I'm just writting this because i've recently had this problem. I managed to sort it out by my own but didn't really find it written anywhere, just bits and pieces scavenged from so many pages that might point to a solution (granted, part of my problem was also finding what was really my problem since the phone stopped working so fast i didn't really had the time to get what happened)
I was trying out swap for my S3, i had created a swap partition in my external card and then followed a guide here from xda to use an app called swapper2 (from market) to enable swap. I must have done something wrong because what it did was format my /efs partition instead as if it was a swap partition. Phone stopped working on the spot, obviously, and wouldn't past samsung's bootscreen.
Also, keep in mind while this worked for me there might be other ways of doing this which may be simpler. This is just what i figured for a solution.
When this helps:
- you accidentally formated your /efs partition
- you have a backup from your /efs partition, files copied with root explorer but not an image you can just flash back to the partition.
- your phone boots to download and to recovery but not to main system (which every tutorial i found seemed to assume to be able to do, i just figured their /efs was not as screwed as mine was)
- your recovery won't mount the /efs partition because it expects it to be ext4 but it's formated to something else and it showing the message:
"e: failed to mount /efs (Invalid argument)"
What doesn't work:
- any kind of standard solution like reflashing a stock rom with odin, with or without .pit file, clear EFS, whatever. It will flash, just won't solve since, apparently, nothing touches the /efs partition because it's so sensible. Even custom recoveries do mount it and apparently format and replace every single other partition but the /efs, which is why i had to do it manually.
Solution:
- simply format the /efs partition back to ext4 and copy your backup files there
What's needed:
- phone drivers installed on the computer. If you had kies installed, this should be covered already. Think you can't have it running while doing this though. Also, for what's worth, i've done this with windows 8 x64.
- updated android sdk tool, mainly adb. If adb is saying device not connected or not found, you may be using an outdated adb.exe (i was). I used adb.exe that came with this software here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1308546
- root. If your rom isn't rooted you can always flash CF-root from odin in download mode.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1695238
- busybox, am not really sure if i actually got to need this, think so for the formating tool. Can't hurt to have more options though. This is how to install:
http://www.omappedia.com/wiki/Android_Installing_Busybox_Command_Line_Tools
- custom recovery that allows root through adb, i used Philz which is pretty awesome
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2002953
- backup files from your /efs. I had mine unzipped and copied to my externalsd while in windows. They were in an efs folder in the sd card. You can push this through adb to the phone later, but i found this way simpler.
How to:
- get into recovery (vol up+home+power button) and plug your phone to the computer. You'll hear an usb connected sound from windows after a bit.
- in recovery, navigate to Mounts and try the "mount /efs". It'll fail. Now, navigate to advanced and "view log". You'll see below that the phone tried to mount a partition and failed, in my case, it had unsucessfully tried to mount /dev/block/mmcblk0p3 which is the partition /efs uses. Take note of this partition name.
- On windows, open a command line (type cmd on you start menu), navigate to where you have adb.exe and type:
adb shell
If all went well, command prompt has changed. You can now issue commands directly to your phone from terminal.
- type "su" to get root permissions. Your command line should change to something like [email protected] Before i had this working i needed to use "Fix permissions". It's an option in the recovery menus on the phone.
- this step is optional but i did it anyway. I created an image of the partition i was going to mess with. If anything went wrong i could always flash it back even if it was broken. By the way, this is what i should have done in the first place instead of just copying /efs files. Would have made the process so much simpler... also, do this if you ever get the phone back working again. Type:
dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk0p3 of=/externalsd/efs.img
The /externalsd/efs.img is just a place you can save stuff to, like your external sd card. You can check what's your mounting point for the card with the command "mount" and look for something relevant like "externalsd".
Also, you may want to copy that efs.img to somewhere else from your phone (like your computer) for safekeeping. Literally remove card from phone, put in computer and copy files there. Notice you may need to reboot phone to recovery if you remove your card so it detects and mounts your card again. Sure, you can also do that from the command line, but it's just easier to reboot the phone.
- Now, we'll format the partition to something your phone can mount (ext4) and is expecting. Be careful, by doing this, you're actually erasing what's left of your partition and replacing by something clean. Type:
mk2fs /dev/block/mmcblk0p3
If all went well, you should see some kind of small report about what was just done.
- To mount this we'll need a mounting point. Type:
mkdir /efs
this will create an /efs folder in root, if it doesn't exist already, and to mount, type:
mount -t ext4 /dev/block/mmcblk0p3 /efs
- if all went well, you now have access to the /efs folder and can copy you files back:
cp -r /externalsd/efs/* /efs
where externalsd was my external sd card mounted on my phone.
- Check if your /efs folder has it's contents properly
ls /efs
I had to reboot the phone to recovery once more at this point and use the "fix permissions" option again.
After this, my phone booted up normally again.
I'm getting Segmentation fault, I guess there's some kinda hardware error on my phone. Gonna take it to Sammy's tomorrow.
Code:
mke2fs -F /dev/block/mmcblk0p11
Segmentation fault
sh-4.2#
Hi thnx for your Guide. I have the EFS problem, after installin 4 diferent rom in 2 hours my imei and baseband lost.( dont now why) i dont have a backup. I was thinking if it take the EFS from another S3 does it work?
Will this work with a Galaxy S4? I545
Enea307 said:
Hi thnx for your Guide. I have the EFS problem, after installin 4 diferent rom in 2 hours my imei and baseband lost.( dont now why) i dont have a backup. I was thinking if it take the EFS from another S3 does it work?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No. Read General > Sticky roll-up thread > "IMEI / EFS - Know this stuff"
is normal this output? (i'm meaning the tar.gz unfinding file)
Code:
*****************************************
* BACKUP EFS *
*****************************************
WARNING: Do you wish to Continue? (This will make EFS BACKUP) [Y,N]?Y
--- STARTING ----
--- WAITING FOR DEVICE
--- Backup efs image ---
761 KB/s (9357 bytes in 0.012s)
7 KB/s (39 bytes in 0.005s)
SM-N9000ZWEXXV_N900XXUCMJ3_RF1DA111EAY_
Creating filesystem with parameters:
Size: 20971520
Block size: 4096
Blocks per group: 32768
Inodes per group: 1280
Inode size: 256
Journal blocks: 1024
Label:
FLEX_BG size: 0
Blocks: 5120
Block groups: 1
Reserved block group size: 0
Created filesystem with 59/1280 inodes and 2432/5120 blocks
40960+0 records in
40960+0 records out
20971520 bytes transferred in 7.271 secs (2884269 bytes/sec)
unknown option -- ZBusyBox v1.19.4-cm9 bionic (2012-02-05 18:40 +0100) multi-cal
l binary.
Usage: tar -[cxtzjahmvO] [-X FILE] [-T FILE] [-f TARFILE] [-C DIR] [FILE]...
Create, extract, or list files from a tar file
Operation:
c Create
x Extract
t List
f Name of TARFILE ('-' for stdin/out)
C Change to DIR before operation
v Verbose
z (De)compress using gzip
j (De)compress using bzip2
a (De)compress using lzma
O Extract to stdout
h Follow symlinks
m Don't restore mtime
exclude File to exclude
X File with names to exclude
T File with names to include
2684 KB/s (9962352 bytes in 3.623s)
2805 KB/s (20971520 bytes in 7.299s)
remote object '/sdcard/SM-N9000ZWEXXV_N900XXUCMJ3_RF1DA111EAY_EFS.tar.gz' does n
ot exist
7-Zip (A) 4.65 Copyright (c) 1999-2009 Igor Pavlov 2009-02-03
Scanning
SM-N9000ZWEXXV_N900XXUCMJ3_RF1DA111EAY_EFS.tar.gz: WARNING: Impossibile trovare
il file specificato. [COLOR=Red](impossible to find the specify file)[/COLOR]
Creating archive SM-N9000ZWEXXV_N900XXUCMJ3_RF1DA111EAY_EFS.zip
Compressing getprop.txt
Compressing SM-N9000ZWEXXV_N900XXUCMJ3_RF1DA111EAY_EFS.raw.img
Compressing SM-N9000ZWEXXV_N900XXUCMJ3_RF1DA111EAY_EFS.tar.md5
WARNINGS for files:
SM-N9000ZWEXXV_N900XXUCMJ3_RF1DA111EAY_EFS.tar.gz : Impossibile trovare il file
specificato.[COLOR=Red] (impossible to find the specify file)[/COLOR]
----------------
WARNING: Cannot find 1 file
-
-
Finished. Output file is SM-N9000ZWEXXV_N900XXUCMJ3_RF1DA111EAY_EFS BACKUP
Premere un tasto per continuare . . .
well in the zip there are only the txt + md5 + .raw.img
Thanks for this great tutorial. It was my final step to recover my efs partition, without any backup. I copied the efs folder from another device and modified the files according my devices info (bluetooth mac, serial etc). Worked great on my SGS4
By the way I had the same error:
Code:
mke2fs /dev/block/mmcblk0p10
Segmentation fault
You get this error if you run adb shell when you booted to your ROM.
You need to run adb shell in recovery mode
Great tutorial but i hope you can help me, I can't seem to properly find the SDcard. When I type cp -r /externalsd/efs/* /efs
it comes back with cp: can't stat '/sdcard/efs*' : No such file or directory
I cleared my whole sdcard card except for efs directory. I also tried sdcard instead of externalsd but same thing.
I am getting stuck trying to fix this as I have a boot loop or corrupt /efs or something. I have tried to get my phone working by installing my ROM ( Omega v58 ) and also by trying to flash the latest stock 4.3 through Odin v3.09. I havent tried total stock 4.0.3 yet. No matter what I have done though I can't get past the boot logo ( or the walking Omega droid ). My phone just sits there and hangs
I have followed your steps and I have Philz ( 6.07.9.19 ) installed ( but not busybox unless it is sat there somehow from the Omega install ) but when i try to get adb shell running nothing happens or works..as you can see
What am i doing wrong? OR is my phone totally borked?
hi..
Blackwatch said:
I am getting stuck trying to fix this as I have a boot loop or corrupt /efs or something. I have tried to get my phone working by installing my ROM ( Omega v58 ) and also by trying to flash the latest stock 4.3 through Odin v3.09. I havent tried total stock 4.0.3 yet. No matter what I have done though I can't get past the boot logo ( or the walking Omega droid ). My phone just sits there and hangs
I have followed your steps and I have Philz ( 6.07.9.19 ) installed ( but not busybox unless it is sat there somehow from the Omega install ) but when i try to get adb shell running nothing happens or works..as you can see
What am i doing wrong? OR is my phone totally borked?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have successfully fix my efs partition follwing this thread.
you are receiving such message in cmd. I faced it too.
Sol: Use Philoz Recovery 5.0.
Fix permissions.
there you are.. done..
Philz 6.0 do not have an option for "fix permission".
hope it helps..
I wrote a script that attempts to recover your nv_data.bin from a corrupted EFS partition for the i9300. Thus if you don't have a backup and your EFS is corrupt, try the script. The script is still in Alpha phase and may not work for other devices. Feedback would be much appreciated.
You can find the script at: https://github.com/chriscz/efs_recover
I dont have /efs backed up
Hi ,
If i dont have /efs backed up , can I copy any other mobile (same model) efs data to my mobile and try?
Thanks and Regards
Vamshi Pulumati
vamshipulumati said:
Hi ,
If i dont have /efs backed up , can I copy any other mobile (same model) efs data to my mobile and try?
Thanks and Regards
Vamshi Pulumati
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, it won't work and trying to clone another imei is illegal.
boomboomer said:
No, it won't work and trying to clone another imei is illegal.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How to register for a new IMEI ? Is it possible?? Could you please help me with any site or link?? I don't want to replace motherboard..
Any help are highly appreciated.
No, it isn't possible and discussion about changing imei is banned on xda.
Take your phone to a service centre and pay then to recode it for you, make sure it works on 4.3 before you pay.
boomboomer said:
No, it isn't possible and discussion about changing imei is banned on xda.
Take your phone to a service centre and pay then to recode it for you, make sure it works on 4.3 before you pay.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey I would like to tell you that a miracle happened for my S3. Yesterday i tried to do same as per in this guide. After taking backup of broken efs backup i tried to clear the efs folder with this command "mk2fs /dev/block/mmcblk0p3"
After that i just flashed 4.4.4 based stock ROM and somehow phone booted up perfectly. No network issues. Bluetooth wifi sim card everything works. IMEI & Serial No is there. But when i'm checking network unlock status it is showing as everything locked. But still I can use everything... I'm amazed.!!!!
Do you have any idea how this happened??
@boomboomer
Same problem with a Samsung gt-i9070 - Galaxy S Advance
Hi!
My i9070 has the same problem, but when i run the command: "mke2fs /dev/block/mmcblk0p3" shows the "Segmentation fault" error message.
Some one can help?
Thanks.
Bro U stated to format but How to format /efs partition
/efs not backed up
boomboomer said:
No, it won't work and trying to clone another imei is illegal.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I Dont have efs backed up and I also have formatted efs partition from adb shell and using that Dev type commands now i am in factory mode and my network is not working please give me any solution.
kaynpayn said:
I'm just writting this because i've recently had this problem. I managed to sort it out by my own but didn't really find it written anywhere, just bits and pieces scavenged from so many pages that might point to a solution (granted, part of my problem was also finding what was really my problem since the phone stopped working so fast i didn't really had the time to get what happened)
I was trying out swap for my S3, i had created a swap partition in my external card and then followed a guide here from xda to use an app called swapper2 (from market) to enable swap. I must have done something wrong because what it did was format my /efs partition instead as if it was a swap partition. Phone stopped working on the spot, obviously, and wouldn't past samsung's bootscreen.
Also, keep in mind while this worked for me there might be other ways of doing this which may be simpler. This is just what i figured for a solution.
When this helps:
- you accidentally formated your /efs partition
- you have a backup from your /efs partition, files copied with root explorer but not an image you can just flash back to the partition.
- your phone boots to download and to recovery but not to main system (which every tutorial i found seemed to assume to be able to do, i just figured their /efs was not as screwed as mine was)
- your recovery won't mount the /efs partition because it expects it to be ext4 but it's formated to something else and it showing the message:
"e: failed to mount /efs (Invalid argument)"
What doesn't work:
- any kind of standard solution like reflashing a stock rom with odin, with or without .pit file, clear EFS, whatever. It will flash, just won't solve since, apparently, nothing touches the /efs partition because it's so sensible. Even custom recoveries do mount it and apparently format and replace every single other partition but the /efs, which is why i had to do it manually.
Solution:
- simply format the /efs partition back to ext4 and copy your backup files there
What's needed:
- phone drivers installed on the computer. If you had kies installed, this should be covered already. Think you can't have it running while doing this though. Also, for what's worth, i've done this with windows 8 x64.
- updated android sdk tool, mainly adb. If adb is saying device not connected or not found, you may be using an outdated adb.exe (i was). I used adb.exe that came with this software here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1308546
- root. If your rom isn't rooted you can always flash CF-root from odin in download mode.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1695238
- busybox, am not really sure if i actually got to need this, think so for the formating tool. Can't hurt to have more options though. This is how to install:
http://www.omappedia.com/wiki/Android_Installing_Busybox_Command_Line_Tools
- custom recovery that allows root through adb, i used Philz which is pretty awesome
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2002953
- backup files from your /efs. I had mine unzipped and copied to my externalsd while in windows. They were in an efs folder in the sd card. You can push this through adb to the phone later, but i found this way simpler.
How to:
- get into recovery (vol up+home+power button) and plug your phone to the computer. You'll hear an usb connected sound from windows after a bit.
- in recovery, navigate to Mounts and try the "mount /efs". It'll fail. Now, navigate to advanced and "view log". You'll see below that the phone tried to mount a partition and failed, in my case, it had unsucessfully tried to mount /dev/block/mmcblk0p3 which is the partition /efs uses. Take note of this partition name.
- On windows, open a command line (type cmd on you start menu), navigate to where you have adb.exe and type:
adb shell
If all went well, command prompt has changed. You can now issue commands directly to your phone from terminal.
- type "su" to get root permissions. Your command line should change to something like [email protected] Before i had this working i needed to use "Fix permissions". It's an option in the recovery menus on the phone.
- this step is optional but i did it anyway. I created an image of the partition i was going to mess with. If anything went wrong i could always flash it back even if it was broken. By the way, this is what i should have done in the first place instead of just copying /efs files. Would have made the process so much simpler... also, do this if you ever get the phone back working again. Type:
dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk0p3 of=/externalsd/efs.img
The /externalsd/efs.img is just a place you can save stuff to, like your external sd card. You can check what's your mounting point for the card with the command "mount" and look for something relevant like "externalsd".
Also, you may want to copy that efs.img to somewhere else from your phone (like your computer) for safekeeping. Literally remove card from phone, put in computer and copy files there. Notice you may need to reboot phone to recovery if you remove your card so it detects and mounts your card again. Sure, you can also do that from the command line, but it's just easier to reboot the phone.
- Now, we'll format the partition to something your phone can mount (ext4) and is expecting. Be careful, by doing this, you're actually erasing what's left of your partition and replacing by something clean. Type:
mk2fs /dev/block/mmcblk0p3
If all went well, you should see some kind of small report about what was just done.
- To mount this we'll need a mounting point. Type:
mkdir /efs
this will create an /efs folder in root, if it doesn't exist already, and to mount, type:
mount -t ext4 /dev/block/mmcblk0p3 /efs
- if all went well, you now have access to the /efs folder and can copy you files back:
cp -r /externalsd/efs/* /efs
where externalsd was my external sd card mounted on my phone.
- Check if your /efs folder has it's contents properly
ls /efs
I had to reboot the phone to recovery once more at this point and use the "fix permissions" option again.
After this, my phone booted up normally again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have restored my s6 edge by following this method. The EFS partition name is "sda3" for s6 edge if anyone want to restore s6 edge. There is typo in command "mk2fs /dev/block/mmcblk0p3" it should be mke2fs i think.
After restoring EFS my phone recovered from boot loop. But the imei is still invalid. Do you know any method to repair imei for s6 edge?. Thank You
---------- Post added at 02:18 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:14 PM ----------
Blackwatch said:
I am getting stuck trying to fix this as I have a boot loop or corrupt /efs or something. I have tried to get my phone working by installing my ROM ( Omega v58 ) and also by trying to flash the latest stock 4.3 through Odin v3.09. I havent tried total stock 4.0.3 yet. No matter what I have done though I can't get past the boot logo ( or the walking Omega droid ). My phone just sits there and hangs
I have followed your steps and I have Philz ( 6.07.9.19 ) installed ( but not busybox unless it is sat there somehow from the Omega install ) but when i try to get adb shell running nothing happens or works..as you can see
What am i doing wrong? OR is my phone totally borked?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You don't have to run "su" command. "#" shows you already have root access.
Related
First rooted no problem and researched unlocking S5380, using
JC-Masters tutorial and StoneBoyTony have similar steps but IMPORTANT stoneboytony tutorial has an extra step 31. Make shure that Root Explorer is in "Mounted as r/o" like this .
I used Jc_master tutorial my phoned bricked I only blame myself which does not remount file system read only r/o and does not use Root Explorer app.
I could be totally wrong here and believe you must use the extra step 31.
I thought umount /efs was the problem because if you UNMOUNT the efs
how would access that partition when rebooting.when you mkdir /efs this could mean you make a directory called efs which could be encrypted which you cant access when rebooting. Yes you can see 8 digit code clearly but cant reboot and cant reflash new rom. because you cant acess the efs files.
durbancurry said:
First rooted no problem and researched unlocking S5380, using
JC-Masters tutorial and StoneBoyTony have similar steps but IMPORTANT stoneboytony tutorial has an extra step 31. Make shure that Root Explorer is in "Mounted as r/o" like this .
I used Jc_master tutorial my phoned bricked I only blame myself which does not remount file system read only r/o and does not use Root Explorer app.
I could be totally wrong here and believe you must use the extra step 31.
I thought umount /efs was the problem because if you UNMOUNT the efs
how would access that partition when rebooting.when you mkdir /efs this could mean you make a directory called efs which could be encrypted which you cant access when rebooting. Yes you can see 8 digit code clearly but cant reboot and cant reflash new rom. because you cant acess the efs files.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Me too, for this I started a thread to see if its posible to make a kernel that remount efs partition. No one said to me nothing.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=16981439#post16981439
vinclar what tutorial did you use.? even if you type unmount that command would not be recognised nothing would happen,
This is a guess maybe the file system needs to be r/o read only when booting so that the orig efs files cant be rewritten or generated. as the files are specific to your phone only.
durbancurry said:
vinclar what tutorial did you use.? even if you type unmount that command would not be recognised nothing would happen,
This is a guess maybe the file system needs to be r/o read only when booting so that the orig efs files cant be rewritten or generated. as the files are specific to your phone only.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's no unmount it's umount. Unfortunately, it seems like a fail on whoever created the umount command. In general Linux though, a simple typo to manually unmount a partition wouldn't do much harm. On a phone it seems to brick or clear the IMEI and other critical info.
russ18uk said:
It's no unmount it's umount. Unfortunately, it seems like a fail on whoever created the umount command. In general Linux though, a simple typo to manually unmount a partition wouldn't do much harm. On a phone it seems to brick or clear the IMEI and other critical info.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So this is what caused all the bricked phones?
While trying to restore an old backup of stock 2.3.6 on my Atrix 4g (ATT) from Jokersax CM9, I recieved an error while restoring "/system". This is what showed up:
Rom Manager version 5.0.0.7
August 22, 2012
Checking MD5 sums...
Erasing boot before restore...
Restoring boot image...
Restoring system...
Error while restoring /system!
/tmp/recovery.log was copied to /sdcard/clockworkmod/recovery.log.
Please open ROM Manager to report the issue.
A bit of background...So, I rooted and unlocked the bootloader of my Atrix 4g about two weeks ago, and everything went fine. I then decided to flash Jokersax CM9 on my Atrix, so I backed up the stock 2.3.6 that I was on at that time. I then used CM9 for the next two weeks, but then decided I wanted to go back to stock, and I received the error. Btw, I used ROM Manager for backups and restore, and had flashed CWM recovery properly. Also, the backups I had created of CM9 earlier wouldn't restore because of the missing MD5 file.
I was curious why it wouldn't restore properly. Is it just a bad backup or is something wrong with my internal sd card? Anyway, what should I do if I want to restore the backup?
Thanks in Advance!
Anything interesting or useful in /sdcard/clockworkmod/recovery.log?
No file
ravilov said:
Anything interesting or useful in /sdcard/clockworkmod/recovery.log?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually if I go into /sdcard/clockworkmod, I can't find the recovery.log file. It might have been moved but I don't recall ever messing with the files.
Md5sum miss match possibly?
Sent from my MB860 using xda premium
Md5sum mismatch
stevendeb25 said:
Md5sum miss match possibly?
Sent from my MB860 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If it was Md5sum mismatch, how would I fix it?
Actually I didn't rename the backup and it has no spaces, so I don't know what it would be...
According to your log, there is nothing wrong with your backup, or else the "Checking MD5 sums" part would have caught it.
There is also no way of a MD5 sum mismatch, for the same reason.
The only thing I can think of is there's something wrong with copying the backup to the phone (specifically, the /system partition). You can hook the phone to the computer right after you try restoring the backup and run adb shell, then run this:
Code:
cat /cache/recovery/log
cat /cache/recovery/last_log
See if that has something revealing.
Or, maybe the recovery has some problems wiping your /system for some reason. In that case, you can also try this (also within adb shell):
Code:
dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/block/mmcblk0p12 bs=512 count=1000
That will wipe the beginning of the /system partition, so the recovery will be forced to format it. Use this at your own risk.
Then after that try restoring your backup again.
ravilov said:
According to your log, there is nothing wrong with your backup, or else the "Checking MD5 sums" part would have caught it.
There is also no way of a MD5 sum mismatch, for the same reason.
The only thing I can think of is there's something wrong with copying the backup to the phone (specifically, the /system partition). You can hook the phone to the computer right after you try restoring the backup and run adb shell, then run this:
Code:
cat /cache/recovery/log
cat /cache/recovery/last_log
See if that has something revealing.
Or, maybe the recovery has some problems wiping your /system for some reason. In that case, you can also try this (also within adb shell):
Code:
dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/block/mmcblk0p12 bs=512 count=1000
That will wipe the beginning of the /system partition, so the recovery will be forced to format it. Use this at your own risk.
Then after that try restoring your backup again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll definitely try that, I'm not gonna have a chance to do it soon though. I'll get back to you as soon as I do.
Thanks for all the answers anyway!
Did this work? I have had a similar issue with my Atrix, too. I can do an "Advanced Restore" and restore all partitions but /system.
Issue restoring stock rom backup
I loaded epritner's CM10 rom and am getting the same error when attempting to restore the backup of the stock rom. Reviewing the report.log i see that there is a space issue writing to the \system partition but dont know how to proceed. Any help would be appreciated. Attached is the log output...
Restoring system...
I:Formatting unknown device.
I:Formatting ext3 device.
tune2fs 1.41.11 (14-Mar-2010)
Setting current mount count to 1
e2fsck 1.41.11 (14-Mar-2010)
Pass 1: Checking inodes, blocks, and sizes
Pass 2: Checking directory structure
Pass 3: Checking directory connectivity
Pass 4: Checking reference counts
Pass 5: Checking group summary information
/dev/block/mmcblk0p12: 11/81920 files (0.0% non-contiguous), 20632/327680 blocks
deleted
nvmm_sorensondec.axf
deleted
Protips.apk
deleted
CarDock.odex
deleted
GoogleServicesFramework.odex
deleted
Glam_alert.ogg
deleted
libopencore_player.so
deleted
tar: write error: No space left on device
defaults.xml
deleted
Error while restoring /system!
result was NULL, message is: assert failed: restore_rom("/sdcard/clockworkmod/backup/Atrix4g", "boot", "system", "data", "cache", "sd-ext")
in2slack said:
I loaded epritner's CM10 rom and am getting the same error when attempting to restore the backup of the stock rom. Reviewing the report.log i see that there is a space issue writing to the \system partition but dont know how to proceed. Any help would be appreciated. Attached is the log output...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
in2slack, did you try these steps from ravilov? If so, did you get an error?
ravilov said:
According to your log, there is nothing wrong with your backup, or else the "Checking MD5 sums" part would have caught it.
There is also no way of a MD5 sum mismatch, for the same reason.
The only thing I can think of is there's something wrong with copying the backup to the phone (specifically, the /system partition). You can hook the phone to the computer right after you try restoring the backup and run adb shell, then run this:
Code:
cat /cache/recovery/log
cat /cache/recovery/last_log
See if that has something revealing.
Or, maybe the recovery has some problems wiping your /system for some reason. In that case, you can also try this (also within adb shell):
Code:
dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/block/mmcblk0p12 bs=512 count=1000
That will wipe the beginning of the /system partition, so the recovery will be forced to format it. Use this at your own risk.
Then after that try restoring your backup again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Were you able to find a solution? I'm facing the exact same issue
Same here I installed the AtrICS ROM for a play around after backing up my MIUI ROM. Decided to go back to the MIUI ROM and I get the error when trying to restore. I've got a load of application data that I've lost if I can't get this ROM restored. It seems that the AtrICS ROM, as good as it is, has changed something.
Any thoughts anyone? It seems to be a file system thing? As if the System partion is the wrong type, or not large enough?
I went back from atrICS to epinter by backup today. I had no problems what so ever so it is not an atrICS related issue, my steps were:
1. format /cache
2. format /data
3. format /system
4. format /dalvik-cache
5. recover epinter
have you tried to use format system before recovery? maybe there is some residual file that can't be overwritten...
Thanks for your reply.
I did try formatting System before restoring and still got the same error when restoring.
However, I ignored it and rebooted and I was back at MIUI and able to recover my files
I've the exact same problem.
In the /cache/recovery/last_log, I've found a message:
write error: No space left on device
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't understand why there is no space left on /system... the size of partitions should not change, isn't it?
After checking /system partition size and system backup, I saw that the backup completely fills the partition:
[email protected]:/ # df
Filesystem Size Used Free Blksize
[...]
/system 309M 309M 3K 1024
[...]
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I faced the same issue
I faced the same issue and would request experienced users to take a look at my log file and advise me
Okay did anyone try anything of this I faces same problem and idk what to do.
Solved - Non conventional method
I solved this problem using a non conventional method.
I used "advanced restore" to restore boot, data and cache.
So, I copied "system.ext3.tar" to my computer and extract it using winrar. Then, using the files I created a flashble zip and flash it using "install zip" option.
It worked!
If someone wants, I could post a tutorial here later.
danilocps87 said:
I solved this problem using a non conventional method.
I used "advanced restore" to restore boot, data and cache.
So, I copied "system.ext3.tar" to my computer and extract it using winrar. Then, using the files I created a flashble zip and flash it using "install zip" option.
It worked!
If someone wants, I could post a tutorial here later.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry to ressurect the topic, but I can't restore even /system and /data.. gives me error, and MD5 is fine.
Backing up .android_secure...
.
com.trust5.odp-1.asec
com.quoord.tapatalkxda.activity-1.a
com.loudtalks-1.asec
com.whatsapp.wallpaper-1.asec
com.music.download-1.asec
com.facebook.orca-1.asec
me.pou.app-2.asec
com.kiloo.subwaysurf-2.asec
com.davidamado.MetalGearOuterHeaven
Backing up cache...
.
lost+found
dalvik-cache
recovery
last_log
log
No sd-ext found. Skipping backup of sd-ext.
Generating md5 sum...
chmod: /sdcard/clockworkmod/blobs/02c/§☻‼/♀~|♫: No such file or directory
chmod: /sdcard/clockworkmod/blobs/235/∟/☺>☼>♣~: No such file or directory
Backup complete!
Checking MD5 sums...
boot.img: OK
cache.ext4.dup: OK
data.ext4.dup: OK
system.ext4.dup: OK
.android_secure.vfat.dup: OK
couldn't find default
Found new backup image: /sdcard/clockworkmod/backup/2013-06-30.03.16.22//data.ex
t4.dup
Restoring data...
Creating filesystem with parameters:
Size: 2147483648
Block size: 4096
Blocks per group: 32768
Inodes per group: 8192
Inode size: 256
Journal blocks: 8192
Label:
Blocks: 524288
Block groups: 16
Reserved block group size: 127
Created filesystem with 11/131072 inodes and 17193/524288 blocks
warning: wipe_block_device: Discard failed
Unable to copy file ./backup/processed
data
user
0
idd
etc
bluetooth_bdaddr
wlan_macaddr
light_themes
GNB_DEBUG.txt
backup
processed
Error while restoring /data!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can someone answer that? Thank you!!
I have the same issue
danilocps87 said:
I solved this problem using a non conventional method.
I used "advanced restore" to restore boot, data and cache.
So, I copied "system.ext3.tar" to my computer and extract it using winrar. Then, using the files I created a flashble zip and flash it using "install zip" option.
It worked!
If someone wants, I could post a tutorial here later.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you please post a tutorial? I am experiencing the same issue.
Edit : I've searched the whole internet and some say that i can't restore the system because my cwm backup of the stock system is to large (315 MB to be precise) while the system partition has 320 MB.It look like i need to have more free space, like 10-15MB .Any ideas on how i might to that?
Hello xda!!
I own a GS3 i9300 and im a noob at android's and codings.
When I start the phone, I have no IMEI, cant see any carrier, I don't have lock screen and I don't have that power menu.
The only method I am using to correct this whole issue is :
-Go into Root Explorer
-Go to "/system/efs
-Copy the whole "Efs" directory
-Paste on /Efs
and voilá, it starts to work. I get everything back. The problem is I want this to be permanent, like a normal Phone. I have a rooted stock Rom. This might be simple to solve but I really don't know.
Thanks
raixa said:
Hello xda!!
I own a GS3 i9300 and im a noob at android's and codings.
When I start the phone, I have no IMEI,
Restore your backed up EFS folder .
Fix Permissions see sticky .
IMEI/ EFS see multiple posts on the subject .
jje
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've used fix permissions but i cant restore any EFS cause EFS pro says this "efs pro can't locate mount point"
Should I flash a new firmware and restore the EFS?
Just flashed stock firmware and Efs problem still continue.
I have the EFS backup.
The problem is that every single time my device reboots, the EFS folder appears, but has nothing inside. I can´t change permissions on the folder because root explorer wont let me.
Any solution?
raixa said:
Just flashed stock firmware and Efs problem still continue.
I have the EFS backup.
The problem is that every single time my device reboots, the EFS folder appears, but has nothing inside. I can´t change permissions on the folder because root explorer wont let me.
Any solution?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No firmware (stock or custom) modifies efs partition when flashed. If it was broken before, it will be when you flash stock firmware also.
You will need root access to fix this problem. If I had this problem I would flash a rom with root, busybox and as no other mods to be on the safe side (or root and install busybox on the stock one). Try to make a new file in /efs (use a file manager with root access) and reboot . The file should be there after restart. If it is the the phone is ok and you will just need to restore the backup. If it isn't you will need help from someone with more experience.
Thanks dav_991.
Just tried your solution but after the restart, there's nothing on /efs again.
One thing I noticed is that when I enter /efs folder its "mounted like R/W", but if I switch to "Mount R/O" and I get out of Root explorer, some files appear on the Efs folder. Thing is every time I restart the phone it appears mounted as R/W.
raixa said:
Thanks dav_991.
Just tried your solution but after the restart, there's nothing on /efs again.
One thing I noticed is that when I enter /efs folder its "mounted like R/W", but if I switch to "Mount R/O" and I get out of Root explorer, some files appear on the Efs folder. Thing is every time I restart the phone it appears mounted as R/W.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
On my s3 /efs is mounted as rw by default. I do not think that this is related to your problem. To see which partition (and how) is mounted as /efs, in terminal emulator type (and grant permission when asked):
Code:
su
cat /proc/mounts | grep /efs
It should look like:
Code:
/dev/block/mmcblk0p3 /efs ext4 rw,nosuid,nodev,noatime,barrier=1,journal_async_commit,data=ordered 0 0
Yot could also post the files that are in the efs partition before and after you mounted as ro with command:
Code:
ls -la /efs >/sdcard/efs_list.txt
In phone memory you will get a file named efs_list.txt with the names of the files (every time you run the command the file is overriten, take this in consideration. Also be careful not to misspell something, you could overrite something you need).
I did some more research and ended up being the /Efs folder that wasn't mounted.
Managed to solve it by the terminal, adding the SU command.
Thanks everyone.
Best Regards,
Luis Matos
Hey. I tried this swapper2 app from the market and this little thing formated some partition from my phone thinking it was the swap one. Now phone won't go pass the samsung logo with sound.
I can get into recovery and into download mode. I tried flashing a brand new pcodin EMB5 flash, with no .pit nor repartition. No go. Rooted with CF-root (which also gives me CWM recovery). Recovery gives me the error: can't mount /efs so i'm guessing my /efs got formated. I have a backup made by copying the /efs files to another folder when all was working. What i'm guessing needs to be done is get my /efs partition created again (or at least mounted, not sure it's state) so i can copy it's contents there again.
What's the best way of doing this? I've seen people saying they can just use adb, mount /efs with the commands:
mke2fs /dev/block/mmcblk0p1
mount -w -t ext4 /dev/block/mmcblk0p1 /efs
and copy it's contents. But i need my phone to boot first to use adb, right? Doesn't seem to be working from recovery or download mode.
Would reflashing with odin using the pit file, repartition option or even the Clear ESF option work? I'm not very clear about what "clear efs" does.
Any other ideas?
Thanks!
EDIT:
I've managed to solve my problem, phone's up and running again. I'll post the entire process later for anyone else, god knows i'd have loved to see this written somewhere instead of all the inconclusive bits and pieces scavenged around the internet.
Update:
On recovery (CWM) /efs is the only partition it can't mount.Log says
"w:failed to mount /dev/block/mmcblk0p3 (invalid argument)
Error mounting /efs"
From what i understand, mmcblk0p3 is the /efs partition. Would restoring an image of mmcblk0p3 work? I have my /efs contents but not an image of it. Would it be possible to get an image from some other phone, restore it on mine and just replace it's contents later?
If so, would anyone be so kind to send me one image of mmcblk0p3 for the gt-i9000?
Thank you.
adb works from recovery.
no, no one will send you their efs folder
Yes, i managed to get adb working with recovery. i figured as much. to be honest, but i though if someone had an image from a broken phone or simply wouldn't mind sharing, it wouldn't hurt to ask since i've seen them around for other phones before. I couldn't care less about other phone's contents, just want to replace them with mine.
I will try to recreate this partition via adb with fdisk or something. Can anyone share the details of the mmcblk0p3, like size, blocks, etc?
Any other ideas are also appreciated.
efs contains fragile data, like the IMEI. Having it, it is relatively easy to unblock the phone locked as the result of stolen one claim.
I doubt if someone would share this content, first. Second, any effort related with IMEI cloning is not welcomed here.
spamtrash said:
efs contains fragile data, like the IMEI. Having it, it is relatively easy to unblock the phone locked as the result of stolen one claim.
I doubt if someone would share this content, first. Second, any effort related with IMEI cloning is not welcomed here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm well aware and not trying to clone anything. But I'll change my request then: think it's possible for someone to extract the efs image, mount it elsewhere (in linux or something, should be an ext4, right?) delete it's files, save and send it to me? The partition structure should still be there (which is what i want) but no delicate files for me to use. I can then restore it to my phone, hopefully mount it manually in adb and copy my /efs contents.
Think this would work?
Thank you
After I flashed a couple roms I couldn't boot jelly bean anymore and I noticed the error in recovery: E:\ Cant Mount /efs, when installing. But I could still boot ICS but not jellybean. I still had my IMEI and could make calls but could not boot jelly bean because it couldn't mount.
How does this issue happen?
Sometimes when installing a rom something goes wrong and it changes the partition type of /efs making it unable to be mounted. The partition is usually from ext4 to swap.
Most likely this will work on your phone but if it doesn't and your phone stops working I am not responsible.
If your like me and you couldn't get jelly bean to work then flash your device back to ics and it should boot. Once your booted inside of ics we can start the process.
Pre-Setup:
1. Be rooted and have a custom recovery installed.
2. Be on Ics and it boots.
3. Your need to have a Jelly Bean rom like Cyanogenmod on your sdcard.
4. Have adb installed on your pc and usb debugging on in your phone/tab.
Now that that's done its time to start.
Part One:
1. Boot into recovery.
2. We need to find the efs block location.
3. Go to mounts and select efs
4. It should say unable to mount
5. Go to advance and make a recovery.log
6. Put that file on your computer and open it.
7. Look through the file and you should fine something like this around the beginning of the file:
E:Unable to mount '/efs'
I:Actual block device: '/dev/block/mmcblk0p3', current file system: 'swap'
My location is /dev/block/mmcblk0p3 But yours could be different! Most likely the difference will be instead of it ending with a 3 it will be a different number. I will be saying /dev/block/mmcblk0p3 if yours is different just change it to your location.
*WARNING* Sometimes when you copy paste into adb it will auto run the command without you pressing enter. If your location is different then mine and you copy past and it auto runs it could be BAD so to be careful if you want to copy past. Copy the command paste it into Google make the change and copy that and paste into adb
Part Two:
1. When your inside recovery connect your phone to your computer and get into a adb shell. (Sometimes it will take awhile for adb to recognize your device so be patient.)
2. Once you have adb access its time to start entering the commands.(Again my location may be different the yours! Most likely the difference will be instead of it ending with a 3 it will be a different number.
Part Three Inside ADB:
1. su
2. dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk0p3 of=/sdcard/efs.img
3. mke2fs /dev/block/mmcblk0p3
4. mkdir /efs
5. mount -t ext4 /dev/block/mmcblk0p3 /efs
DONT REBOOT PHONE
Part Four On Your Phone:
1. Now /efs is mounted don't unmount it
2. Do a factory reset
3. Install your Jelly Bean rom
4. It should install without any errors
5. Boot your phone
6. If everything went well it should boot.
7. After it boots your signal notification most likely will be gray and internet or calls may not work
8. To fix just install gapps and it will be fixed
There you have it if everything went correctly your efs should be working good and you should be able to go back and do your normal rom flashing.
If jelly bean boots but you don't have phone do this:
1. Go back into recovery and get adb access.
2. su
3. mke2fs /dev/block/mmcblk0p3
4. mkdir /efs
5. mount -t ext4 /dev/block/mmcblk0p3 /efs
6. dd if=/sdcard/efs.img of=/dev/block/mmcblk0p3 bs=4096
And that should fix it and you should still be able to boot jelly bean and have no efs errors.
If you have any questions feel free to post down below in the comments
Please Help!
Got my Note2 back to life! Thanks bro
EDIT: Not exactly :\
I did get my IMEI back, but there's some problem with the factory mode and factory test apps with the stock tw rom.
I cant access the power menu nor the lockscreen.
I've tried to change the factorymode and keystr to ON in the efs/factoryapp folder, gave them the required permissions (744) and also changed the owner (1000.1000).
Still getting the two apps (factory mode and factory test) to FC on every boot and also this message if wifi is on during the boot.
the stock ROM that i've flashed is MC3.
And just to let you know, the phone works flawlessly on CM10.1 20130807 build which has LK6 baseband.
No power menu nor phone, Imei Ok
I have same behavior on my note 3. Can you tell me how got out this situation(no power menu nor phone).
Thanks
parthpatels007 said:
Got my Note2 back to life! Thanks bro
EDIT: Not exactly :\
I did get my IMEI back, but there's some problem with the factory mode and factory test apps with the stock tw rom.
I cant access the power menu nor the lockscreen.
I've tried to change the factorymode and keystr to ON in the efs/factoryapp folder, gave them the required permissions (744) and also changed the owner (1000.1000).
Still getting the two apps (factory mode and factory test) to FC on every boot and also this message if wifi is on during the boot.
the stock ROM that i've flashed is MC3.
And just to let you know, the phone works flawlessly on CM10.1 20130807 build which has LK6 baseband.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
vit0r94 said:
I have same behavior on my note 3. Can you tell me how got out this situation(no power menu nor phone).
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I gave right permissions to all the files in the efs folder (almost gave all permissions '-rwrxr' ), and rebooted, and that's it!
parthpatels007 said:
I gave right permissions to all the files in the efs folder (almost gave all permissions '-rwrxr' ), and rebooted, and that's it!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow you are a good. It fix my issue. However if I have a correct efs backup, still my SGS3 i9300 not detect the IMEI. Don't know what is the reason.
Can't get it to work on my phone galaxy s2 i9100, i tried a number of times, doesn't matter what i do, i get a boot loop, tried 4 different roms , stock 4.1.2, custom 4.1.2, 4.4.2 and 5.0.2, i get the same result
worked, at the end, thanks
THANK YOU!
XylerSmith said:
After I flashed a couple roms I couldn't boot jelly bean anymore and I noticed the error in recovery: E:\ Cant Mount /efs, when installing. But I could still boot ICS but not jellybean. I still had my IMEI and could make calls but could not boot jelly bean because it couldn't mount.
How does this issue happen?
Sometimes when installing a rom something goes wrong and it changes the partition type of /efs making it unable to be mounted. The partition is usually from ext4 to swap.
Most likely this will work on your phone but if it doesn't and your phone stops working I am not responsible.
If your like me and you couldn't get jelly bean to work then flash your device back to ics and it should boot. Once your booted inside of ics we can start the process.
Pre-Setup:
1. Be rooted and have a custom recovery installed.
2. Be on Ics and it boots.
3. Your need to have a Jelly Bean rom like Cyanogenmod on your sdcard.
4. Have adb installed on your pc and usb debugging on in your phone/tab.
Now that that's done its time to start.
Part One:
1. Boot into recovery.
2. We need to find the efs block location.
3. Go to mounts and select efs
4. It should say unable to mount
5. Go to advance and make a recovery.log
6. Put that file on your computer and open it.
7. Look through the file and you should fine something like this around the beginning of the file:
E:Unable to mount '/efs'
I:Actual block device: '/dev/block/mmcblk0p3', current file system: 'swap'
My location is /dev/block/mmcblk0p3 But yours could be different! Most likely the difference will be instead of it ending with a 3 it will be a different number. I will be saying /dev/block/mmcblk0p3 if yours is different just change it to your location.
*WARNING* Sometimes when you copy paste into adb it will auto run the command without you pressing enter. If your location is different then mine and you copy past and it auto runs it could be BAD so to be careful if you want to copy past. Copy the command paste it into Google make the change and copy that and paste into adb
Part Two:
1. When your inside recovery connect your phone to your computer and get into a adb shell. (Sometimes it will take awhile for adb to recognize your device so be patient.)
2. Once you have adb access its time to start entering the commands.(Again my location may be different the yours! Most likely the difference will be instead of it ending with a 3 it will be a different number.
Part Three Inside ADB:
1. su
2. dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk0p3 of=/sdcard/efs.img
3. mke2fs /dev/block/mmcblk0p3
4. mkdir /efs
5. mount -t ext4 /dev/block/mmcblk0p3 /efs
DONT REBOOT PHONE
Part Four On Your Phone:
1. Now /efs is mounted don't unmount it
2. Do a factory reset
3. Install your Jelly Bean rom
4. It should install without any errors
5. Boot your phone
6. If everything went well it should boot.
7. After it boots your signal notification most likely will be gray and internet or calls may not work
8. To fix just install gapps and it will be fixed
There you have it if everything went correctly your efs should be working good and you should be able to go back and do your normal rom flashing.
If jelly bean boots but you don't have phone do this:
1. Go back into recovery and get adb access.
2. su
3. mke2fs /dev/block/mmcblk0p3
4. mkdir /efs
5. mount -t ext4 /dev/block/mmcblk0p3 /efs
6. dd if=/sdcard/efs.img of=/dev/block/mmcblk0p3 bs=4096
And that should fix it and you should still be able to boot jelly bean and have no efs errors.
If you have any questions feel free to post down below in the comments
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks so much!! This helped me out tons!