Update:
Well, I tried flashing a GB official ROM (I was on CM9) and Odin got stuck on "NAND write start", and any other ROM I try does the same thing. I now only boot into download mode or a screen that says something along the lines of "Firmware update failed, use Kies recovery mode". Is my phone completely screwed? If so what are my repair options given that I'm in the US and I bought the unlocked international version off of Amazon through a reseller (I believe it was originally a French phone) last July?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So yesterday I got the odd 'Encryption Unsuccessful' error (phone only boots into screen saying: Encryption Unsuccessful, you have to reset...) after my phone ran mysteriously low on battery, rebooting, everything crashing, pulling out the battery and rebooting again.
I did a factory reset/data wipe from within CWM, and the phone would boot up normally, but I got no cell service. I checked in settings, and the baseband was listed as 'Unknown' as well as the IMEI. I had a look in the /efs folder and it was empty except for two more empty folders, 'bluetooth' and 'wifi'.
My problem now is that regardless of what I add or remove to /efs, or if I restore it from a backup, it always resets itself after boot to just contain those two empty folders 'bluetooth' and 'wifi', and the baseband and IMEI are still unknown.
Any help would be much appreciated!
AUAnonymous said:
So yesterday I got the odd 'Encryption Unsuccessful' error (phone only boots into screen saying: Encryption Unsuccessful, you have to reset...) after my phone ran mysteriously low on battery, rebooting, everything crashing, pulling out the battery and rebooting again.
I did a factory reset/data wipe from within CWM, and the phone would boot up normally, but I got no cell service. I checked in settings, and the baseband was listed as 'Unknown' as well as the IMEI. I had a look in the /efs folder and it was empty except for two more empty folders, 'bluetooth' and 'wifi'.
My problem now is that regardless of what I add or remove to /efs, or if I restore it from a backup, it always resets itself after boot to just contain those two empty folders 'bluetooth' and 'wifi', and the baseband and IMEI are still unknown.
Any help would be much appreciated!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
[GUIDE] Recover your IMEI in 9 steps.
(Found in the General section via a Google search...)
ctomgee said:
[GUIDE] Recover your IMEI in 9 steps.
(Found in the General section via a Google search...)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh sorry I should have mentioned I've tried that as well as many other efs recovery tools. I can't follow that guide because step 4 is "go to EFS folder using root explorer, and delete 'nv_data.bin', 'nv_data.bin.md5'", but there are no such files automatically generated like it says. Thanks though.
AUAnonymous said:
Oh sorry I should have mentioned I've tried that as well as many other efs recovery tools. I can't follow that guide because step 4 is "go to EFS folder using root explorer, and delete 'nv_data.bin', 'nv_data.bin.md5'", but there are no such files automatically generated like it says. Thanks though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you read the whole thread? Specifically, check out pages 5 & 6.
Well, I tried flashing a GB official ROM (I was on CM9) and Odin got stuck on "NAND write start", and any other ROM I try does the same thing. I now only boot into download mode or a screen that says something along the lines of "Firmware update failed, use Kies recovery mode". Is my phone completely screwed? If so what are my repair options given that I'm in the US and I bought the unlocked international version off of Amazon through a reseller (I believe it was originally a French phone) last July?
AUAnonymous said:
Well, I tried flashing a GB official ROM (I was on CM9) and Odin got stuck on "NAND write start", and any other ROM I try does the same thing. I now only boot into download mode or a screen that says something along the lines of "Firmware update failed, use Kies recovery mode". Is my phone completely screwed? If so what are my repair options given that I'm in the US and I bought the unlocked international version off of Amazon through a reseller (I believe it was originally a French phone) last July?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nothing you say here convinces me you read what I had to say, and actually read those pages. Because they would have led you to tools you don't mention, that could have helped you.
ctomgee said:
Nothing you say here convinces me you read what I had to say, and actually read those pages. Because they would have led you to tools you don't mention, that could have helped you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Trust me I've tried using GSII_Repair, HC-k Tool, EFS Pro, reformatting 'mmcblk0p1' via adb and via an on the phone terminal emulator and doing a bunch of other stuff, and while I really do appreciate your help (no one else has even suggested anything , and it's understandable that you're probably used to dealing with idiots, 11 year olds and people that barely speak English), it seems like my problem goes deeper than simply the efs folder being messed up somehow (which I think the original "Encryption Unsuccessful" error points to as well). At any rate, the problem now is not being able to flash a ROM using Odin, and the more I try the more I'm thinking that I'm basically screwed. And before you ask, I've gone through a lot of this thread already, as well as tried other random purported solutions, but any suggestions are definitely welcome.
AUAnonymous said:
Trust me I've tried using GSII_Repair, HC-k Tool, EFS Pro, reformatting 'mmcblk0p1' via adb and via an on the phone terminal emulator and doing a bunch of other stuff, and while I really do appreciate your help (no one else has even suggested anything , and it's understandable that you're probably used to dealing with idiots, 11 year olds and people that barely speak English), it seems like my problem goes deeper than simply the efs folder being messed up somehow (which I think the original "Encryption Unsuccessful" error points to as well). At any rate, the problem now is not being able to flash a ROM using Odin, and the more I try the more I'm thinking that I'm basically screwed. And before you ask, I've gone through a lot of this thread already, as well as tried other random purported solutions, but any suggestions are definitely welcome.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, sorry. Unfortunately, for the most part, I do find myself dealing with the group you describe.
Well if you've done the "fix unflashable" thread already... Hmm. I don't know then. When you say you're not able to flash, what do you mean, exactly?
ctomgee said:
Yeah, sorry. Unfortunately, for the most part, I do find myself dealing with the group you describe.
Well if you've done the "fix unflashable" thread already... Hmm. I don't know then. When you say you're not able to flash, what do you mean, exactly?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well everything is fine in Odin until it gets to "NAND write start", which it never gets past (I've left it overnight). I've tried different ROMs, repartitioning, a different USB cable and everything else I could think of but I've really given up all hope now .
If it keeps failing at NAND write, NAND is stuffed. Service centre job. JTAG repair won't fix it & a person who normally does JTAGs won't be able to fix it at all unless they're able to swap out the NAND.
Well thanks for the confirmation at least :/ looks like I might be getting the GSIII seeing as I can get it on contract at the discounted price. The only downside being that I'll have to get a limited data plan and that the $700 I spent on this one go down the drain unless I can repair it...
AUAnonymous said:
Well everything is fine in Odin until it gets to "NAND write start", which it never gets past (I've left it overnight). I've tried different ROMs, repartitioning, a different USB cable and everything else I could think of but I've really given up all hope now .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, I had a similar problem with not being able to write a kernel, and ending up with the logo and thebn black screen.
The way I fixed it was to use the Recovery Mode to reflash the rom that I had last working. (in my case it was wannamlites stock ICS). After that I was able to then flash back to my previous Gingerbread Custom rom using CWM's restore function.
Q) You didn't happen to use CWM Touch recovery did you?
*** there is a known issue with CWM touch recovery (which is built on an ICS base) and certain emmc (internal sdcard) firmware id
which could result in the flash being corrupted in a way that can't be fixed outside of the factory.
See http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1648362
By the way, if your phone does boot, can you dial *#1234# and tell me what the H/W is reported as. Mine currently says "unknown"
centuriondan said:
Hi, I had a similar problem with not being able to write a kernel, and ending up with the logo and thebn black screen.
The way I fixed it was to use the Recovery Mode to reflash the rom that I had last working. (in my case it was wannamlites stock ICS). After that I was able to then flash back to my previous Gingerbread Custom rom using CWM's restore function.
Q) You didn't happen to use CWM Touch recovery did you?
*** there is a known issue with CWM touch recovery (which is built on an ICS base) and certain emmc (internal sdcard) firmware id
which could result in the flash being corrupted in a way that can't be fixed outside of the factory.
See http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1648362
By the way, if your phone does boot, can you dial *#1234# and tell me what the H/W is reported as. Mine currently says "unknown"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the advice but unfortunately I can't boot into recovery, only download mode., and I wasn't using CWM touch beforehand. It didn't even break when I was flashing a ROM, just when I was using the phone normally. I'm going to be in Europe in a couple weeks and I'll be able to take it in to a repair center where it's still under warranty. All I need to do is to use a USB Jig to reset the counter back to 0 so they'll work on it.
Have you tried Heimdall:
And I'd suggest reinstalling CM9. I found that when I had issues re-installing the kernel that I had to go back to the last working rom (ICS based) b4 I could downgrade.
The fact that you can't get into recovery indicates that either the primary or secondary bootloader is corrupted. Try flashing them again with the CM9 versions. Use the USB jig to get into download mode everytime you do flashing so that if you trash it further the counter is always zero. Also use the original USB cable with no hubs in between the phone and computer, and remove any other usb devices plugged in too.
BTW What was the result of *#1234* HW version?
i've read through all the posts from this topic. mine situation is slightly different.
I"m able to flash to any ROM. I can jump from gingerbread to ICS or vice versa with Odin.
When i type *#06#, it always show "unknown imei" no matter which firmware i'm on.
when i checked in EFS folder, i only have 2 folders : bluetooth and wifi.
I've tried to copy EFS files from people from this forum and paste into the phone's EFS. As soon as i restart the phone, back to 2 folders in its again.
any solution?
aznboix said:
i've read through all the posts from this topic. mine situation is slightly different.
I"m able to flash to any ROM. I can jump from gingerbread to ICS or vice versa with Odin.
When i type *#06#, it always show "unknown imei" no matter which firmware i'm on.
when i checked in EFS folder, i only have 2 folders : bluetooth and wifi.
I've tried to copy EFS files from people from this forum and paste into the phone's EFS. As soon as i restart the phone, back to 2 folders in its again.
any solution?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=17587351, but I see you claim to have tried this already. If it didn't work, you'll need to take it to service.
BTW, the efs folder from another phone won't help you. IMEI is unique to each phone.
i dont have any files in EFS excepte the two folders that i mentioned above. Can't even start the procedures.
Service centre job, or contact Odia via PM & he might be able to recover it for you (for the cost of a case of beer).
Hi all,
I own a galaxy s2. I'm facing a issue which i've been trying to fix for the past couple of weeks. I tried many threads in this forum, but nothing seems to solve the issue.
This is the issue,
I used to flash custom roms on my device. I used many custom roms including cm9 RC1 and when samsung released the lastest 4.0.4 update i just wanted to chek it out. so I downloaded the generic russian (SER) firmware and flashed it using odin.
After flashing it I was stuck @ boot. i was stuck there for more than 10 mins, so I ended up removing the battery. then I went to samsung recovery(Volume Up+Power+Home) and cleared the cache and user data and rebooted the phone it worked fine. At this time I didn't bother to check whether my IMEI was there but everything worked fine.
After couple of days(without rebooting the device in that time) I droped the phone. battery came off, when I turned on the device again, prohibited mark like thing came in the status bar and there was no service, when I checked the IMEI it was not there.
At this moment I was not sure whether the drop caused the issue or the flashing caused it. I later realized IMEI issue comes because of EFS but sadly I didnt back it up. After diggin for few days I found when flashing one of the custom roms, efs was backed up automatically, I tried restoring it, but it didnt help (Maybe the backup was corrupted )
I followed various threads in this forum but nothing helped me.
Please help me get the IMEI back, I really miss my device :crying:
Shasinda said:
Hi all,
I own a galaxy s2. I'm facing a issue which i've been trying to fix for the past couple of weeks. I tried many threads in this forum, but nothing seems to solve the issue.
This is the issue,
I used to flash custom roms on my device. I used many custom roms including cm9 RC1 and when samsung released the lastest 4.0.4 update i just wanted to chek it out. so I downloaded the generic russian (SER) firmware and flashed it using odin.
After flashing it I was stuck @ boot. i was stuck there for more than 10 mins, so I ended up removing the battery. then I went to samsung recovery(Volume Up+Power+Home) and cleared the cache and user data and rebooted the phone it worked fine. At this time I didn't bother to check whether my IMEI was there but everything worked fine.
After couple of days(without rebooting the device in that time) I droped the phone. battery came off, when I turned on the device again, prohibited mark like thing came in the status bar and there was no service, when I checked the IMEI it was not there.
At this moment I was not sure whether the drop caused the issue or the flashing caused it. I later realized IMEI issue comes because of EFS but sadly I didnt back it up. After diggin for few days I found when flashing one of the custom roms, efs was backed up automatically, I tried restoring it, but it didnt help (Maybe the backup was corrupted )
I followed various threads in this forum but nothing helped me.
Please help me get the IMEI back, I really miss my device :crying:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hi there
you said that you have the backup of your EFS Folder, what you need to do is follow the steps in this thread
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1264021
its recover your imei in nine steps
my imei was lost as well and i recovered my imei following those stesp, its a great guide if you already have the backup of your EFS Folder
cheers
fr3nlysmil3 said:
hi there
you said that you have the backup of your EFS Folder, what you need to do is follow the steps in this thread
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1264021
its recover your imei in nine steps
my imei was lost as well and i recovered my imei following those stesp, its a great guide if you already have the backup of your EFS Folder
cheers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried this also, but it didnt solve my issue :crying:
...
I once had a similar problem.
My imei went lost because of a rom upgrade and I DIDN'T have a backup..
I solved the problem by flashing a stock rom (any samsung stock rom will do) with ODIN.
I am not sure what happened, but it looked like that the nv_data folder was "re-generated" and I got my IMEI back.
Now I have a copy of the folder in every storage media around my house
MistahBungle said:
If you have a backup, then you should be able to recover it. There are tons of threads on here with instructions on how to restore an EFS backup. Search (if you want it fixed, that is. If you don't want it fixed, keep posting to this thread in the hope someone spoonfeeds you. Might be waiting a while tho).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried almost every thread here in xda about restoring, tried GSII_repair, kTool to restore it but none of them recovered the IMEI. I did not made a backup of efs but when I installed the Hydra H2O ICS Rom for GS2 it made the backup i guess, because a file called "efs-backup.tar.gz" was in a folder called .hydra inside the sd card.
does the drop of the device has anything to do with the erased IMEI?
robdpi said:
I once had a similar problem.
My imei went lost because of a rom upgrade and I DIDN'T have a backup..
I solved the problem by flashing a stock rom (any samsung stock rom will do) with ODIN.
I am not sure what happened, but it looked like that the nv_data folder was "re-generated" and I got my IMEI back.
Now I have a copy of the folder in every storage media around my house
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have installed stock roms from samsung using Odin, but then I discovered that efs folder get unmounted everytime I install the stock rom, phone just starts after flashing without android setup wizard, also when I long press power button, menu wont appear, device just shut down, after I restore the efs from the backup i have, and mount the efs using the CWM recovery would bring back the power button long press menu. everything else working except for Mobile Networks. and imei/baseband shows unknown
Drop Caused this problem
Hi all,
Thank you for replying on this thread and helped me figured out my problem, I have contacted Odia and he thinks that dropping the phone damaged the baseband chip inside the main board, not a flashing of the roms or efs folder issue. i have only 2 options either replace the whole board paying LKR 35,000 (New s2 costs only LKR 65,000) or use it as a MP3 player :crying:
Hello all,
I tried to stop myself from creating an user and also from starting a new thread on XDA, but i find myself in a bit of a huge mess.
I have a Galaxy S2 I9100G. I find it is an awesome phone, sadly not in the state i have it right now.
I have flashed a CM 10 ROM on it.
All i did is install a modified zImage that had a CWM in it using Heimdall. (It went well)
I have then made a quick backup using CWM and then flashed the CM 10 zip yet again using CWM.
I have then installed an Omni rom using the same flashing with CWM method.
This also went well.
I had to revert to CM10 cause i disliked the Omni rom. After some time (a week or so) i had to revert to the backup cause there was some data i needed, that i had saved in a note created on the stock rom. (This also went well)
After the data was saved i went back to CM10. (This also went flawlessly).
After a while (a few days) i cleaned my phone a bit. After assembling it and starting it up, the signal was gone. At first i was thinking that it is the place i liv in. This sometimes happens where i live. After a while, i came to see that there was no signal nomater where i was. I dissasembled the phone, thinking i might have done a mistake in connecting something back, all was connected back well and the phone still did not have signal. I came to see after playing around with the options that i have had no IMEI and no Baseband version.
What i tried was the following:
Booted to recovery:
in CWM i immediately flashed the created recovery. I have had no IMEI and baseband.
I then found some forums describing the deletion of the nv_data.bin+nv_data.bin.md5 files and renaming the .nv_data.bak to nv_data.bin and letting the md5 being created for it.
I deleted the data from /efs and then let the phone recreate the whole thing from scratch, all i did more was to copy the IMEI and .nv_data.bak file which i renamed to nv_data.bin
I then tried to flash the /efc with a zip file in CWM still to no avail.
I then tried the k-tool from the play store still no success.
There was a tool i found, NV writer tool, but that required for me to set the phone in Qualcomm mode, which was not an option for an I9100G with Texas Instruments OMAP processor. Still i tried the procedure, but the staps where i should have set the phone skipping the set to Qualcomm mode step (the *#something#* code was not working), and the app could not connect to the phone, so this was a stillborn solution for me.
I downloaded (kernel + rom), another stock rom (4.0.4), with Odin and repeated the process described above.
No imei and no baseband still.
I flashed the whole thing also i flashed the kernel again and the rom (this time i went back a step, to 4.0.3), also i used a PIT file for the SII i9100G model, and i did lfash from the a3 recovery mode the zip with the radio. Then i used a software, with the kind help of a friend, called Simlock Remote Server, where i have used a baseband + IMEI repair tool which was targeting my EFS partition and also it was flashing a stock i9100g EFS image. I have initiated quite a few of the of the operation mentioned before with the reair using the EFS image and also then i used another builtin functionality which could write the IMEI and baseband, still with a total lack of success.
I was sort of thinking that instead of an awesome phone i have a wery capable ipad, as all but the GSM functions were working. Sadly i have to say that i find myself in yet another problem. After flashing around 300 or so MBs are used on the system partition, where the rom resides. but after a while i notice heavy battery usage, even when not using my Galaxy S2 "iPad", and also the system partition is getting ever more full, till the whole 2GB are consumed and everything ceases to function. A factory restore with *2767*3855# solves the problem, but this will stard happening again after some time. I was thinking it could be a virus or something, as i have my phone rooted and installed a massive amount of applications which claimed miraculous IMEI repair abilities but failed miserably to deliver. I have installed 4 different anti-virus sw and these did not detect anything.
I am getting a bit scared of making this little piece of HW an useless transistor box, any advice and help would be appreciated. I am really ready to try anything, whatever platform Window$ or Linux may be necessary, please don't keep any possible solutions/suggestions from me.
Many thanks!
Hey,
My friend was running a flawless custom rom on his s3. Suddenly, it turns off by itself and the phone is then stuck on boot logo.
1. I tried to factory reset with no luck.
2. I tried to install stock 4.3 with no luck.
3. I tried to install 4.1.2. The phone booted but with no recovery. Then i noticed that imei changed to *0049 and i'm not registered on network (even though it was working well on the custom rom).
4. I tried to upgrade to 4.3, i got succeeded but recovery didnt install.
5. I tried to install the custom rom again but no luck.
6. I tried all patches of modems and kernels and ariza. All Failed.
7. I also tried EFS backup/restore and Failed.
My only concern is to know what made this issue appear all by itself ?? Because i guess we should take it to a mobile repair shop.
One last thing to say is that every time i try to install a software, available space gets low, and even if i delete some files from internal storage the storage wont free up.
Thank you !
get stock 4.3 fom and flash it via Odin (wipe everything before flash). Then flash recovery via odin. then backup efs. then flash custom roms.
downgrade from 4.3 to 4.1.x causes efs to become corrupted
Seems like a corrupt nand. Was it rooted previously when it died the first time?.
Going from 4.3 to 4.1.2 will cause the imei to be lost as the efs encryption changed at 4.3. You cannot go back.
If the phone has a custom rom on it try an official cwm recovery, if not or it doesn't work then proceed to the following:
If you can get the phone into download mode try flashing the stock firmware twice or thrice with a factory reset in between each flash. Do not allow the phone to boot into the os!!. If it attempts to boot to OS after the blue pass in odin then pull the battery out immediately and boot to recovery or download mode respective of what you are doing at the time, resetting or flashing.
If that fails you can then call it a dead phone.
Beamed in by telepathy.
Wow these are new solutions to me..
I really thank you guys and i'll look forward into trying them in any upcoming problems.
Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge
And just to mention, yes the phone was rooted when it went bricked suddenly.
I'd try to flash an official cwm and if it takes then flash back to stock twice with a reset, reroot and leave it as that. Custom roms aren't worth the paper they're written on.
In addition to downgrading from 4.3 to an earlier version, but forgot at the time of writing, you can downgrade but you need an efs backup from the time it was at 4.1.2, which has to be restored but I'm not sure of the process. I couldn't tell you if it has to be restored before flashing, after or both.
Not a lot of people have an efs backup from 4.1.2. I do, but then my phone hasn't acted wierd yet. Sods law.
Kies 2 (not kies 3) can restore the phone but only if it was in original condition. You can try the emergency recovery routine but don't hold your breath.
Beamed in by telepathy.
You're right.. Efs is the only part most of us miss !!
I wrote all of the steps you said in order.. So that if any problem occur ill deal with it based on your info.
Btw do you suggest using KK TW 4.4.4 by back-to-n00t ? Or this wont be considered as a kind of official firmware ?
Hello.
I've got really strange issue, so i'm currently using s5 port rom.
It's is really sluggish so i wanted to move to some aosp based rom. The problem is whenever i flash a new rom my modem/ baseband become unknown and i can't see my efs partition. Restoring proper backups from many tools don't help. I also tried to flash modems but no succed (normal modems and zuluman modded on by twrp and touch cwm (not philz one)). It stills stays as unknown. Once when i formatted whole efs partition it gave me normal modem version but as soon i restored efs, modem became unknown. When i go back to s5 port rom everything is working as should (is it because aroma installer?).
Is it some kind of bug or i bricked my phone in weird way?
Thanks in advance
When flashing roms you must flash back to stock each time to make sure the device is working as it should. It ensures that any problems are related to whatever you're doing.
I have had circumstances where I have flashed a stock firmware, let the phone boot, switched off, flashed a custom rom, booted the phone, run maps and location was miles away with no way to change it.
Flashed back to stock twice with a factory reset in between and let the phone boot, location worked fine again.
The point I'm trying to make is that bugs can be inherent. Just because you flash another rom it doesn't mean everything is fixed that was previously broken. Only stock roms can do that. Something I've noticed with flashing stock firmware is that on the first flash it seems to only replace what is different from stock. On the second flash it replaces EVERYTHING. I don't know if this is actual or just my imagination but it seems the case for my I9300.
Once you have a stock working device make a backup of your modem and efs. Flash whatever you need and if you have issues then try restoration of the backup you made..
You can never make enough backups!.
Beamed in by telepathy.