Hi.
I flashed a rom and lost connection with the network and have only "emergency calls only" thingy..
I did a nandroid restore, but still no possibillities to call out.. get: "mobile network not available"
Then i checked settings->about->status -> network. and it says Unknown. So i
tried to select a network manually, but I only get the message: "unable to connect. Try later"
then i see my imei, and it looks wierd. 00499901064XXXX
but on the back of my phone its: 35815004574XXXX
when you flash a rom, does it change the imei, or is it suppose to be that way?
can anyone help me with this problem? since i cant call out at all
tnx for all help in advanced
Flashing ROMs shouldn't affect your IMEI.
The phone has a security storage area called "EFS", it's likely that one is corrupted, you IMEI you see is a dummy IMEI.
It sounds like you never mafe a backup of said EFS data, so best thing to do is to flash back a stock ROM and return it for replacement or repair.
There have already been numerous cases where the EFS corrupted out of no aparent reason....
You have to do a complete wipe and then flash back your backup
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA Premium App
Hi,
After reading the above comments, i am bit worried about my phone.....Can you please let me know how to safely do this process.....i mean how to take backup of the EFS ( am i spelled correctly???) and other important files....
There is a thread in development that guides you to do an efs backup. I just copied my whole efs folder to my external sd card and backed up on my computer. Then if you corrupt the one on your phone, you can copy the backup you made over the corrupted efs folder.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA Premium App
This is the first and foremost thing for users to do right after you root.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA Premium App
smilingcruel said:
Hi,
After reading the above comments, i am bit worried about my phone.....Can you please let me know how to safely do this process.....i mean how to take backup of the EFS ( am i spelled correctly???) and other important files....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Check my "Companion Tool" from my kernel thread (see sig for link), it can make a backup and restore it with a simple button tap
tnx for all replys
but wouldn't a nandroid backup do the efs folder too? This i did right after i rooted the phone.
Nope, AFAIK Nandroid does not touch the EFS partition.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=25509654&postcount=279
Related
So I was reading about backing up your /efs folder and I was wondering if backing up your device with CWM through recovery, will that also back up /efs folder?
Thanks!
i dont now this but you can just copy the efs folder and paste it at your computer.its so easy
If you want you can download nitrality apply from market, which can automatically do a backup for ya
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App
just copy the files might not be enough, permissions and ownershiop etc is lost. Look in this thread for info how to backup /efs
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1068193
I'm wondering the same thing... Does CWM backup the /efs folder?
No. There are apps that can do same (Hellcat's kTool being one), and some kernels automatically make an EFS backup by default (Siyah for example).
Edit to add - For clarity, CWM will not make a separate backup of the EFS. As it essentially makes an image of the phone, obviously the EFS details will be included (everything is included), but I doubt you can extract the EFS folders/files on their own from a CWM backup. If there is a way, I'd certainly like to know how to do it Would be handy to know, even if I do backup EFS whenever I do a backup as a matter of course.
So as long as I've made backups using CWM and then suddenly my efs folder gets corrupted, a simple CWM restore would repair the efs?
On the other hand... in theory (I would never try this) wouldn't that mean that if I did a CWM restore on a different SII that phone's IMEI would change?
Brgds... /Tubgirl
Hmmmmm....Basically when you restore a CWM backup, you go back to whatever state your phone was in at the time you made the backup.
Now, if you borked your EFS, and if you restored a CWM backup, would this fix this EFS issue. In theory & based on the CWM backup being an 'image', you'd reckon yes it would.
In practice, I'm not about to delete my efs folders & try it out tho
So far as the IMEI is concerned, no, I don't believe it would. Reason I say this is because I know people who have taken a CWM backup of a phone they've had to return for replacement. Got the replacement phone, and restored the CWM backup on the new phone; essentially cloned the old one. And that hasn't messed with the new phone's IMEI.
At the end of the day, people who don't make EFS backups are insane IMHO (you probably guessed that from my sig). Given it takes literally 20 seconds to make an EFS backup with kTool, and another minute to transfer a copy over to a PC, there's no excuse for not making a backup.
Edit to add - Interesting questions/thread BTW I know who could answer these questions definitively for us. Odia. He's the EFS king on here. Can sometimes (often ?) recover IMEI's when there are no EFS folders/files to work with. How ? Who knows. Voodoo maybe ?
Ok, I'm no expert by any means and please correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't a complete efs backup include imei?
The reason I'm asking is because suddenly my phone can't make/receive phone calls with my current carrier (other carriers still work). I restored a previously made CWM backup but it didn't help. Today I read about efs and what it contains so I started to wonder if maybe that's where the problem lie. I've only made CWM and Titanium backups so far because I had no knowledge about efs.
Brgds... /Tubgirl
Easiest way to tell if it's an IMEI issue is to check the IMEI. If you have your actual IMEI in settings/about phone, that obviously isn't the problem (whatever you do, don't post your IMEI on XDA. Ever), if you have the generic IMEI 004999010640000, then you've got a problem.
If you do have the generic IMEI, then we can look at options to possibly rectify it (sometimes possible, sometimes not).
If your IMEI is fine, the problem lies elsewhere & you're worrying about nothing There are a million things that could cause the problem you described.
However, no excuse for not making an EFS backup nowish if your IMEI is OK & keeping one copy on your external SD card & another copy on your PC (and even another copy on a external drive if you're really paranoid).
I just used the IMEI example to question whether efs is included in CWM backups or not. My IMEI is just fine but since I'm so reluctant to send my phone in for repair I'm just grasping for straws here Thought maybe my problem was related to efs since I suspect it's not included in CWM backups. Anyway... since I never made a "real" efs backup my question is pure academic. I'm afraid my phone needs to be sent to a service center. System restore didn't resolve my problems either but I'm pretty sure that wouldn't resolve efs problems either.
Brgds... Tubgirl
Did a bit of digging & found this. It would appear EFS is not backed up in a Nandroid backup after all despite it being somewhat of an 'image'. So I guess that answers both our question.
No, system restore more than likely won't solve EFS issues. Normally the only way to fix it short of having Samsung do it is Odia/whatever method he uses (which he won't divulge; and fair enough. I'm sure it's highly technical).
If you need to send your phone in for warranty service, do a format cache, data, system, & sd card in CWM. Then flash a stock rom in Odin, then use a jig to reset the flash counter.
Obviously once you root a phone and/or run non-stock firmware on it you void your warranty and should have no expectation of warranty service, but many people have been able to get same by doing the above. But in saying that, there have been people on here who have followed these steps & been 'found out' in any event.
Unless it's a case of actual damage to the phone caused by use or whatever, if it's a hardware fault, you might be able to get away with it.
WHich method do you use to backup your efs?
I use Siyah kernel which automatically makes an EFS backup & dumps it in the /data/.Siyah folder. There are also apps which enable you to make a backup, I've used kTool in the past & there are others (names of which escape me; search on here/Google Play).
I'd recommend kTool (search for it on here/Google Play) as it isn't kernel or rom dependent, it backs up EFS to /sdcard/efs.img & also allows you to verify the backup. You can then transfer a copy onto PC, external drive or whatever in case the worst ever happens. Quick, easy & no fuss.
Thanks a bunch... I'll search for it.
No probs
Tubgirl said:
Thanks a bunch... I'll search for it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I saw this thread was about CMWbackups, and have a quetion about it. decided it's better to ash here than start a whole new thread
The CMW backups; does it backup EVERYTING?
So if i forexample have some movies on my external SD card, and then takes an CMW backup..... Next i delete everyting on this SDcard, and then flash the CMW image,,,,, will my movies then be back at my SD card? Will they be back at any other place at the phone? or will they be totally gone?
Nikolaiim said:
I saw this thread was about CMWbackups, and have a quetion about it. decided it's better to ash here than start a whole new thread
The CMW backups; does it backup EVERYTING?
No as said it does not back up EFS .
It takes an image of the firmware OS and applications on the internal sd card .
So if i forexample have some movies on my external SD card, and then takes an CMW backup..... Next i delete everyting on this SDcard, and then flash the CMW image,,,,, will my movies then be back at my SD card? Will they be back at any other place at the phone? or will they be totally gone
Gone Gone Gone .
jje
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If i have a siyah backup of my esf (a tar.gz and a img.gz) what do i have to do to restore my esf folder?
Search for/read the kTool thread on here.
Has anybody tried this i9000 efs back-up method on the i9100.In theory it should work.It seems super simple so would be good to use.Im mainly asking if anyones done the back-up as they state in the video at the bottom that to restore you only need to copy/paste/overwrite the back-up folder with a root explorer so am lookin so an easy safe and simple way to back-up to phone and PC.If it works then it would also help alot of other people out.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=881162
here is the link given in the video for the rar file from the MobileTechVideo site
http://www.mediafire.com/?w5oxsdo6r53ou1s
As i said just the back-up and not the restore or generic imei cos its not the same model so maybe only the video needs to be watched.So basically a 14min video that you only need to watch about 6min.Not much time to eat pop-corn.Sorry
EDIT:Crap,Ive just realised Ive put this in Q&A and not General."MODERATOR PLEASE!!"
and secondly Ive spelt i9100 wrong!!
just incase anyone wants to know why i havnt tried it myself its cos my phones at the service centre
I just use HellcatDroid's HC-kTool to backup my EFS folder.
It can be found here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1182922, just press backup and you have a backedup efs folder .
Bloomfield87 said:
I just use HellcatDroid's HC-kTool to backup my EFS folder.
It can be found here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1182922, just press backup and you have a backedup efs folder .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My phone is in the service centre because of this app.Im not sure if it was me or what went wrong.I pressed the back-up button and made a back-up and after a flash started to have problems with conectivity so i hit the restore button.It opened a warning saying that it was a dangerous process and asked if i wanted to continue,I hit yes and everything went to the ****ter.That little round no connection symbol appeared in the top right hand corner and sim was not recognised.Typed code to check IMEI and it had disapeared.Went into efs file in the root of my phone and it was wiped completely clean.Not one single thing inside.Same with the back-up on internal-sd.Seems that the restore had formated my efs folders root and back-up.No idea what happened so know im a mission to find other options although i do like the KTool cos its so simple to use.Maybe it was just me and not the app.Not sure.
Bloomfield87 said:
I just use HellcatDroid's HC-kTool to backup my EFS folder.
It can be found here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1182922, just press backup and you have a backedup efs folder .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My phone is in the service centre because of this app.Im not sure if it was me or what went wrong.I pressed the back-up button and made a back-up and after a flash started to have problems with conectivity so i hit the restore button.It opened a warning saying that it was a dangerous process and asked if i wanted to continue,I hit yes and everything went to the ****ter.That little round no connection symbol appeared in the top right hand corner and sim was not recognised.Typed code to check IMEI and it had disapeared.Went into efs file in the root of my phone and it was wiped completely clean.Not one single thing inside.Same with the back-up on internal-sd.Seems that the restore had formated my efs folders root and back-up.No idea what happened so know im a mission to find other options although i do like the KTool cos its so simple to use.Maybe it was just me and not the app.Not sure.
EDIT:Maybe it would have worked if i was on his kernel but it says that you dont have to be so i dought that was the problem.
Hello all!
This is my first post, and now I need your help.
I have a Galaxy SIII, but he is having trouble functioning as a phone. Says I'm unsigned.
Finding enough on the internet, I discovered that the problem is the IMEI.
The IMEI appears on the phone's settings is not the same as that described in the label behind the cell.
Searching further, I saw that it would be necessary to backup the EFS folder, but I can not find this folder, already tried all the ways it seeks, even with apps that do this but they are also not there.
Somehow, this folder has been deleted from my device.
And now, what should I do?
Is there a generic folder that can be used to retrieve the IMEI?
Please ask your help because I am very frustrated with this.
newtonBR said:
Hello all!
This is my first post, and now I need your help.
I have a Galaxy SIII, but he is having trouble functioning as a phone. Says I'm unsigned.
Finding enough on the internet, I discovered that the problem is the IMEI.
The IMEI appears on the phone's settings is not the same as that described in the label behind the cell.
Searching further, I saw that it would be necessary to backup the EFS folder, but I can not find this folder, already tried all the ways it seeks, even with apps that do this but they are also not there.
Somehow, this folder has been deleted from my device.
And now, what should I do?
Is there a generic folder that can be used to retrieve the IMEI?
Please ask your help because I am very frustrated with this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To late .
EFS folder is used to restore IMEI from a backup of your EFS .
Return phone to the seller or take to a service centre for repair .
Wrong IMEI can be stolen phone user flashing firmware or phone failure .
Try a factory reset first .
jje
JJEgan said:
To late .
EFS folder is used to restore IMEI from a backup of your EFS .
Return phone to the seller or take to a service centre for repair .
Wrong IMEI can be stolen phone user flashing firmware or phone failure .
Try a factory reset first .
jje
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried the factory reset, but it did not work.
Is not there any way to do this?
just restore the efs backup you've made. if you didn't, try restoring any nandroid backups, maybe they have efs included. if that doesn't work, try looking in the sdcard for some files that have "efs" in the name, some kernels back it up automatically. use adb to view the files (Google it). if that doesn't work, try flashing a stock rom and factory resetting from recovery.
and that is absolutely everything you can do.
hi everybody.
I have an issue with my device, I was on the root directory and I deleted the folder EFS.
Now I have a different IMEI 04999010640000 and I can't connect to my provider.
I was looking in a different forums and they said that the imei it's a custom provided by the device and I have to use a box for restore the imei and the other things of that folder. please, can someone help me.
Can you first read the faqs and guides and use search instead of asking the same question day after day after day.
Basic is restore your backed up EFS folder .
Fail to read the guides first and no EFS backup tough **** pay for a service centre repair .
jje
Why delete efs in first place
sent from the state where marijuana is NOT illegal !
kangerX said:
Why delete efs in first place
sent from the state where marijuana is NOT illegal !
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I made a mistake,I didn't wanted erase that file
anyways... there is first time for everything... Please check in your internal and external card that if you have the backup of EFS. Sometimes when you flash a new ROM specifically a custom rom, some of them backs up the efs partition automatically. so try to find out if there is any back up of efs on any one of your memory cards.
Chaitanyapatel8880 said:
anyways... there is first time for everything... Please check in your internal and external card that if you have the backup of EFS. Sometimes when you flash a new ROM specifically a custom rom, some of them backs up the efs partition automatically. so try to find out if there is any back up of efs on any one of your memory cards.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I look on my internal and external memory, I don't see any backup .
That is not good.. The only way is to send it to Samsung service centre
If my post had helped you than please press Thanks button. It might be very little for you but VERY BIG for me.
francodjxx said:
I made a mistake,I didn't wanted erase that file
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
oh okay !
I tried out SlimROM to see if it supported exFAT cards, and it doesn't. Upon restoring my complete nandroid backup, everything works, except for no valid IMEI, and I can't connect to any Wi-Fi access point. How do I get my IMEI back?
k-semler said:
I tried out SlimROM to see if it supported exFAT cards, and it doesn't. Upon restoring my complete nandroid backup, everything works, except for no valid IMEI, and I can't connect to any Wi-Fi access point. How do I get my IMEI back?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do u have a backup of ur efs?
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app
Your Nandroid was probably v1 efs, but you updated to v2 with your new custom rom.
Just flash the latest off official firmware and factory reset. If you are lucky then efs will be read again, if not then you will need your efs backup.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk
JellyYogurt said:
Do u have a backup of ur efs?
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thats actually what corrupted it. I did a full nandroid backup of my system, EFS included, and whrn I restored from backup, I now have s 0049 IMEI. Restoring to stock eith Odin got my Wi-Fi back, but I syill hsve thr wrong iMEI. If I repartition using thr *.pit file, will that restore the IMEI?
k-semler said:
Thats actually what corrupted it. I did a full nandroid backup of my system, EFS included, and whrn I restored from backup, I now have s 0049 IMEI. Restoring to stock eith Odin got my Wi-Fi back, but I syill hsve thr wrong iMEI. If I repartition using thr *.pit file, will that restore the IMEI?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No. Do NOT repartition the phone. Can I know ur baseband version?
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app
XXUGNA8 is the version that came with the ROM. Or did you mean on the phone IMEI sticker?
k-semler said:
XXUGNA8 is the version that came with the ROM. Or did you mean on the phone IMEI sticker?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm tats weird. Can u try kies emergency firmware tool?
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app
JellyYogurt said:
Hmm tats weird. Can u try kies emergency firmware tool?
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Now it's in factory mode. Here's the screenshot:
back up EFI
k-semler said:
I tried out SlimROM to see if it supported exFAT cards, and it doesn't. Upon restoring my complete nandroid backup, everything works, except for no valid IMEI, and I can't connect to any Wi-Fi access point. How do I get my IMEI back?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you should have backup your EFI file,and then flash a 412 rom,and recover your EFI file
Well, I found a solution here on XDA for the i747, but the procedure doesn't seem to work at all for the i9300. I would link to the post, but I'm not sure if the link would violate the rules, (even though it's an internal link), so I won't link directly to it. Is there a solution similar to the procedure in the i747M XDA boards, but for the i9300?
chujung24 said:
you should have backup your EFI file,and then flash a 412 rom,and recover your EFI file
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I thought that's what I was doing when I ran a complete NANDroid backup with TWRP. Restoring the EFS failed, and now I have an expensive PDA with wifi access. I would like to get cellular connectivity back.
some times flashing back the old ROM fixes efs corruption
i tried to install 4.1.2 after the poor 4.3 update and efs was gone... after that i reinstal 4.3 and restore the efs..
(i already had efs backup but didn't fix it on 4.1.2)
There is a sticky thread for i9300 efs problems in the general forum, with some suggestions for those with a backup.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk
k-semler said:
Thats actually what corrupted it. I did a full nandroid backup of my system, EFS included, and whrn I restored from backup, I now have s 0049 IMEI. Restoring to stock eith Odin got my Wi-Fi back, but I syill hsve thr wrong iMEI. If I repartition using thr *.pit file, will that restore the IMEI?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is what you need to establish - do you or do you not have a backup of the EFS? (a "normal" nandroid backup does NOT include the EFS).
If you do not - you will probably need to write your SN and IMEI from under the battery using some box like nspro or z3x.
xclub_101 said:
That is what you need to establish - do you or do you not have a backup of the EFS? (a "normal" nandroid backup does NOT include the EFS).
If you do not - you will probably need to write your SN and IMEI from under the battery using some box like nspro or z3x.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I used the NANDroid backup function available in TWRP 2.7.0.0, and checked the "EFS" box. I saved the backup to my external SD card. When I tried to restore it, I have no IMEI, and I end up losing Wi-Fi access. Flashing back an OEM ROM restores Wi-Fi access, but not my IMEI.
I FIXED IT!!! **** YES!! ROM Toolbox Pro backed up the EFS partition 3 weeks ago! I was able to restore my IMEI using the search function in Root Explorer Pro, by entering in efs as my search term, and searching my removable MicroSD card! THANK GOD! I HAVE CELLULAR BACK!!