Develop Bugs

[CAUTION] Think you've got an EFS backup? Think again!

Before tinkering significantly with my T889V I did what any conscientious flasher would: backup my EFS.
I did so with the EFS Pro program, both the tar and image methods. The "usual" way, which would have done the trick on most recent Samsung devices. I could just as well have just done it with ADB, tar and dd instead. Update: The latest versions of EFS Pro now support the required NV item backups we need.
I started flashing modems, knowing that this sometimes led to trouble, but with the peace of mind that I had made backups... How wrong I was.
The absence /efs/nv_data.bin didn't click as unusual and I got myself in a bit of trouble.
The Note 2, as well as some other recent LTE-capable Samsung devices (North American SGS3 variants for one) have Qualcomm modems for which merely backing up the /efs partition on your phone is insufficient.
I finally got my phone back in operation after many attempts and more time than would have been necessary had I caught this before flashing.
Check these threads out for proper tools and procedures:
[TOOL/GUIDE] Full NV Backup and Restore [SIMPLE] [08-03-2012]
[WARNING! + GUIDE] Backup and Restore IMEI / NV Data Procedure for GT-I9305
[TOOL] Updated! 08/03/13 - EFS Professional v2.0.26 - With Qualcomm NV Tools!
The guides may mention using RMNET + DM + MODEM in the USB settings, which doesn't exist on the N2; any mode with DM (a.k.a. diagnostic mode) like RNDIS + DM + MODEM or DM + MODEM + ADB should work.
Goodbye,
Darkshado

Did you try flashing back to stock with odin. And reset flash count
http://www.andromods.com/unroot-loc...y-note-2-to-stock-rom-firmware-with-odin.html

Remember, the phone has to boot properly for Triangle Away to work in the first place. (A quick glance at my previous posts will tell you I'm familiar with many of the usual Samsung and Nexus procedures.)
With CWM I tried:
Restoring a Nandroid backup
Restoring my /efs tar backup
Restoring my /efs img backup
With Odin I tried:
Flashing back to stock
Flashing the I317M stock ROM (in case it would have accepted the EFS NV stuff there due to official LTE support)
The "Phone Clear EFS" toggle, which is usually a big no-no.
My latest lead is to get reacquainted with QPST and see where that goes. (Last time I used it was many years ago to get ringtones and J2ME games on my Bell Mobility, blue, CDMA, SPH-M510 flip phone.)

Darkshado said:
Remember, the phone has to boot properly for Triangle Away to work in the first place. (A quick glance at my previous posts will tell you I'm familiar with many of the usual Samsung and Nexus procedures.)
With CWM I tried:
Restoring a Nandroid backup
Restoring my /efs tar backup
Restoring my /efs img backup
With Odin I tried:
Flashing back to stock
Flashing the I317M stock ROM (in case it would have accepted the EFS NV stuff there due to official LTE support)
The "Phone Clear EFS" toggle, which is usually a big no-no.
My latest lead is to get reacquainted with QPST and see where that goes. (Last time I used it was many years ago to get ringtones and J2ME games on my Bell Mobility, blue, CDMA, SPH-M510 flip phone.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey man I used the qpst tool to try to backup my note 2 (bexause ot worked so well on the s3) however it didnt work.....on ly generated a 240kb file which is not correct.
However I did use mskip toolkit and backed up my efs partition and IT generated a 10 megabyte file I believe so I think that worked successfully.
Try it out and see what you think. Id like to hear back from you as well and see if you got similar file size to see if this process in the toolkit made proper backups.
We really need more people aware of backing up efs and they need to feel more comfortable by doing so. Therefore if we can nail down a good solid backup method and get it stickied it will save a lot of broken hearts.
The current fix it process here is to just refer them to another phones forum to read how to use qpst to back up efs. (S3 forums)
This isnt acceptable. Reason being it can confuse those that are already apprehensive about doing anything to their phones already! Case and point: Think of all the people that you see post threads struggling to decide whether or not to root. Like its going to blow their phone up!
But like I said I am suspicious that qpst is not making proper efs backup files.
I would like like to collect others thoughts ideas CRITICISM and suggestions about this matter.
Thanks in advance for helping others out!
Sent from my SGH-T889 using Tapatalk 2

I can't get to DIAG mode at this point...
The phone bootloops right after it shows the lock screen, but before adbd starts (even a wait-for-device reboot recovery command doesn't work). Or earlier than that now for reasons unknown.
So no logcat or ddms either to see exactly what causes it.
I would have tried toggling airplane more, but the bootloop is way too fast for that, and I am unaware of any way to toggle it from recovery.
I could possibly comment out some lines in init scripts and such via CWM, tried one or two but no luck so far.
I'm kicking myself for not paying attention to the fact there was no nv_data.bin in the /efs backup, it should have tipped me off...
Thanks for your help,
Darkshado

Darkshado said:
I'm kicking myself for not paying attention to the fact there was no nv_data.bin in the /efs backup, it should have tipped me off...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm really not familiar with the whole process but can we just copy the efs folder using a program like root explorer?

k1ng617 said:
I'm really not familiar with the whole process but can we just copy the efs folder using a program like root explorer?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No because it messes up the permissions when you copy for some reason...I couldnt get the thing back to normal
Sent from my SGH-T889 using Tapatalk 2
---------- Post added at 07:28 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:16 AM ----------
Can someone try to make a backup using mskips toolkit found in the original development forum? Efs is just so important.
Or better yet what should the permission s be set to?
Sent from my SGH-T889 using Tapatalk 2

ssCISengineer: permissions could be fixed, from what I've gathered merely copying the /efs partition isn't enough this time around.

UPDATE : I followed guide you gave at http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1946915 and backed up my phone nvram. I have a qcn file now.
I also checked my efs backup and there is no nv_data.bin in it.
I have following backups
1) TWRP stock backup with EFS
2) TWRP only EFS partition backup
3) Toolkit EFS backup.
4) Full efs directory copy.
If you are right then all that backup is useless and will not restore lost efs.
Questions
1) Did you figured out how to really take backup on this device.
2) What are options if efs cannot be recovered ..can samsung service centre do this with a fee ?

Here it's the question. Do we even know if the imei is in the efs folder. The us gs3 it wasn't. I've asked multiple people to try the method posted by but people won't do it it would be nice to have a definitive answer where the imei can backed up from??
Edit: here's the post. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1804123..... here so a link to the nv generator.exe from the post as the link to download is no good... BTW personal drop box.
Sent from my SGH-T889 using xda premium

hkfan said:
UPDATE : I followed guide you gave at http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1946915 and backed up my phone nvram. I have a qcn file now.
I also checked my efs backup and there is no nv_data.bin in it.
I have following backups
1) TWRP stock backup with EFS
2) TWRP only EFS partition backup
3) Toolkit EFS backup.
4) Full efs directory copy.
If you are right then all that backup is useless and will not restore lost efs.
Questions
1) Did you figured out how to really take backup on this device.
2) What are options if efs cannot be recovered ..can samsung service centre do this with a fee ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To be honest with you ,i really dont know if qpst is even generating a viable backup, as I have no way to test it.
But, when i do try to make a qcn or a backup USING qpst (like we did for the galaxy s3) i get some absurdly small file, which leads me to believe that it is NOT a viable backup....like 110kb. Also once again i just dont have any way to check it, as this definetly isnt my area of expertise.
im going to try to run qpst today again, maybe i didnt select the correct com port
however how large are the QCN files you are generating using qpst? How large are the backup files you are generating using toolkit?
that will help me see if maybe its just something im doing that is wrong.
Sent from my GT-P5113 using Tapatalk 2
---------- Post added at 11:02 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:58 AM ----------
deeznutz1977 said:
Here it's the question. Do we even know if the imei is in the efs folder. The us gs3 it wasn't. I've asked multiple people to try the method posted by but people won't do it it would be nice to have a definitive answer where the imei can backed up from??
Edit: here's the post. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1804123..... here so a link to the nv generator.exe from the post as the link to download is no good... BTW personal drop box.
Sent from my SGH-T889 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
exactly, a lot of these guys think that they are all backed up and start flashing some of those frankenstein buggy craptastic roms and come back crying to tmobile and samsung about a replacment handset. Id like to organize a guide that ACTUALLY does work to backup imei. Not send people to the GS3 forums just because thats the easiest way to do things, when it could be dead wrong (which i suspect it is) and disastrous. Remember that the GS3 i believe chipset is different from the exynos one and they had lots of problems tracking down that imei location.
UPDATE: after properly configuring com ports i NOW have a .qcn file that measures 268kb. This makes me feel a little better at it is more close to thie size i expected, but i still have no way to see what the file ACTUALLY contains....frustrated.
Sent from my GT-P5113 using Tapatalk 2

Did you try this tool to generate your IMEI ?
Mine is 268KB.....G3 forums says its 250 KB,...may be note 2 has more info so thats why liitle bit larger.
---------- Post added at 11:14 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:12 AM ----------
[/COLOR]
ssCISengineer said:
To be honest with you ,i really dont know if qpst is even generating a viable backup, as I have no way to test it.
But, when i do try to make a qcn or a backup USING qpst (like we did for the galaxy s3) i get some absurdly small file, which leads me to believe that it is NOT a viable backup....like 110kb. Also once again i just dont have any way to check it, as this definetly isnt my area of expertise.
however how large are the QCN files you are generating using qpst? How large are the backup files you are generating using toolkit?
that will help me see if maybe its just something im doing that is wrong.
Sent from my GT-P5113 using Tapatalk 2
---------- Post added at 11:02 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:58 AM ----------
exactly, a lot of these guys think that they are all backed up and start flashing some of those frankenstein buggy craptastic roms and come back crying to tmobile and samsung about a replacment handset. Id like to organize a guide that ACTUALLY does work to backup imei. Not send people to the GS3 forums just because thats the easiest way to do things, when it could be dead wrong (which i suspect it is) and disastrous. Remember that the GS3 i believe chipset is different from the exynos one and they had lots of problems tracking down that imei location.
Sent from my GT-P5113 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

ssCISengineer said:
No because it messes up the permissions when you copy for some reason...I couldnt get the thing back to normal
Sent from my SGH-T889 using Tapatalk 2
---------- Post added at 07:28 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:16 AM ----------
Can someone try to make a backup using mskips toolkit found in the original development forum? Efs is just so important.
Or better yet what should the permission s be set to?
Sent from my SGH-T889 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have a backup using the toolkit, tell me what you need me to look at and I will check my backup. I have a Nandroid backup and a separate backup of efs as well. I am happy to help.
Sent from my SGH-T889 using xda premium

yes I just now got a .qcn file that measures 268 kb. SO mine and yours are now exactly the same.
But how do we know that the information we need IS actually backed up in that file. That "backup " could be absolutely worthless for all we know!
see what i mean?
Sent from my GT-P5113 using Tapatalk 2

I think we have to wait for someone with all these backups to lose IMEI and and then try restore ...Now I don't feel like flashing any ROM

Has anyone been successful at restoring their IMEI using their toolkit backup? I haven't flashed any custom ROMS yet, this is the longest I've ever stayed with stock ROM. It's still too new and with all the talk of lost IMEI number and development still so limited I haven't been willing to take the risk.
Sent from my SGH-T889 using xda premium

?
Ok, I'm getting paranoid reading all these cryptic posts about messed up IMEI numbers and bad backups. This is my first Samsung smartphone so I've got no idea what's really being discussed here. In short, are you guys saying that having a clockwork nandroid backup is essentially useless? What am I missing here. For the record, I haven't flashed a custom ROM on my Note 2 yet, only clockwork and root.

erickdj said:
Ok, I'm getting paranoid reading all these cryptic posts about messed up IMEI numbers and bad backups. This is my first Samsung smartphone so I've got no idea what's really being discussed here. In short, are you guys saying that having a clockwork nandroid backup is essentially useless? What am I missing here. For the record, I haven't flashed a custom ROM on my Note 2 yet, only clockwork and root.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All that i can suggest is make all the backups.. Hopefully you wont need them. i lost my imei on my gs3 bcuz i did something stupid. so

There we go more headache http://www.s3forums.com/forum/galax...pst-backup-your-nv-data-imei-us-variants.html
Anyone will already lost IMEI ..try and see what happens

The nandroid backup has its purpose, but the NV items, aka cellphone radio settings aren't stored in anything that CWM handles on this device.
Many Samsung devices typically have an /efs partition that contains a file named nv_data.bin (among others) that contain all the juicy bits. As discussed earlier, a tar or dd backup is generally sufficient. This group includes most SGS, SGS II and the non-LTE, international SGS III. The N7100 also seems to be in there.
But Samsung LTE devices: NA SGS III, NA Note II, International LTE devices like the S III 9305 or the Note II 7105 are significantly different.

IMEI and Internal storage problem

I did the stupid mistake of flashing to a custom rom without backing up. Nowhere in custom rom instructions says to backup your /efs folder.
Now in "About device" Baseband version is "Unknown" IMEI is "Unknown". I've searched everywhere for a fix and nothing. I tried the following:
Flash stock rom
Format /data and /cache
On keypad, dial *#7284# ....But i dont get the "Qualcomm USB settings" option so i cant try IMEI repair tools
I tried flashing different kernels and different custom roms
Apart from the IMEI problem, the Device cant access the 16GB internal memory. The stock rom flashes with no error, but when i go to
settings > storage: under "Device memory" its full with only 182MB used by some apps. I thought the memory could be bad, but after flashing
Perseus kernel and swapping external sd card for internal memory I can use the 16GB as external memory. I cant find a fix for that either.
INTERNAL MEMORY UPDATE: it seems that internal memory is mounting read only. Still trying to find a fix
Im currently on "T889UVALK8_T889TMBALK8_TMB" rom with Perseus kernel and using "11extsd2internalsd_gs3_fat32" to swap internal to external memory.
Side note: I bought the phone from a friend 2 days ago. Its the Tmobile version and I used cellunlocker to unlock to use it with AT&T. That worked, until I started messing with ROMS. No warranty available. I am desperately looking on how to fix this since i have no spare phone. Any help is highly appreciated and thank you for your time

Eri version: Unknown???
I am having a similiar issue on t889 7105. ERI version "not available". Everything else is okay. Searched everywhere . . .not addressed. Which is strange.

this sucks
gregniel said:
I am having a similiar issue on t889 7105. ERI version "not available". Everything else is okay. Searched everywhere . . .not addressed. Which is strange.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I cant believe this issue hasn't been addressed

Unfortunately sir their just isnt much that can be done for you. If you read about imei loss without a backup its just about incurable. Sorry.
And the remedy for imei restoration without a backup is hit and miss at best as to whether or not it actually will restore your number. Your best bet is to use the search function and try and experiment with different ways of fixing it. Its not like there is much more damage that can be done anyways. You already screwed the pooch and basically have a functional brick.
No one is going to post a step by step guide for you though if thats what youre waiting on. This is a complicated fix and most members wont devote the time to walking you through it
And to the member that said he searched and found no Information. Well thats just not true. Ive read tons of threads and posts about it and know about SEVERAL backup and restore methods.

crap
janjannsen99 said:
Unfortunately sir their just isnt much that can be done for you. If you read about imei loss without a backup its just about incurable. Sorry.
And the remedy for imei restoration without a backup is hit and miss at best as to whether or not it actually will restore your number. Your best bet is to use the search function and try and experiment with different ways of fixing it. Its not like there is much more damage that can be done anyways. You already screwed the pooch and basically have a functional brick.
No one is going to post a step by step guide for you though if thats what youre waiting on. This is a complicated fix and most members wont devote the time to walking you through it
And to the member that said he searched and found no Information. Well thats just not true. Ive read tons of threads and posts about it and know about SEVERAL backup and restore methods.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for confirming my fear, I was on denial. Im getting a new one on friday. How much do you think I can sell this one for, obviously as a tablet?

Developers need to take more responsibility around here with their threads. A simple "I'm not at fault" is sub par in my opinion. Users popping up with IMEI issues are becoming more a common thing. Didn't somebody make an app to back up your efs partition? Why is there not a link to said app in every ROM and kernel thread? This stuff blows my mind.
As there is a rampant influx of "noobs" watching YouTube videos about rooting their devices (most of which for the first time) with links to ROM threads, their needs to be an influx of responsibility taken by those who cook ROMs and feed them to the general public. The issues with the IMEIs being lost is not a small one. Your device is pretty much done for without a backup. Keep reading, keep trying, but since you had no idea that losing the ability to use your device's radios was even a possibility, not your fault.
Good luck. And sorry. You should have seen a link at the very top of the thread you downloaded your ROM from ... and this whole thing would have been avoided. Here is the link, which is always shared too late and after the fact. App is called andromizer forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2080009
This kind of thing shouldn't still be happening.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2080009
[DEV][APP][Andromizer] Android Customizing Tools (Note2 Specific Features Added)
Here's a link to one I used to backup mine. You have to pay to unlock the backup feature. It gives you way more piece of mind flashing

saseekutz said:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2080009
[DEV][APP][Andromizer] Android Customizing Tools (Note2 Specific Features Added)
Here's a link to one I used to backup mine. You have to pay to unlock the backup feature. It gives you way more piece of mind flashing
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No you don't. The version I got here on xda, also same exact link I posted right before you -_- , allowed me to back up my efs partition with no issues

adam2508 said:
Thank you for confirming my fear, I was on denial. Im getting a new one on friday. How much do you think I can sell this one for, obviously as a tablet?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well all is not lost. There have been reports of people restoring imei successfully.
Try and app called andromizer. If I remember right it had an efs backup and restore. Its an app
Second. Go to the tmobile galaxy s3 forum and find their thread about lost imei numbers. Use those tools and the method to try to write back your imei number. Ill try and find it
Edit. Heres the link. Try using those tools and those methods. THAT is the only method I have heard about to work AT ALL. So try it out
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1801997

cobraboy85 said:
No you don't. The version I got here on xda, also same exact link I posted right before you -_- , allowed me to back up my efs partition with no issues
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Damn.. Lol I was told wrong, my bad on the repost dude

Agreed
cobraboy85 said:
Developers need to take more responsibility around here with their threads. A simple "I'm not at fault" is sub par in my opinion. Users popping up with IMEI issues are becoming more a common thing. Didn't somebody make an app to back up your efs partition? Why is there not a link to said app in every ROM and kernel thread? This stuff blows my mind.
As there is a rampant influx of "noobs" watching YouTube videos about rooting their devices (most of which for the first time) with links to ROM threads, their needs to be an influx of responsibility taken by those who cook ROMs and feed them to the general public. The issues with the IMEIs being lost is not a small one. Your device is pretty much done for without a backup. Keep reading, keep trying, but since you had no idea that losing the ability to use your device's radios was even a possibility, not your fault.
Good luck. And sorry. You should have seen a link at the very top of the thread you downloaded your ROM from ... and this whole thing would have been avoided. Here is the link, which is always shared too late and after the fact. App is called andromizer forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2080009
This kind of thing shouldn't still be happening.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What would happen if i copied the /efs directory from the new one to this one?

Start a thread titled
Who has restored imei successfully

janjannsen99 said:
Start a thread titled
Who has restored imei successfully
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The issue being you can't restore it without a backup.
---------- Post added at 01:57 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:56 PM ----------
adam2508 said:
What would happen if i copied the /efs directory from the new one to this one?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Never done it. If you have a new one, just make a backup of the new one and don't mess with it. Now you know to make a backup

Curious
I would like to prevent myself from making this mistake in the future. Are you talking about the same type of back up you would do in TWRP or CWM? Like a nandroid? I've never heard about the backup your talking about, but I have been seeing a lot of people talking about losing their IMEI number and it sounds like really bad news.

Ill give it a try
janjannsen99 said:
Well all is not lost. There have been reports of people restoring imei successfully.
Try and app called andromizer. If I remember right it had an efs backup and restore. Its an app
Second. Go to the tmobile galaxy s3 forum and find their thread about lost imei numbers. Use those tools and the method to try to write back your imei number. Ill try and find it
Edit. Heres the link. Try using those tools and those methods. THAT is the only method I have heard about to work AT ALL. So try it out
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1801997
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I will try this tomorrow, i dont think that there is no fix at all. There is a fix for everything, just not yet discovered. Even though i will be getting a new phone, i still want to dedicate some time on fixing this one. If I find a fix, I might help someone else.

advice
Corrupt0387 said:
I would like to prevent myself from making this mistake in the future. Are you talking about the same type of back up you would do in TWRP or CWM? Like a nandroid? I've never heard about the backup your talking about, but I have been seeing a lot of people talking about losing their IMEI number and it sounds like really bad news.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
dude, make sure you have a back up of everything. Especially of the /efs directory. I read a few posts about people having this problem even after restoring back from CWM. I will get into conclusions that CWM does not back up the /efs directory. Anyone wants to correct me or add to this?

A little clarification
adam2508 said:
dude, make sure you have a back up of everything. Especially of the /efs directory. I read a few posts about people having this problem even after restoring back from CWM. I will get into conclusions that CWM does not back up the /efs directory. Anyone wants to correct me or add to this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Any chance you could tell me where to find this? If ever lost and you have the back up, how would you restore it?

I'll be really honest
Corrupt0387 said:
Any chance you could tell me where to find this? If ever lost and you have the back up, how would you restore it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
After what happened to me I haven't messed with other roms. Andromizer can be found here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2080009 to make a backup of your /efs. I have also used Nandroid, which you can just download from the "play store". Nandroid apparently does make a backup of everything including /efs and bootloader. As to how to restore from those backups I would like to never find out if it actually works. I have flashed the perseus kernel with clockworkmod recovery and also rooted which allows me to overclock to 1800MHz and im very happy with it. I dont have the urge to flash any roms that "promise" any speed improvements. I have also got rid of the bloatware with titanium backup pro. And of course i made backup with it too just in case i removed something i did not suppose to. All backups are in my external SD card and on dropbox. Call me paranoid but after what ive gone through i call it being safe.

adam2508 said:
I did the stupid mistake of flashing to a custom rom without backing up. Nowhere in custom rom instructions says to backup your /efs folder.
Now in "About device" Baseband version is "Unknown" IMEI is "Unknown". I've searched everywhere for a fix and nothing. I tried the following:
Flash stock rom
Format /data and /cache
On keypad, dial *#7284# ....But i dont get the "Qualcomm USB settings" option so i cant try IMEI repair tools
I tried flashing different kernels and different custom roms
Apart from the IMEI problem, the Device cant access the 16GB internal memory. The stock rom flashes with no error, but when i go to
settings > storage: under "Device memory" its full with only 182MB used by some apps. I thought the memory could be bad, but after flashing
Perseus kernel and swapping external sd card for internal memory I can use the 16GB as external memory. I cant find a fix for that either.
INTERNAL MEMORY UPDATE: it seems that internal memory is mounting read only. Still trying to find a fix
Im currently on "T889UVALK8_T889TMBALK8_TMB" rom with Perseus kernel and using "11extsd2internalsd_gs3_fat32" to swap internal to external memory.
Side note: I bought the phone from a friend 2 days ago. Its the Tmobile version and I used cellunlocker to unlock to use it with AT&T. That worked, until I started messing with ROMS. No warranty available. I am desperately looking on how to fix this since i have no spare phone. Any help is highly appreciated and thank you for your time
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It sounds like you did a NAND erase all in Odin. Flash back to stock, use triangle away, call samsung to fix it. I had the same issue and Samsung fixed it for free.

Free?
KillaHurtz said:
It sounds like you did a NAND erase all in Odin. Flash back to stock, use triangle away, call samsung to fix it. I had the same issue and Samsung fixed it for free.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Even without insurance? And what am I going to tell them?

[Q] How do I backup and restore IMEI/EFS?

Currently, my Galaxy S3 is a Canadian variant (SGH-T999V) belonging to Wind Mobile, it is stock and unrooted. I am planning on rooting and flashing custom roms but I have concerns of the possibility of losing my IMEI as I am quite the noob when it comes to technology. I was wondering if somebody could enlighten me on how I could backup and restore my IMEI if anything were to ever happen (hopefully nothing like this will ever happen!), but I like taking precautions just to be safe. Also, does backing up with cwm or twrp offer the option of backing it up? Thanks for the help!

EFS backup option in TWRP
Don't restore it unless necessary, though.

Read this thread first.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1808408
Itll tell you how to back up IMEI. I dont think its stored on the EFS partition, so backing that up wont protect from imei loss.
If im remembering right. That thread should explaon better than I can.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda premium

s44 said:
EFS backup option in TWRP
Don't restore it unless necessary, though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Viewing this video, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1vMFb80WKg I do not see the option to backup EFS. Is that option only for the note II?
DocHoliday77 said:
Read this thread first.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1808408
Itll tell you how to back up IMEI. I dont think its stored on the EFS partition, so backing that up wont protect from imei loss.
If im remembering right. That thread should explaon better than I can.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda premium
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That forum post that is on that link doesn't work for me D: . It says, "Invalid thread specified. This can happen for a variety of reasons-- most likely because the thread or post you are trying to view has been moved or deleted. Please return to the forum home and browse for another similiar post." Does it work for you?

link works for me... search in the dev thread nvrestore or an app in the play store like Andromizer... its been discussed about 100 times in these forums not hard to find info to help your self. Read stickies before asking more questions just in case they are already addressed.

Missing nv_data.bin from stock N7105

Hi All,
Have just ran into something quite strange on my phone and would love to know if there is anyone else who has encountered this.
I have an N7105 running build DMB2 (Android 4.1.2). I rooted my stock ROM some time ago and everything has been travelling along nicely. With KitKat ROMs starting to show up now and my desire to avoid exposing my phone to the new stock 4.3 recovery with KNOX baked into it, I am considering flashing to a custom 4.4 and skipping 4.3 entirely.
This lead me to wanting to make an EFS backup after reading plenty of horror stories on how not doing so can ruin your day. I went and backed up my /efs folder and popped it on my PC. My natural allergy to simplicity then lead me to ask "Is it really that easy?" and found out that the nv_data.bin file stores all the important bits. My /efs folder DOES NOT HAVE an nv_data file of ANY description.
To cover bases: Yes I am rooted, I also tried 2 different file explorers (Solid Explorer and Root Explorer) to make sure it was not a visibility setting in one of them.
I always assumed that the EFS backup "apps" that you can get were just an automated means of copying the folder. Am I wrong in assuming this? Do they pull other data from elsewhere? Why is this supposedly super important file missing from my phone >.>.....
Cheers,
Sheik.

Nobody have any idea what the deal is here?

There is a thread on it somewhere. Because the n7105 has a separate chip for the lte the efs folder can't be backed up in the usual way. The thread had a tool to back up the nv_data bin. I think that's how I remember it
Sent from my GT-N7105 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

Thanks for that. Nice to hear that its not some strange security trigger or me going crazy then. If anyone knows the post that sawdoctor is referring to I would love a link.
I am very hesitant to do any kind of custom ROM flashing without an IMEI backup. From what I have read, if I lose my IMEI data its possible that even flashing a factory image wont fix things is that correct? Even though I do have a Nandroid backup I am not 100% sure it contains the IMEI data in it because of the absence of a file. : \

I m using this thread to backup efs.
The only method works to back up N7105 efs.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2049155
Sent from the corner of this rounded earth (N7105 v4.3, powered by LionROM)

Thanks for confirming this. Was not sure if this would work for phones with the nv_data file missing. In the guide it does say "This will back up all your phones NV Items and save them to the QCN Backup File.". And theres a total absence of NV files on my phone. lol. But being its confirmed working by people I can only assume its looking in places that I cant/have not. Will test it after I have done all my various RL tasks for the day. If there is other people who have done a full backup and restore with this method and confirmed it functional I would love to hear from you.
Cheers.

Sheikx800 said:
Thanks for confirming this. Was not sure if this would work for phones with the nv_data file missing. In the guide it does say "This will back up all your phones NV Items and save them to the QCN Backup File.". And theres a total absence of NV files on my phone. lol. But being its confirmed working by people I can only assume its looking in places that I cant/have not. Will test it after I have done all my various RL tasks for the day. If there is other people who have done a full backup and restore with this method and confirmed it functional I would love to hear from you.
Cheers.
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Click to collapse
I have tried to restore, and all there. But I tried on 4.1.2.
Has never tried to restore on 4.3
Sent from the corner of this rounded earth (N7105 v4.3, powered by LionROM)

Just to make it that little bit more interesting I am going to be restoring on 4.4 if I do at all....Will probably keep this thread posted with updates because there seems to be very little info about this.

7105 nv backup
The 7105 is not like the 7100 model it has a completely different
frame behind the screen
a different plastic intermediate case
a different mainboard
the 7105 device also stores data in internal NV RAM which is not accessable easily
it is thought that the Qualcom tools or NV-Ram backup tools can backup these internal areas
BUT
it is possible to erase or damage the NV-Ram so that you cannot talk to the Ram to RESTORE the data
even when you have a backup
as a result even when you have a full NV Ram backup there is not yet a solution which
will ensure that a damaged NV-RAM area can be 100 percent sorted back to working if you are unlucky
just make sure you NEVER clear NV-RAM from Odin on a 7105

This is the kind of thing I was afraid of. Thanks to fibreoptix for sharing that. I am just glad that there is some method for backing it up. No idea how these chip-specific tools get released to us because I have no doubt its not intentional. I am glad that there is people out there willing to take them out of the OEM space and pass them to us so we can protect ourselves from disaster.
I dont know enough about this stuff to do anything but make assumptions, but I assume that this NV RAM that you mention is physically located in the SOC and not on memory anywhere. So I doubt that this will ever get any easier in terms of achieving a backup on any upcoming devices either. I guess all we can do is pray that various individuals keep releasing these OEM tools to us. In terms of the RAM becoming physically inaccessible and broken its not that concerning providing you can flash back to stock and get a warranty job.

EFS partition Backup

I've bought used N910A phone and the EFS parition was corrupted, so it had to be wiped in service mode. The rest is working fine and after ODIN with stock rom + temporary root I can access to EFS partition, but it doesn't include anything so I need to put there content. The best way could be if somebody will give me the EFS partition backup then I will change IMEI and certificate for original one.
Thanks in advance for this. It will save my life!
You can PM to me if you don't want to share this EFS on the forum.

zencooler said:
I've bought used N910A phone and the EFS parition was corrupted, so it had to be wiped in service mode. The rest is working fine and after ODIN with stock rom + temporary root I can access to EFS partition, but it doesn't include anything so I need to put there content. The best way could be if somebody will give me the EFS partition backup then I will change IMEI and certificate for original one.
Thanks in advance for this. It will save my life!
You can PM to me if you don't want to share this EFS on the forum.
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Click to collapse
Can anybody help in this, please? It is very simply help, so any support will be appreciated.
Thanks in advance!

Doubt anyone here wants to share EFS files. When you talk about altering EFS and IMEI, you're getting into legal issues with phones.

jack man said:
Doubt anyone here wants to share EFS files. When you talk about altering EFS and IMEI, you're getting into legal issues with phones.
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I whole heartedly agree. If you messed the phone up that bad you should mostlilely not be messing with it or take it to some place to service it for you.
And just an FYI i have seen alot of not so well english speakers askong for different parts of firmware or code of devices so the could build clones. I have been in the software and devices running linux code for over 10 years starting out with FTA (free to air) and we had a company out of south korea build our units and we did the code to make the set top boxes work. We many of our units cloned and our software stolen reversed and rebuilt to make it look like theirs. Thats why i got out of that business.
So thats why you are going to have a real hard time finding someone to share their efs partition. And you should always backup your device before doing anything to it ever and never ever aquire one with a missine imei or efs

giga8547 said:
I whole heartedly agree. If you messed the phone up that bad you should mostlilely not be messing with it or take it to some place to service it for you.
And just an FYI i have seen alot of not so well english speakers askong for different parts of firmware or code of devices so the could build clones. I have been in the software and devices running linux code for over 10 years starting out with FTA (free to air) and we had a company out of south korea build our units and we did the code to make the set top boxes work. We many of our units cloned and our software stolen reversed and rebuilt to make it look like theirs. Thats why i got out of that business.
So thats why you are going to have a real hard time finding someone to share their efs partition. And you should always backup your device before doing anything to it ever and never ever aquire one with a missine imei or efs
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Of course I fully agree with you. I am android user since first android comercial impementation (on HTC G1), and of course I always make nandroid backup and EFS backup. This time it is completely different story. As I said I've bought phone with corrupted EFS partition, but full information about IMEI is available. So the only way to make this phone running is to get any EFS partition and change settings. For people having doubts: you can get rid IMEI from settings from the EFS partition. I just need the content to set up the rest.
Thanks in advance. Please PM to me if you can help me. Once again: thanks.