[Q] Beginner: Missing or corrupted /EFS folder? - Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I should start off by mentioning im completely new to rooting and custom roms (or even UNIX for that matter)
Just today I've just flashed a CM 10.1 rom onto my LG Optimus 2x.
In the process my phone has lost its IMEI, and for that reason i cannot connect to any mobile network.
In the 'about phone' section of the settings, it shows IMEI as unknown and Baseband as unknown.
Ive learned that this may have to do with a corrupted EFS folder/partition. I didnt make a backup of this folder (the guides i were following didnt
mention that i should have done that)
Now I'm trying to follow along with this guide to recover my IMEI
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1264021
The problem is i don't even find the /efs folder in both the terminal emulator or this app ive downloaded "ES File explorer"
Does it mean its been deleted? Ive read that it may need to be mounted so i found this command somewhere on XDA to use
su
mke2fs /dev/block/mmcblk0p3
mount -w -t ext4 /dev/block/mmcblk0p3 /efs
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The first line worked in the terminal emulator, but when i tried entering the second line i get an error 'mount: No such file or directory'
What am i doing wrong and how screwed am i?

Have you managed sort this out?
I have exactly the same problem on 4X HD.
billion_boi said:
I should start off by mentioning im completely new to rooting and custom roms (or even UNIX for that matter)
Just today I've just flashed a CM 10.1 rom onto my LG Optimus 2x.
In the process my phone has lost its IMEI, and for that reason i cannot connect to any mobile network.
In the 'about phone' section of the settings, it shows IMEI as unknown and Baseband as unknown.
Ive learned that this may have to do with a corrupted EFS folder/partition. I didnt make a backup of this folder (the guides i were following didnt
mention that i should have done that)
Now I'm trying to follow along with this guide to recover my IMEI
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1264021
The problem is i don't even find the /efs folder in both the terminal emulator or this app ive downloaded "ES File explorer"
Does it mean its been deleted? Ive read that it may need to be mounted so i found this command somewhere on XDA to use
The first line worked in the terminal emulator, but when i tried entering the second line i get an error 'mount: No such file or directory'
What am i doing wrong and how screwed am i?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

gergog said:
Have you managed sort this out?
I have exactly the same problem on 4X HD.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No i haven't Please let me know if you have figured something out yourself

billion_boi said:
No i haven't Please let me know if you have figured something out yourself
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have donwloaded an offcial firmware and flash that. The factory reset was also needed.
Now my mobile is working, but i still do not have efs folder.sometimes i feel that LG phones store that some other way. Do you have efs folder?
/G

Related

[Q] NO more S5380 Bricks

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?

[Q] No Imei?, No Baseband?

I have no Imei, No baseband, No reception (obviously)
ive been running cognition 1.51
and have downloaded csc selecter or something similer (that never worked) but i think that may be the issue when i opened it..
But i was wondering if there is a fix for this yet? or if someone can help me with resoring my phone to factory including the format of the efs folder?
ive searched for help about this, but noone has seemed to come up with a solution..
any help would be greatly appreciated
FIXED
cantelog said:
1st off i have a macbook running OSX 10.6.8
i take no responsibility for any bricking
make a backup of efs
NOTE: - Buy Root Explorer
- You have to have root!
- You HAVE to Have SUPERUSER installed
- USB debugging ON on your Phone (Settings>Applications>Development)
- Google is your friend and so am i
-- INSTALL SDK
1. Downloaded the android SDK http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html
2. unzip the SDK and changed the folder name from "android-sdk-mac_x86" to something simple "android"
3. drop the folder into Applications
4. open up terminal and copy "export PATH=$PATH:/Applications/Android/platform-tools/" WITHOUT THE "
(now you have SDK INSTALLED)
-- THE FIX
1. plug in your phone
2. open Terminal, and open Superuser app on your phone
- NOTE: when you write "su" into Terminal, accept on the superuser app.
In Terminal Write -
adb shell
su
cp -r /efs /sdcard
3. Mount your Sdcard
4. copy and save a backup of the folder efs
5. download hexedit for mac
6. open Hexedit and open NV_data.bin, search for i9100
-should be something like "XX 1.500XSAGT-I9100XXXXSAXXXXXXXX"
7. change the RED codes to your CSC country code and save
here are some country codes
8. open /IMEI/mps_code.dat in Hexedit
- change the Code for your country code aswell and save
9. unmount Sdcard
10. MAKE SURE U HAVE A BACKUP OF EFS
11. Goto Root Explorer and copy contents of sdcard/efs to efs/
12. reboot
13. Yippee
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you back up your efs folder?
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium
cantelog said:
I have no Imei, No baseband, No reception (obviously)
ive been running cognition 1.51
and have downloaded csc selecter or something similer (that never worked) but i think that may be the issue when i opened it..
But i was wondering if there is a fix for this yet? or if someone can help me with resoring my phone to factory including the format of the efs folder?
ive searched for help about this, but noone has seemed to come up with a solution..
any help would be greatly appreciated
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just reflash modem.
If you didn't back up your efs folder, you might be out of luck. Try flashing the stock firmware for your provider and see if that helps.
Sent from my GT-I9100
all the flashing i have done over the past year with my sgs i9000 and now sgs2 i9100 i have never seen anything todo with efs.
so no i havnt backed up that folder, that cant be the only way to fix this?
i have looked in my efs folder and there is some files with .bak in them so im thinking some of the roms ive flashed in the past may have done a backup or something?
cantelog said:
all the flashing i have done over the past year with my sgs i9000 and now sgs2 i9100 i have never seen anything todo with efs.
so no i havnt backed up that folder, that cant be the only way to fix this?
i have looked in my efs folder and there is some files with .bak in them so im thinking some of the roms ive flashed in the past may have done a backup or something?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you are missing baseband, there can't be imei either so flashing modem should restore it.
Happened to me a couple of times.
Daagen said:
Just reflash modem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ill do that now
cantelog said:
ill do that now
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ive just reflashed the modem KH3 and still
NO IMEI
Baseband Unknown
WTF
cantelog said:
ive just reflashed the modem KH3 and still
NO IMEI
Baseband Unknown
WTF
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It means you still dont have modem for some reason.
If you have flashed new kernels recently, go back to kernel which worked and then reflash modem.
Daagen said:
It means you still dont have modem for some reason.
If you have flashed new kernels recently, go back to kernel which worked and then reflash modem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Im going to flash stock KH3 Kernel, Rom and Modem
because that worked for me in the past
do you recommend i re partition from odin? (could it help/hurt?)
No need for repartition.
Daagen said:
No need for repartition.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I flashed Stock kernel KH3, Stock Rom KH3, and Stock Modem KH3, Still have NO Baseband still NO IMEI and still NO Reception. aarrgghh
djnoicatse said:
If you didn't back up your efs folder, you might be out of luck. Try flashing the stock firmware for your provider and see if that helps.
Sent from my GT-I9100
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Telstra Firmware for I9100 isnt available at samfirmware.com yet, so i cant flash that Branded Rom
cantelog said:
Telstra Firmware for I9100 isnt available at samfirmware.com yet, so i cant flash that Branded Rom
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When you changed CSC, Your IMEI got corrupted. Only way to restore is efs back up or reverting back to original firmware. This should work ...
If not , You may try this one , http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=837239
I was able to solve it using this method. You need to be rooted to do this ...
This will void your warranty ... so be careful.
I would definitely not recommend using a i9000 method of getting the baseband, imei back on a i9100.
The EFS folder contains critical files for the IMEI, Baseband, serial number of the phone etc.
Check in the Q&A threads and in here someone else also had the same issue and they managed to resurrect their phone with some developer support.
Good luck, only other option is a repair job and just say kies crashed through the firmware update and now the phone doesn't boot.
Please use the Q&A Forum for questions Thanks
Moving to Q&A
Virtualsk said:
When you changed CSC, Your IMEI got corrupted. Only way to restore is efs back up or reverting back to original firmware. This should work ...
If not , You may try this one , http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=837239
I was able to solve it using this method. You need to be rooted to do this ...
This will void your warranty ... so be careful.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
FIXED
Thankyou for putting me in the right direction Virtualsk
if you arent using a pit file dont touch the re-partion box or your will screw your phone completely and dont tick the EFS box either although now that doesnt matter as its already to late.
1st off i have a macbook running OSX 10.6.8
i take no responsibility for any bricking
make a backup of efs
NOTE: - Buy Root Explorer
- You have to have root!
- You HAVE to Have SUPERUSER installed
- USB debugging ON on your Phone (Settings>Applications>Development)
- Google is your friend and so am i
-- INSTALL SDK
1. Downloaded the android SDK http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html
2. unzip the SDK and changed the folder name from "android-sdk-mac_x86" to something simple "android"
3. drop the folder into Applications
4. open up terminal and copy "export PATH=$PATH:/Applications/Android/platform-tools/" WITHOUT THE "
(now you have SDK INSTALLED)
-- THE FIX
1. plug in your phone
2. open Terminal, and open Superuser app on your phone
- NOTE: when you write "su" into Terminal, accept on the superuser app.
In Terminal Write -
adb shell
su
cp -r /efs /sdcard
3. Mount your Sdcard
4. copy and save a backup of the folder efs
5. download hexedit for mac
6. open Hexedit and open NV_data.bin, search for i9100
-should be something like "XX 1.500 XSA GT-I9100XXX XSA XXXXXXXX"
7. change the XSA codes to your CSC country code and save.
here are some country codes
8. open /IMEI/mps_code.dat in Hexedit
- change the Code for your country code aswell and save
9. unmount Sdcard
10. MAKE SURE U HAVE A BACKUP OF EFS
11. Goto Root Explorer and copy contents of sdcard/efs to efs/
12. reboot
13. Yippee
I was trying to make a call, the person on the other side could not hear me. I reboot and...lost my baseband. Checked IMEI, it was also missing. Tried the solution above, but when I get to the below command:
cp -r /efs /sdcard
I get the message: "-r /efs /sdcard: not found"
I'm using Windows 7, BTW.
Please, please help.
Thanks.

[SOLVED] Can't mount /efs error - Use SGII_Repair from market to fix

OK guys, I'm having a annoying problem and need helps.
My tab is P7500 64GB. I had been on AOKP build 38 for quite a long time without any big problem. I tried to flash build 40 recently and my tab was totally messed up. It FC every 30 sec and I decided to return back to HC 3.2 stock.
I went to Team Overcome site and download restock pack, including this "android_fastboot_emmc_full_p4_16G_32G.pit" and flash with stock md5 in Odin. Problem happened here!!! As mentioned on Team Overcome site, just ignore the error appear after Odin finished and continue to the ROM.
1st, after first boot, there is a screen asking for password. I found solution is to go to CWM and wipe data & cache. Everything was ok, except it keep saying "can't mount /efs", and the ROM is crazily sluggish. After that, no matter how I tried different ROMs, from HC to ICS, the ROM is still lag like hell.
Only temporary solution I found is to manually set permission /efs folder to rw-rw-rw after every boot to get the ROM back to it speed.
------------------
OK, in short, I'm deeply f*cked. Just realized that my tab can not realize sim card at all.
Please look at 2nd post and help for backup of /efs.
------------------
Then, f*ck all the sh*t. Just downloaded SGII_Repair from market, fix from it. 2 steps & sh*t gone away. More than happy.
Please close thread
Found this on other device forum
FIXED....
here's how.
as you may see in the post i stopped in the step of trying to format \efs partation.
but instead.
I went to my friend phone and make this command
Code:
dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk0p1 of=/sdcard/ilostit.dd
this backup the mmcblk0p1 which is \efs to a file.
then move it to my phone \sdcard
and did this commands.
Code:
umount /efs "unmount /efs
dd if=/sdcard/ilostit.dd of=/dev/block/mmcblk0p1 "relfash mmcblk0p1 with the backup.
reboot
this reflash mmcblk0p1 block with the backup,
then copy my \efs backup to \efs.
and no more IO error..
and violaa...
my IMIE is back and the Signal is OK.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Which means, some one please back up your P7500 /efs folder and upload here so that I can revive mine. Thanks a lot!
I need this too! My efs is also gone
Sent from my GT-P6800 using xda premium
camapghe said:
Found this on other device forum
Which means, some one please back up your P7500 /efs folder and upload here so that I can revive mine. Thanks a lot!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This can't be done...unfortunately efs contains the imei, so if someone gives their /efs backup to you, you will end up with the same imei. Imo it is highly unlikely that someone is willing to give you his/her imei.
Check this out:
forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1264021
It may help you!
Sent from my amazing 10.1 galaxy tab
Thansk Panos_dm, but I stuck at this step:
5) go to your backed up EFS folder on your sdcard, copy the "imei" folder to the EFS folder at the root of your phone, then again go to the backed up EFS folder at yout sdcard and copy the " .nv_data " file to your EFS folder at the root of your phone using root explorer, NOTE: the dot in first of nv_data is not a mistake, copy the ".nv_data" file.
No .nv_data file at all! Can you share?
I'm sorry but as I stated earlier I can't risk the contents of my /efs folder. Maybe you could flash a stock rom, go to Samsung and claim that it stopped working...maybe they'll buy it!
Sent from my amazing 10.1 galaxy tab
Ok, may be I'm not that screwed as I thought. I used EFS Pro latest version and some how fixed the efs problem. My tab realized sim card, base band appeared and everything seems fine. However, just TEMPORARY.
Every time I reboot, /efs folder screw again until I fix it by EFS Pro. Any permanent solution guys?

Can't Backup'ing EFS Partition

My phone lost his Imei after restoring to factory settings. I have root, and I was trying to do it because I have root so unrooted&wipe but after wipe my imei lost again, (once happened again, that time i sent it to service and came in good condition) but I found the EFS backup ing and editing with a hex editor will set things to order but even I have root and giving permissions to any program wont see SU.
Galaxy Toolbox prog. can't find any EFS and I could not be able to edit it. There is no Galaxytoolbox folder (or YGSxyz folder) in sdcard. And if I look with root explorers, there is no things in efs folder.
I mean to use this method but I do not have anything in my efs folder.
Any Ideas?
SweetyVolty said:
My phone lost his Imei after restoring to factory settings. I have root, and I was trying to do it because I have root so unrooted&wipe but after wipe my imei lost again, (once happened again, that time i sent it to service and came in good condition) but I found the EFS backup ing and editing with a hex editor will set things to order but even I have root and giving permissions to any program wont see SU.
Galaxy Toolbox prog. can't find any EFS and I could not be able to edit it. There is no Galaxytoolbox folder (or YGSxyz folder) in sdcard. And if I look with root explorers, there is no things in efs folder.
I mean to use this method but I do not have anything in my efs folder.
Any Ideas?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
try to do this tutorial http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1968360 there is a
guide with adb but you have to root youe device then for me it?s normal that root explorer doesn't see
efs partition for security i think and so you see that is empty...
flash stock kernel..u will get your imei back..works for me every time
Sent from my GT-S5830i using xda app-developers app
angel.sea said:
try to do this tutorial http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1968360 there is a
guide with adb but you have to root youe device then for me it?s normal that root explorer doesn't see
efs partition for security i think and so you see that is empty...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My device is rooted and its giving permission to applications but applications can't read the given SU permission. Somehow weird situation, oh by the way my phone could not connect to wifi on by own, i have to enter values of my wifis parimeters of ip gateway etc. and I could not update SU binary.
srt99 I'm not a professional android user, not linux anyway, so I dont want to interact with changing roms because there is no Turkish rom in sammobile or any like (I do not use Turkish language on my phone, but still my guarantine is continue and will send if I could not make it. )
AW: Can't Backup'ing EFS Partition
SweetyVolty said:
I'm not a professional android user, not linux anyway, so I dont want to interact with changing roms because there is no Turkish rom in sammobile or any like (I do not use Turkish language on my phone, but still my guarantine is continue and will send if I could not make it. )
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You don't have to be a professional, like everybody can do this. Just flash this through cwm and you have stock kernel again.
¿U mad bro¿
SweetyVolty said:
My phone lost his Imei after restoring to factory settings. I have root, and I was trying to do it because I have root so unrooted&wipe but after wipe my imei lost again, (once happened again, that time i sent it to service and came in good condition) but I found the EFS backup ing and editing with a hex editor will set things to order but even I have root and giving permissions to any program wont see SU.
Galaxy Toolbox prog. can't find any EFS and I could not be able to edit it. There is no Galaxytoolbox folder (or YGSxyz folder) in sdcard. And if I look with root explorers, there is no things in efs folder.
I mean to use this method but I do not have anything in my efs folder.
Any Ideas?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
try this new script http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2177118..bml15 is the partition that contain the imei
or write this code on terminal emulator
su press enter
busybox dd if=/dev/bml15 of=/sdcard/bml15.img press enter
a line at a time
and see the sd card try with hexeditor like the guide http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=1968360
Thanks for posting with this much helpful contains. But my device can not gain root acces even have the app superuser in main menu. I couldnt figure out why, while I'm trying to update binary it couldn't gain root access even given permission to superuser inself. Tried to install SuperSU from chainfire but it does not install it. even with ccw mod installer.
SweetyVolty said:
Thanks for posting with this much helpful contains. But my device can not gain root acces even have the app superuser in main menu. I couldnt figure out why, while I'm trying to update binary it couldn't gain root access even given permission to superuser inself. Tried to install SuperSU from chainfire but it does not install it. even with ccw mod installer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you tried to do the Unroot with cwm and redo the root process?
if you type in terminal emulator su on what you said?
angel.sea said:
you tried to do the Unroot with cwm and redo the root process?
if you type in terminal emulator su on what you said?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Uhm i do with normal recovery mode, not with cwm. If I write "su" "$" changes to "#" but if I write "whoami" returns with this line "whoami: not found"
SweetyVolty said:
Uhm i do with normal recovery mode, not with cwm. If I write "su" "$" changes to "#" but if I write "whoami" returns with this line "whoami: not found"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what is whoami?
so if with su changes with # you are in root.....so try the command that wrote before for bml15
and to upgrade su bin try super user fix by chainsdd in playstore if forse fix then you have to remove the battery
angel.sea said:
what is whoami?
so if with su changes with # you are in root.....so try the command that wrote before for bml15
and to upgrade su bin try super user fix by chainsdd in playstore if forse fix then you have to remove the battery
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
whoami - who am i
However, this is used on Linux to check the username of the User
It is useless for s5830i
If your phone gets #
Then it's rooted
Try my Tool In Development section for backing up EFS partition
angel.sea said:
what is whoami?
so if with su changes with # you are in root.....so try the command that wrote before for bml15
and to upgrade su bin try super user fix by chainsdd in playstore if forse fix then you have to remove the battery
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes i have the bml15 and when open it with hex editor at line 0x80000 I can see my imei number, what should I do now?
dd if=/sdcard/bml15.img of=/dev/block/bml15 line prints "dd: not found" how ever, the opposite command token the bml15.img to sd card.
SweetyVolty said:
Yes i have the bml15 and when open it with hex editor at line 0x80000 I can see my imei number, what should I do now?
dd if=/sdcard/bml15.img of=/dev/block/bml15 line prints "dd: not found" how ever, the opposite command token the bml15.img to sd card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if you can see your emei that's a problem of incompatibility between your firmware....but you had installed cronemode's scripts?
try to reflash stock kernel and will see that your emei wiill come back....LINK [STOCK KERNEL] ----- http://www.mediafire.com/?8amfqkqq28v1h9f
stock kernel modules ---- http://www.mediafire.com/?7tckgiclaq80aoc
flash with cwm that take from this thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1551156
angel.sea said:
if you can see your emei that's a problem of incompatibility between your firmware....but you had installed cronemode's scripts
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hm.. My firmware is in its orginal state, I only rooted my phone and OS started to flikering so I decided to wipe data, delvik clean cache wipe etc. after that my imei is became unknown...
Edit: I didnt install any scripts, or cronemode?
SweetyVolty said:
Hm.. My firmware is in its orginal state, I only rooted my phone and OS started to flikering so I decided to wipe data, delvik clean cache wipe etc. after that my imei is became unknown...
Edit: I didnt install any scripts, or cronemode?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
try to use the file of this thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=1551156 to unroot and root then reflash stock kernel that there were a mistake in os
your rom will be the same....try and tell me if work fine...for me work fine
no you have to use a little apk bmlunlock and then to use the command to mount the partition or viceversa and then
busybox dd if=/sdcard/bml15.img of=/dev/block/bml15 but i don t remember if you have to use chmod command also
My dear sir, I have complated my mission with odin and lastest sammobile rom. Thank you all for your greatest effords and helps. :angel:
SweetyVolty said:
My dear sir, I have complated my mission with odin and lastest sammobile rom. Thank you all for your greatest effords and helps. :angel:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
iM happy to you....
I have a weird problem
I tried restoring IMEI with every possible method
But it didn't get restored
Even flashed stock firmware
Didn't help
Though after some retries, I was able to restore it back but then too, I disappears after some reboots
iamareebjamal said:
I have a weird problem
I tried restoring IMEI with every possible method
But it didn't get restored
Even flashed stock firmware
Didn't help
Though after some retries, I was able to restore it back but then too, I disappears after some reboots
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Using any cronmod scripts?
Sent from my GT-S5830i using xda premium
uchihachi said:
Using any cronmod scripts?
Sent from my GT-S5830i using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes
But I was using them for last 5 months without a problem

[Guide] How to recover IMEI having no backups at all

Hey guys! This thread for such difficult cases when IMEI (CSPSA parittion) is lost and you don't have any backups for this partition.
It's a long story, how exactly I recently turned my phone into a tablet without RIL working but the long story short - both EFS and CSPSA parrtitions were messed up without any obvious ways to recover the latter, since I had no backup.
First of all, I should thank @ace2nutzer since he first found in JB firmware utility, that sets the IMEI to default one (15 zeros). The below is code taken from one of JB codinap firmware:
Code:
#TA Loader to write default IMEI
service ta_load /system/bin/ta_loader recovery
user root
group radio
oneshot
The legality of the use of this I'll leave out the scopes of this topic (and thus this is up to Samsung / ST-Ericcson vendors since this utility was developed by them) - remember that this guide is not about how to change IMEI, but only to recover your original one. Also remember that changing IMEI is illegal in many of countries.
Ok, let's go to the work, but remember, any even more serious damage that you can do to your phone is not my responsibility!
There are some of prerequisites that must be met in order to recover IMEI:
at least JB 4.1.2 or any newer firmware (2.3.6 is not tested) - device must be rooted
your phone is still able to boot the system (the described below is likely not to work in recovery mode)
baseband and signal level are showed in settings, but *#06# combination shows nothing and thus your phone can't be registered in the network
Android terminal emulator installed or adb
stock CSPSA partition from XXLK2 codina / codinap . The below linked this parittion for codina (I'm not sure if codinap users can use it as well, in such case you need to download XXLK2 2.3.6 firmware and extract this partition manually): http://www.xda.mister-freeze.eu/XDA-files/ChronoMonochrome/misc/cspsa/cspsa_stock.img
proper EFS partition (or backup) - I'll leave EFS recovery out of this topic, since I haven't found much variants of recovery of this parittion other than to ask someone to upload their EFS parition. Over the Internet, you can also find some EFS partitions for Ace 2, but I haven't tested them.
ta_loader binary - can be taken from any 4.1.2 (or higher) firmware (see the path above)
Below is how I finally managed to recover IMEI: (attention! everything listed below is only for those who have messed up CSPSA partition. If you're not sure that this is the case for you - don't follow steps written below.)
firstly, backup your CSPSA partition just in case (if you are sure that this is not usable at all and is not useful anymore for anything - you can skip this step):
Code:
dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk0p6 of=/sdcard/cspsa_backup.img bs=512000
flash cspsa partition from XXLK2 stock:
Code:
dd if=/sdcard/cspsa_stock.img of=/dev/block/mmcblk0p6 bs=512000
and reboot the phone
backup /system/bin/ta_loader to some place (e.g. /sdcard or /ramdisk) and replace sequence of 15 zeroes to your original IMEI (can be found back under the battery) using sed:
Code:
sed -ie "s,000000000000000,<15_digits>," /ramdisk/ta_loader
sed -ie "s,<15_digits>0,<16_zeroes>," /ramdisk/ta_loader
I've used sed twice, because there are two occurences of 15 zeroes in ta_loader binary and we want to change only one of them (the rest occurence is not related to IMEI at all),
<15_digits> stands for your IMEI -> second sed command reverts an unwanted change.
Warning! Don't ever try to change IMEI to a non-original this way, it won't work!
now just type
Code:
/ramdisk/ta_loader recovery
, this will reboot your phone to recovery
reboot to system and voila! Original IMEI is there!
If this guide have saved your bacon then please consider donating to @ace2nutzer or me!
Permission denied
When I try to flash the cspsa_stock.img using terminal emulator, it say permission denied.. please help me..
Try
Code:
su
or:
Code:
sudo -i
Confused the 3rd step
You said to replace 15 zeroes to my imei, then you said that <15_digits> stand for my imei, so do i have to change the <15_digits> with my imei? If yes, which one? the first sed or the second? And what should I do for the <16_digits> ? Thanks
Primen2000 said:
When I try to flash the cspsa_stock.img using terminal emulator, it say permission denied.. please help me..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Since you're unfamiliar with image flashing, are you sure you're in the right topic? This one is for these unlike cases where CSPSA partition is broken, you might want to check first if this is not the case before you continue.
Primen2000 said:
You said to replace 15 zeroes to my imei, then you said that <15_digits> stand for my imei, so do i have to change the <15_digits> with my imei? If yes, which one? the first sed or the second? And what should I do for the <16_digits> ? Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If yes, which one?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Both, consider both commands like one.
And what should I do for the <16_digits> ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
there is no <16_digits> mentioned in OP, <16_zeros> stands for the sequence of 16 zeroes.
Worked 100%
Oh Man... I've already give up to this old phone because no sim card detected due to IMEI issue for 1 week. And after buy new smartphone last night (Xiaomi Note 4), Now your tutorial worked. I feel sad and happy.. Thanks a lot you guys..
Permission denied
I have entered the following in an adb shell without any error message
cp /system/bin/ta_loader /sdcard
sed -ie "s,000000000000000,my imei," /sdcard/ta_loader
sed -ie "s,my imei+0,0000000000000000," /sdcard/ta_loader
but when I then try
/sdcard/ta_loader recovery
I get a "permission denied". Shell says I am root and the ta_loader's permissions are -rwxrwx---.
Any ideas? (sorry I am not quite familiar with android...)
andi_ypsilon said:
I have entered the following in an adb shell without any error message
cp /system/bin/ta_loader /sdcard
sed -ie "s,000000000000000,my imei," /sdcard/ta_loader
sed -ie "s,my imei+0,0000000000000000," /sdcard/ta_loader
but when I then try
/sdcard/ta_loader recovery
I get a "permission denied". Shell says I am root and the ta_loader's permissions are -rwxrwx---.
Any ideas? (sorry I am not quite familiar with android...)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That command just for rebooting to recovery. You can do it yourself.
bien2004official said:
That command just for rebooting to recovery. You can do it yourself.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Obviously, it's not just rebooting to recovery but also writes IMEI to a stock CSPSA partition. If CSPSA partition is already recovered (or not broken) then it will just reboot to recovery.
andi_ypsilon said:
but when I then try
/sdcard/ta_loader recovery
I get a "permission denied". Shell says I am root and the ta_loader's permissions are -rwxrwx---.
Any ideas? (sorry I am not quite familiar with android...)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Binaries cannot be run from sdcard partition. Copy binary to e.g. /data/local and retry.
ChronoMonochrome said:
Obviously, it's not just rebooting to recovery but also writes IMEI to a stock CSPSA partition. If CSPSA partition is already recovered (or not broken) then it will just reboot to recovery.
Binaries cannot be run from sdcard partition. Copy binary to e.g. /data/local and retry.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks ChronoMonochrome, this has worked. Android now shows the correct IMEI.
But SIM card is still not detected even though its working in another phone (and it worked in the ACE2 before installing CustomROM). In "SIM status" all the points are "not available". Can you give me some ideas how to tackle this?
BTW, ta_loader showed some errors (don't know if relevant)
https://imgur.com/a/HsJQU6P
andi_ypsilon said:
Thanks ChronoMonochrome, this has worked. Android now shows the correct IMEI.
But SIM card is still not detected even though its working in another phone (and it worked in the ACE2 before installing CustomROM). In "SIM status" all the points are "not available". Can you give me some ideas how to tackle this?
BTW, ta_loader showed some errors (don't know if relevant)
https://imgur.com/a/HsJQU6P
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you followed all the steps of this guide?
ChronoMonochrome said:
Have you followed all the steps of this guide?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What I did using adb:
1) Took cspsa_stock.img from the download link, copied it to sdcard, and typed dd if=/sdcard/cspsa_stock.img of=/dev/block/mmcblk0p6 bs=512000
2) sed -ie "s,000000000000000,123456789....," /local/data/ta_loader
sed -ie "s,1234567890...0,0000000000000000," /local/data/ta_loader
This gave me a modified ta_loader (pulled it to computer and found my IMEI within) and a second file called "ta_loadere". (Don't know why. Same size, contains my IMEI twice)
3) /local/data/ta_loader recovery
4) Select reboot in recovery
andi_ypsilon said:
What I did using adb:
1) Took cspsa_stock.img from the download link, copied it to sdcard, and typed dd if=/sdcard/cspsa_stock.img of=/dev/block/mmcblk0p6 bs=512000
2) sed -ie "s,000000000000000,123456789....," /local/data/ta_loader
sed -ie "s,1234567890...0,0000000000000000," /local/data/ta_loader
This gave me a modified ta_loader (pulled it to computer and found my IMEI within) and a second file called "ta_loadere". (Don't know why. Same size, contains my IMEI twice)
3) /local/data/ta_loader recovery
4) Select reboot in recovery
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm, then it might depend on what exactly happened to phone. On mine EFS and CSPSA partitions both were broken, but that was not problem (an EFS partition doesn't contains anything irrecoverable, a backup image can be found here). Flashing a full stock image might help as well (I had MF1 4.1.2 stock ROM installed at the moment I broke CSPSA & EFS partitions).
ChronoMonochrome said:
Hmm, then it might depend on what exactly happened to phone. On mine EFS and CSPSA partitions both were broken, but that was not problem (an EFS partition doesn't contains anything irrecoverable, a backup image can be found here). Flashing a full stock image might help as well (I had MF1 4.1.2 stock ROM installed at the moment I broke CSPSA & EFS partitions).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
SOLUTION: Flashing the phone with Odin 3.2.1.4 and i8160XXNB1_OXXNB4_Android_4.1.2_service.zip from https://service-gsm.net/Samsung/I8160/i8160XXNB1_OXXNB4_Android_4.1.2_service.zip/ restored SIM card detection.

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