receive private messages.
BIOKNOX said:
totofe69 has chosen not to receive private messages or may not be allowed to receive private messages.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I dont know what's happened. I can't send mp anyway.
Will see on a PC
Hello everybody.
I sent my phone on warranty to my receller and it return it to me. From Samsung, they had changed a card on the motherboard.
Finally, my phone run well. But I have only One imei but It's not very important for me.
But now, i hesite to root and install a custom ROM.
Good evening you absolute legends!
After quietly reading along since 2013 and flashing a few phones over the years thanks to you, I'm now at a point where I can't think of anything to do with my problem.
So I bought my dad a used G960F for his birthday and wanted to install Lineage OS just as I did with mine a couple months ago. To make things short, in the meantime all ROMs I used where deleted, so I did the same procedure but with other ROMs, and well ... bricked the phone. After a week or so I finally got it working (didnt know about Samsungs bootloader hierarchy and couldn't flash a ROM with a lower BL), just to find out now that in the process the IMEI got deleted completely.
After seeing too many shady websites this is what I tried so far:
Flashing with a Pit-File + NAND Erase and Re-Partiton
Flashing stock rom (tried both Android 9 and Android 10)
Erasing everything or only parts of the efs/ folder, even though I only found that applied to other Samsung phones than mine
One ROM I tried back when the phone was bricked was from _alexndr, and I found one post where a user also lost IMEI after using it but got it back when he installed the ROM again. This one I will try out now.
So I have one G960F working but with empty IMEI. Not a bunch of zeros, its simply empty. I know one correct IMEI, since its printed on the OEM box three times. (Don't know why they dont print both numbers on the box....). I've seen a bunch of semi-(il)legal Apps that let you change the IMEI, but I dont feel like getting into that and it wouldn't help me with the second IMEI.
(Additionally, I have my own G960F completely working, if it helpes in any way.)
Does any of you have any ideas left or has experience with such a problem?
Either way, thanks for taking your time with me and everybody else!
Cheers Anthony
Hi guys!
I solved my problem and maybe my way can help some of you.
As I understood from _alexndr's thread [1] is that you can not only not go down a BL-Version when flashing, but you can't also go down in the CSC version. But while doing the first thing resolves in an error while flashing, the second one simply works but therefore can't detect the IMEI etc sometimes.
My solution in the end was to flash _alendr's kerlel, force my CSC module (maybe this parts isn't necessary) while flashing and and then installing the BL he provided [2].
Even though this thread stayed empty, I still wanna thank all of you for keeping up so much work!
[1] https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/...vbase-v7-4-encryption-support-may-09.3764822/
[2] https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/...support-may-09.3764822/page-151#post-84984391
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!