I have an SCH-I500 that is my wife's phone. She's been itching to try something else, so I was going to try and load a JB rom. Mind you, I've done this hundreds of times with the vzw GNEX, htc droid inc, droid x, and a couple times with her Fascinate. Never had a problem, that is, until now...
While I have her fascinate, I activated our spare droid X for her to use. So essentially the fascinate is not tied to any vzw plans, it's merely a droid device with a clear esn, waiting to be activated on a line.
I have to first say, that my over confidence from hundreds of successes past got the best of me. I cut corners and did not do a CWM backup.
I followed the whole odin procedure to atlas2-2.pit, repartition, load the stock VZW GB rom. Then loaded CWM 4.0.1.0, wipe data/factory/cache/dalvik. loaded via odin the ec09, the GB Boot Loaders, a CM7 I think rom, and GAPPS. all good...
Tried loading the hellybean 8/17 allinone, and the hellybean addon pack. all seemed perfect, as I was looking at JellyBean running smoother than hell, and flawless on the fascinate.
So I powered down her droidx loaner, and went to *228, option 1, added the phone number, and then waited. "please wait while I transfer your call".
Oh crap... hang up.
Go online to verizonwireless and try activating it on the web site. it asked for one of the following, imei, esn, meid. I had previously noted the meid hex. so I typed it in. FAIL. please contact cust support.
oh crap, what now. tried again a couple times.
I discovered in a post about dialing *#60# for it to show you I forget, imei, meid or esn.
It didn't match the label on the back.
Jesus am I a schmuck that should know better....
The hellybean site says "In case IMEI is wrong: Either restore the /EFS folder, if you have made a backup of it, from an older version of Android (2.3.x, ICS,CM7), or Flash a stock version of Android for your device: GB 2.3.6 (JVU, or other) that will restore your Imei, and then you can backup the /EFS folder."
So back to the drawing board. Odin. re-everything back to stock. *#60# shows correctly... all good.
This time, back up the freaking phone, ehhh... check.
any tool i've used (sideloaded pocketesn, phonenumberinfo, androidphoneinfo. ) they all match correct info.
So I wanted to be extra sure and backup the /EFS folder. did it manually, and also using EFS PRO v1.9.12...
adb shell shows 0 files in the /efs folder (but has a lost&found folder) and any tar file, or img file I've created only has the /efs folder and the lost&found folder, but no .nv_data files are found anywhere, yet all the tools show that the phone has the right info.
am I missing something here, like hidden files? Or am I officially screwed?
I hated to create the whole "cool story bro" info above, yet I thought explaining it all in detail would be the best way to get my ass outta the sling
THANK YOU for any info!
Problem solved....
I got to a useable gingerbread system via odin CI500_VZW_EH03_GB_CM.tar, then activated the phone back onto verizon... Once there, reboot, and backup the /efs folder with EFS Pro.
Once I had that all handled, the rest was cake. I'm now running CM10/HellyBean 08-17
Jelly, err uhhh, Helly is Hella awesome on the fascinate!
This thread can safely be closed.
Related
Ok. Im getting a new Droid Eris today, before my old phone broke i did a nandroid back up through recovery. I am wondering if that nandroid back up will work with the new phone or if i have to flash a new rom and redo everything. Thanks in advanced
I don't see why it wouldn't work.
Sent from my ERIS using Tapatalk
I remember a thread on AF a few months ago about this. I think you might have to change a filename or something. I'd try searching in the all things root section and see what you can find.
I think the folder name inside of the nandroid folder needs to be named according to your eris serial number or hardware number, something like that..the backup might also be proprietary to your device though.
Sent from my Tazz Vanilla using XDA App
The only reason i am asking is because i want to just restore if anything goes wrong with kaosgingerbread i have something to fall back on. As it stands im thinking of multi-booting just to have stability and speed, i dont know about the speed thing though.
New question does multi booting produce lag and speed issues?
When you do a nandroid backup for the first time on any phone, it creates a folder at
/sdcard/nandroid/H????????
where the last bit ( "H????????" ) is the device serial number. Let's suppose that your old phone has a serial number of "HXXXXXXXX", and (for instance) that you made a Nandroid backup of the old phone December 3rd, 2010 at 1517 GMT. There would be a backup folder inside that folder named
/sdcard/nandroid/HXXXXXXXX/BDS-20101203-1517
(This folder will contain four files: boot.img, system.img, data.img, and nandroid.md5)
There is nothing in that backup that is specific to the serial number of your phone, so, the easiest thing to do is to make a dummy Nandroid backup on the new phone after you have rooted it. Let's suppose that the device serial number of the new phone is HZZZZZZZZ; performing that (dummy) backup will create a new backup at
/sdcard/nandroid/HZZZZZZZZ/BDS-date_and_time_stamp
So, the only thing you need to do is move all the BDS-* folders inside
/sdcard/nandroid/HXXXXXXXX
to the new folder
/sdcard/nandroid/HZZZZZZZZ
and you are good to go.
bftb0
BTW, the you should have posted this in the Q&A section.
bftb0 said:
BTW, the you should have posted this in the Q&A section.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am not the best at looking before i post, but in my defense i needed reply fast because all that droid is doing when it gets here is it is getting its sd card and a quick call to verizon then it is on it way to be rooted. Thnak you everyone who posted and thanks to bftb0 for pointing out the fact that nothing is hooked to the serial number
Moved to Q-A
GrainOsand said:
I accidentally flashed odin with phone efs clear checked....now I have no 3G and a little triangle in the nitification bar.....Can anyone help? ADRYN?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll go ahead and get a couple things out of the way that other people will probably tell you about with varying levels of aggravation (don't shoot the messenger, I couldn't care less):
This is a question. It goes in Q & A. The development forum is for development.
Odin is a dangerous tool, and you have to be careful with it.
If your MEID number is still valid in Settings -> About Phone -> Status -> MEID, then you are probably ok.
You may be able to *228, option 1. If that doesn't do it, try *22899.
If that doesn't work, activate an old phone on your account, then after a few minutes, reactivate your Samsung Fascinate. This will hopefully restore any of the EFS data that wasn't getting pushed by the *228 activation.
If your MEID in the Settings menu doesn't match the one printed on your phone under the battery, then the EFS data was corrupted and unable to rebuild after you cleared it. The only realistic option at that point is having it sent to Samsung.
thanks gizmo
question were u able to fix it i haven't done it i am always intrigued by stupid mistakes lol jk
BlackHoleSlam said:
question were u able to fix it i haven't done it i am always intrigued by stupid mistakes lol jk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
its no big deal.
http://forum.androidcentral.com/ver...t-happens-when-you-use-phone-button-odin.html
gunnermike said:
its no big deal.
http://forum.androidcentral.com/ver...t-happens-when-you-use-phone-button-odin.html
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, he deleted the OP that made it a little clearer... He actually cleared the EFS.
The phone section in ODIN is just a specialized field for flashing a radio file (PDA is like an all purpose). At least, this is what I gather from other's experiences. (Fully admitting that I have a bad memory).
But the "Phone EFS Clear" checkmark is for clearing the efs partition so that it will rebuild the files that contain your MEID number. It also clears the information that is pushed to your phone during activation.
Given that everything was set up properly, he should be ok after activating again... but that's not always the case. If you clear the EFS data and the files that repopulate the data with your MEID are corrupted, then there is no way to regenerate that info without shipping your phone to Samsung.
Given that no one much talks about the EFS partition on the Fascinate, I've only learned this info from the other Galaxy S variants, where backing up the EFS is a major first step before changing anything.
There is a small possibility that these principles don't apply to the SF, but I'm thinking that until someone proves otherwise, it's better safe then sorry.
OP el-solve-ed his problem. Thread closed.
recovery just says something is wrong, look at log?
I tried a few versions (of the backup sets), same error.
What am I doing wrong? How do I fix it? :crying:
Log from recovery run...
Starting recovery on Thu Aug 16 21:58:52 2012
can't open /dev/tty0: No such file or directory
framebuffer: fd 3 (720 x 1280)
RA Revamped
Build : RA-VIGOR-v3.15-getitnowmarketing
Command: "/sbin/recovery"
ro.secure=0
ro.allow.mock.location=0
ro.debuggable=1
fuzzynco said:
recovery just says something is wrong, look at log?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This happens all the time to people.
You can't simply restore a backup from another device because then your new device will actually appear as your old device on Google and Verizons servers, which will cause all sorts of problems if Verizon were to ever successfully restore your old phone and try and send it off to someone else. To avoid this problem, the recovery won't even let you restore a backup from another phone, even if its the exact same hardware.
Go to play.google.com, go to view your devices in the settings section. You should see two Rezounds. One will have been activated in the past, and one whenever you first turned on your replacement after receiving it and logging in with your account. So the one that was activated in the past is clearly your original Rezound that you've returned. You can give it a name, like "DEAD REZOUND" so that you know by looking at the name which Rezound Google thinks you're using.
There is a workaround that will let you restore the backup anyway if you want to search for it, but I highly recommend you don't. If you do, you can then go to play.google.com again, view your existing devices in the settings section, and you'll see that Google thinks your new phone is the same one you just sent back to Verizon. It should show "DEAD REZOUND" as being registered again today (or whatever day you successfully restored a backup from your old phone)
To sum up: Don't restore a backup from another Rezound. You pretty much have to start over again.
I kind of follow... RA is an image backup
so it would duplicate the serial and device specific data.
I could do a TiBu of the user apps and data (and the
new xml files of the call log and sms's), though.
Use an app to export the calendar data to an
.ics (iCal file) and the phone book to a .vcf
for import on the 'new' phone.
Since Google added some 800+ empty
phone book entries and messed up my phone
book, I don't sync with it. I export the whole
thing to a vcf.
So the missing /dev/tty0 device file
error from the restore is just AR not
letting me shot myself in the foot,
right?
I'll need to install my ROM, then
restore the user apps and data
from TiBu then rebuild my 'desktop'?
Is it worth doing the RUU for ICS
to get there? The new phone was
offered the upgrade OTA, but I think
it was wiped by the unlock prior to
S-Off process. Would I flash
the ICS RUU, then flash the ICS/JB
hboot, to get fastboot commands,
then reflash recovery?
I have seperate micro cards for
the 600mb RUU zip and the
ICS firmware/radio/hboot(JB)
zip.
I'm thinking since I have to rebuild
the desktop anyway, maybe doing
the ICS RUU first is a good idea.
fuzzynco said:
so it would duplicate the serial and device specific data.
I could do a TiBu of the user apps and data (and the
new xml files of the call log and sms's), though.
Use an app to export the calendar data to an
.ics (iCal file) and the phone book to a .vcf
for import on the 'new' phone.
Since Google added some 800+ empty
phone book entries and messed up my phone
book, I don't sync with it. I export the whole
thing to a vcf.
So the missing /dev/tty0 device file
error from the restore is just AR not
letting me shot myself in the foot,
right?
I'll need to install my ROM, then
restore the user apps and data
from TiBu then rebuild my 'desktop'?
Is it worth doing the RUU for ICS
to get there? The new phone was
offered the upgrade OTA, but I think
it was wiped by the unlock prior to
S-Off process. Would I flash
the ICS RUU, then flash the ICS/JB
hboot, to get fastboot commands,
then reflash recovery?
I have seperate micro cards for
the 600mb RUU zip and the
ICS firmware/radio/hboot(JB)
zip.
I'm thinking since I have to rebuild
the desktop anyway, maybe doing
the ICS RUU first is a good idea.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In reply to the bolded part: Basically, yes. AR's nandroid places the backups in a folder with your phone's serial as the folder name. Attempting to restore any backup from a folder with any other name will fail to prevent the issues I mentioned above.
I do not and have not ever used Titanium Backup, so in regards to that, I can't be of any help.
If you have a linux machine, you can mount the data.img from any of your backups and then copy all the files from /data/app and data/data to your phone. This will restore most of your apps, and app data/settings. There will still be a few things you'll have to redo from scratch, and this may not work 100% for every app on your phone, but at least this way you don't have to redownload every single app and manually redo all your settings...
I did the RUU zip (it restarted itself, as expected), the firmware/radio/hboot(JB) zip
and then reflashed AR 3.15 from fastboot. Everything seems to be working now.
Do you know if the debloat script (freeze VZW apps) works for ICS OTA ROM?
fuzzynco said:
I did the RUU zip (it restarted itself, as expected), the firmware/radio/hboot(JB) zip
and then reflashed AR 3.15 from fastboot. Everything seems to be working now.
Do you know if the debloat script (freeze VZW apps) works for ICS OTA ROM?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
not sure...
I couldn't get ViperROM 1.0.3 to not crash (com.android.phone kept crashing).
Trying a couple of others that are prerooted and deboated. So far the ICS &
Sense 3.6 looks fine. Still have the 'social network' stuff to freeze though,
Could I do something like make a zip (from adb shell) of the user apps
/data/app & /data/data directories (to preserve the unix permissions).
and leave that on fat32 sd card? Then merge that into the zip for the
rom to be installed so the installer will reload them?
Would I need to add lines to the installer script to have it load /data (with
the subdirs ../app and ../data)?
hmms maybe better to make a seperate zip to preinstall my saved
/data subdirs? Can I copy the ROMs installer binary and build
a installer script to mount /data, then install the /data directory,
umount /data?
a.mcdear said:
This happens all the time to people.
You can't simply restore a backup from another device because then your new device will actually appear as your old device on Google and Verizons servers, which will cause all sorts of problems if Verizon were to ever successfully restore your old phone and try and send it off to someone else. To avoid this problem, the recovery won't even let you restore a backup from another phone, even if its the exact same hardware.
Go to play.google.com, go to view your devices in the settings section. You should see two Rezounds. One will have been activated in the past, and one whenever you first turned on your replacement after receiving it and logging in with your account. So the one that was activated in the past is clearly your original Rezound that you've returned. You can give it a name, like "DEAD REZOUND" so that you know by looking at the name which Rezound Google thinks you're using.
There is a workaround that will let you restore the backup anyway if you want to search for it, but I highly recommend you don't. If you do, you can then go to play.google.com again, view your existing devices in the settings section, and you'll see that Google thinks your new phone is the same one you just sent back to Verizon. It should show "DEAD REZOUND" as being registered again today (or whatever day you successfully restored a backup from your old phone)
To sum up: Don't restore a backup from another Rezound. You pretty much have to start over again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
not really. im on my third rezound and i restored the same viper rom i had before.
this is what i did with AR
1. back up current rom
2. boot into rom
3. use root explorer and find the nandroids
4. noticed 2 folders in the same nanadroid folder ( light bulb)
5. move old back up to the location where the new one was.
6. boot into recovery and did a full wipe
7. restored old back up.
8 boot phone
9. BAM!
This app might work. I use it and it works great but I'm not sure if it restores data.
synisterwolf said:
not really. im on my third rezound and i restored the same viper rom i had before.
this is what i did with AR
1. back up current rom
2. boot into rom
3. use root explorer and find the nandroids
4. noticed 2 folders in the same nanadroid folder ( light bulb)
5. move old back up to the location where the new one was.
6. boot into recovery and did a full wipe
7. restored old back up.
8 boot phone
9. BAM!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah this works perfectly fine, but can cause the new phone to register on the network as if it were the old one. It is perfectly possible to restore a backup from another phone, and it works fine... its just a bad idea because if your old phone is ever "recovered" and turned back on, VZW might see two identical devices on the network, which will cause problems in the future.
a.mcdear said:
Yeah this works perfectly fine, but can cause the new phone to register on the network as if it were the old one. It is perfectly possible to restore a backup from another phone, and it works fine... its just a bad idea because if your old phone is ever "recovered" and turned back on, VZW might see two identical devices on the network, which will cause problems in the future.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good to know. Thanks
In my case, the backup is from a device that i bricked totally. couldnt get into download mode so im thinking they will just use it as parts
Sent from my iPhone...
I'm having the documented problem of no data connection, always on roaming, after flashing to CM 10.1. My prior rom was CleanRom 5.1, and I have several nandroid backups from various roms over the last few months. GS3 (d2vzw) with root and unlocked bootloader.
So the question is... What's the best way to restore IMEI info and get mobile data back?
As far as I can tell from the dev forums, these are the options, but there are a couple of steps I'm not sure of:
Option 1: Flash a nandroid recovery, backup IMEI using terminal emulator, and then crack-flash away
1. If I restore my phone to a previous backup, is the correct IMEI information included?
2. Also having a problem getting the MD5 sum's to match. Should I flash through ADB instead of clockworkmod? Or use Odin to get back to stock and then re-root? If correct IMEI included with flash back to stock?
3. Assuming I restore a nandroid, the plan was to use "reboot nvbackup" in terminal emulator to save IMEI info.
4. Flash back to CM 10.1.
Option 2: Use IMEI Generator and NV Reader/Writer:
1. Based on this thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1804117
2. Problem: The link to the generator tool in the OP is broken (404). I can get the converted IMEI number from an alternative program, but don't know how to format the text file correctly to use with NV Reader/Writer. Does anyone have a standard format of a dummy IMEI text file?
If you screwed up your IMEI file, what would you do? Mucho gracias.
Okay, I just fixed this issue after spending the better part of 2 days flashing ROMs, messing up my phone worse, and even calling vzw for support. Nearly tried to cash in on the warranty.
Steps taken (without any guarantees):
1. Flashed to stock ICS using ODIN. Flashed stock kernel as well.
2. Rooted the phone.
3. Downloaded ez-unlock (bootloader) from Google Play. Unlocked bootloader.
4. Along the way, I had a problem with my phone booting into factory mode, so I edited the efs file (labeled "factory" something or other) to say "ON" as opposed to "OFF". It's counter intuitive, but on is off and off is on.
5. Also went through the entire process of using NV reader/writer software. Tip: search for the explanatory video... it's a lifesaver. I ended up writing the correct imei file back to the phone.
6. Probably unnecessary, who knows, but I erased the efs file (after backing it up to Dropbox first). I also backed up the IMEI file.
7. Used Root Manager to get to clockworkmod, factory reset, and turned the phone on again, hoping to recreate the efs file. Efs was recreated, but this didn't fix the problem... Not yet.
8. Re-rooted phone. Re-unlocked boot loader.
9. Used a combo of Astro File Manager and ES File Manager to restore refs and IMEI files to proper place in phone. First downloaded (from Dropbox) to internal SD with Astro, then moved to top level system/root folder with ES.
10. Using ROM Manager, rebooted to clockworkmod and factory reset, clear cache, flashed LiquidSmoothRom and GApps, then cleared dalvik cache. (Note: this rom was pre-rooted but unlocked bootloader again anyway to make sure).
11. By now, I'm no longer getting the factory mode popup annoyance, my imei info is correct in settings > about phone, but still not getting mobile phone or data.
12. Here's the key, I think: Activated a backup phone, and in so doing, deactivated the sg3. Went onto vzw website and activated the Sim for the sg3. Now I have a working phone.
It may have been one crucial step, or maybe a combination of all the steps, maybe even a Christmas miracle. Just happy to have my best friend... err... phone back.
Please note: At one point while using a CM10 ROM, I noticed my imei info was correct, but not the phone number. I actually downloaded an app that lets you edit your phone number. Not sure if that did anything, but want to be thorough. Anyway, noticing that was what led me to focus on trying to reset the Sim. Vzw told me to do a battery pull and take out the Sim for 10 seconds, but that didn't do squat.
FYI, there's no *228 option on sg3. It was news to me. Hope this helps someone.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app
I just purchased a used VZW Note 2. I am flashing it to Page Plus. However, I have noticed that the EFS is empty. Is this correct? I don't think it is. I have used Odin to flash back to stock and used the PIT file as well. EFS is still emtpy. Is there any way to get the directories and files back without having a backup of them? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.
Umm..search for efs repair I'm pretty sure that the s3 for at&t and Sprint had these problems and people in those fora came up with great guides and solutions for repairing them that *SHOULD/MIGHT* work for you, but in any case without a backup you may be looking at doing some qpst/cdma workshop software edits unless they have better ideas. Can't hurt to check it out..and once you do get it restored (which is definitely possible even if you have to manually enter the correct information) make sure you use TWRP and create at the least a backup of EFS. Good luck and whatever you end up doing, hopefully you can post it here for anyone else who may have the same issue?
Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk
Thanks for the reply. I was not able to see anything using DFS. I would read the EFS and EFS2 and everything was empty. I tried CDMAWS and was unsuccessful as well. Finally I read somewhere that QPST 2.7 build 378 would read the VZW Note 2. I uninstalled the latest QPST 2.7 and installed build 378 and voila, I was able to see everything there in the EFS Explorer. I was able to paste the 10.key file into the DMU directory just fine. Afterwards, I am still not able to see the EFS folder in DFS or CDMAWS. Strange that only QPST 2.7 build 378 works.