Develop Bugs

[Q] EFS Folder Rebuild

I did the Root66 stock Rom with root flash. I had Super User Pro installed with the OTA survival mode block ticked- then did the OTA update back in the day for the multiwindow. I of course lost root but didn't worry about it. 2 months later- my phone reset a bunch of times and wiped my MEID, IMEI, Baseband Version- etc.
I never did an efs backup before this because i didn't know too. Anyway- I have a Note 2 here now that will not connect to the cell towers at all but is seemingly in great condition. I used root explorer to copy my efs folder to my computer and i need to know what files are missing and what values i need to change to get my phone back to working. I think this would be usefull information to everyone that encounters this issue.
reference threads:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1997150&page=5
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2143130
threads that fix this for other phones not ours:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1968360
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=859914
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1089039
we should have a thread that lists what files are supposed to be in our efs folder and where our important details are stored in those files- i.e.- what string to use a hex editor on to restore our values back to the phone.
Thanks everyone for your help.

dd807 said:
I did the Root66 stock Rom with root flash. I had Super User Pro installed with the OTA survival mode block ticked- then did the OTA update back in the day for the multiwindow. I of course lost root but didn't worry about it. 2 months later- my phone reset a bunch of times and wiped my MEID, IMEI, Baseband Version- etc.
I never did an efs backup before this because i didn't know too. Anyway- I have a Note 2 here now that will not connect to the cell towers at all but is seemingly in great condition. I used root explorer to copy my efs folder to my computer and i need to know what files are missing and what values i need to change to get my phone back to working. I think this would be usefull information to everyone that encounters this issue.
reference threads:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1997150&page=5
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2143130
threads that fix this for other phones not ours:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1968360
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=859914
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1089039
we should have a thread that lists what files are supposed to be in our efs folder and where our important details are stored in those files- i.e.- what string to use a hex editor on to restore our values back to the phone.
Thanks everyone for your help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
bump- can't believe no one wants to help wih this.

I'll pull some files off my phone and send you copies of you want me to. I'm not a developer and can't help with what you're doing but will send you copies of stuff if that's all you need.

ohh I have the same problem
AndroidStephen said:
I'll pull some files off my phone and send you copies of you want me to. I'm not a developer and can't help with what you're doing but will send you copies of stuff if that's all you need.
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Click to collapse
I have the same problem my phone create a new efs folder but of course dont have imei no baseband and 0 storage
I have the N7105 , I have on my screen info pop telling me some specs ... we need help with another efs files if you can put a zip file we will appreciate ...... thank you

I wouldn't be giving anyone your intact efs partition. That contains all of your device specific information such as IMEI, ESN, MEID basically everything someone needs to clone your phone. And its not as simple as editing the files in efs and pushing them back to the device. You would need something like CDMA WS or equivalent to actually reprogram the values into the device. Most likely your information isn't missing it's just become hidden due to a corrupt partition. You can try doing a full repartition and restore with the lj1 firmware and then once the device boots ##786# and master reset, when it reboots after the master reset all of the missing values should be back. The repartition will un hide them and the master reset will allow the device to re read the efs and load the values properly. Once yoi get the values back the device will need to be reactivated and reprovisioned with your user info such and phone #, MIN, username and password, etc.
I like to break stuff!

-EViL-KoNCEPTz- said:
I wouldn't be giving anyone your intact efs partition. That contains all of your device specific information such as IMEI, ESN, MEID basically everything someone needs to clone your phone. And its not as simple as editing the files in efs and pushing them back to the device. You would need something like CDMA WS or equivalent to actually reprogram the values into the device. Most likely your information isn't missing it's just become hidden due to a corrupt partition. You can try doing a full repartition and restore with the lj1 firmware and then once the device boots ##786# and master reset, when it reboots after the master reset all of the missing values should be back. The repartition will un hide them and the master reset will allow the device to re read the efs and load the values properly. Once yoi get the values back the device will need to be reactivated and reprovisioned with your user info such and phone #, MIN, username and password, etc.
I like to break stuff!
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Click to collapse
Thanks for this reply- I already tried to flash back to stock with a Pit file and the and repartitioning checked in odin. didn't work. thats why i started this thread. ulitmately i think it was a hardware failure becuase it didn't happen when i was flashing the phone- is just happened when i was sitting on the couch watching tv. my phone reset a bunch of times in a row and then no signal. i finally got a new phone so i guess it doesn't matter.

Phone can't read IMEI, Param_bin needed please!

Hi, my N7105 has lost the capability of reading its IMEI (and even knowing what model it is) after I flashed this: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2531965
I have an EFS backup, but it's useless, it seems that I need the param_bin for the N7105, because as I've read, the phone didn't really lost its IMEI, it only can't access it. Please help me!

Solved. Just flashed the via Odin the .bin files that were inside the .tar.gz backup made with EFS Pro, then the IMEI, model number and signal got back. Then EFS Pro was able to recognize my phone and restored the full backup, now even the serial number is restored. Hope this helps anyone who finds himself in a similar situation.

I am in a the same situation, but my efs backup is just a efs.img created by efs_backup_restore_win.
Restoring using it can't bring back my imei.
[Edit] EFS pro keep saying Device not connected. But I already granted the ADB connection in my phone.

S4 Mini LTE IMEI

Hello,
I have screwed up my IMEI after some risky operations. I have a backup of EFS partition (folder), which is useless, since it doesn't contain my IMEI, which I haven't checked previously and just dumbly/blindly relied on it containing my IMEI. The big question is, where is IMEI stored on galaxy s4 mini LTE (I9195)? I tried to restore using several methods, like:
EFS Professional Qualcomm Tools, by writing my original IMEI, but it still doesn't do any changes, nor before restart of the phone, nor after.
NV Items Reader/Writer - same result as EFS Qualcomm. Same goes to QPST tools.
Tried reboot nvrestore through adb/console, but i haven't had made backup previously.
I guess it stores it in some other partition. Also, after research done, there have been claims that phone stores backup of nv_data in some partition and automatically restores it if there are differences between backup and real imei. Or phone just restores backup automatically on each phone bootup. Either way, I must've screwed really big, since on my adventures both are wiped and my nulled IMEI seems to be right for the phone.
I include a PIT file.
Seems like I am the only one unlucky in this situation, cause there are no similar topic on this forum or internet altogether concerning EFS and I9195.
.PIT FILE

any1?

well i had a i9000 before. and there was always a efs backup made when you installed cm for example. i screwed my imei also more than once on this phone and restored it by installing an factory image from samsung. i has to be a complete image with all parts for odin i think.
OT: here are less developers around. this phone isn't so much supported as i thought it would be. but i really dont want to buy a 5inch just to have developer support so i hope someone will be able to help you.

x10isrooted said:
well i had a i9000 before. and there was always a efs backup made when you installed cm for example. i screwed my imei also more than once on this phone and restored it by installing an factory image from samsung. i has to be a complete image with all parts for odin i think.
OT: here are less developers around. this phone isn't so much supported as i thought it would be. but i really dont want to buy a 5inch just to have developer support so i hope someone will be able to help you.
Click to expand...
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You are right, it does make a some kind of backup, which manually could be made through adb with command "reboot nvbackup", but my problem is that either I don't have that backup, or it somehow has made a backup of efs after it was corrupted. Somewhere in this forum i saw someone writing that reboot nvbackup command backups efs to fsg and backup partitions, but I through-Hex-checked it, no trace of any content of efs/nvdata.(Or it is encrypted somehow.). Also I did recieved backup and fsg partitions of healthy phone, and checked-through it. Same story.
In despair I stormed every single partition on the phone I could reach. The only partition containing contents of efs (also IMEI) was mmcblk0p24, which stores userdata and mounts on root as /data. I doubt it's legitimacy, since as far as I know, it gets wiped after factory reset, so it couldn't be the place sensitive data are stored. Now I am waiting to receive a healthy phones userdata.img.ext4 partition backup to get memory addresses of IMEI location and to be able to write my IMEI in my userdata.img.ext4 backup. Cross fingers, but doubt this will work.
Also, I didn't check loop# and ram# partitions under /dev/block/. This will be my next step, if writing and restoring userdata fails, which probably will.

farewellartist said:
Hello,
I have screwed up my IMEI after some risky operations. I have a backup of EFS partition (folder), which is useless, since it doesn't contain my IMEI, which I haven't checked previously and just dumbly/blindly relied on it containing my IMEI. The big question is, where is IMEI stored on galaxy s4 mini LTE (I9195)? I tried to restore using several methods, like:
EFS Professional Qualcomm Tools, by writing my original IMEI, but it still doesn't do any changes, nor before restart of the phone, nor after.
NV Items Reader/Writer - same result as EFS Qualcomm. Same goes to QPST tools.
Tried reboot nvrestore through adb/console, but i haven't had made backup previously.
I guess it stores it in some other partition. Also, after research done, there have been claims that phone stores backup of nv_data in some partition and automatically restores it if there are differences between backup and real imei. Or phone just restores backup automatically on each phone bootup. Either way, I must've screwed really big, since on my adventures both are wiped and my nulled IMEI seems to be right for the phone.
I include a PIT file.
Seems like I am the only one unlucky in this situation, cause there are no similar topic on this forum or internet altogether concerning EFS and I9195.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You've found the address of IMEI? I also did not find my IMEI in a full backup of EFS partition. I also do not believe that it is in mmcblk0p24, if it were, would lose the IMEI on a factory reset.
Sorry for bad English... :silly:

lrdslr said:
You've found the address of IMEI? I also did not find my IMEI in a full backup of EFS partition. I also do not believe that it is in mmcblk0p24, if it were, would lose the IMEI on a factory reset.
Sorry for bad English... :silly:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I think, that I have found it, but this is difficult. I haven't slept for over 40 hours, I'll convert this thread into research thread after I get some sleep. But for now, short version.
Using Cygwin, i have backed up healthy phones every single partition in .RAW format (which backs up not only files, but every single bit of memory) , including phones whole memory partition (mmcblk0), all 7 loop and 15 ram partitions and then hex checked them. What I've discovered is: that none of partitions contain IMEI nor in HEX or STRING format except mmcblk0p24, which contains 24 entries in my case in STRING format. BUT the whole phone memory block (mmcblk0) contains 60+ entries ..
If we weight information (considering all backups were made in .RAW format) that none of the partitions contain IMEI and IMEI is stored in whole memory block, I think we probably can conclude, that IMEI is not stored in any file on the phones memory. (And this is concluded based on information I got on backing up mmcblk0 using cygwin in .bin format. After hex checking file, it also contained around 24 entries, which is roughtly the same as userdata partition.) It is stored in phones memory not as a file, but as written bits in memory, which are not FRS recognizable.
I only I could restore .RAW format backups, this problem could easilly be solved. Damn, if I mange to solve and fill lacking information bits that spoils a big picture, I won't hesitate to spare one day of my life to actually create a tool to solve this. This has been a long and painful process,

Hi, I know this is an old topic, but I 've got same issue and I'd like to know if someone successed to re-write the IMEI on S4 mini LTE.
Thanks.

[Q] Is there a way to repair network problems in sgh-i317?

I have the note 2 from at&t and I can't even call with it because it has network problems, i have efs backup from efs professional, twrp and nv items made with qpst in .qcn extension and with a software called nv items reader writer that makes the file in .txt, everytime I restore those no matter the way I do it I've end with a crappy signal in my phone, even with no signal at all, I've erased the efs from the phone with odin, with efs professional and with the secret menu *#197328640* in umts/common/nv rebuild/erases all efs1/2/3, it says that erases rf cal too so I'm wondering if that could be the problem since I don't know what is that and didn't do a backup of that, so my question is if someone could help me with that problem, I've been like 3 months now with that issue and can't solve it even with my efs backups.
By the way, the antenna was repaced and the problem persist.
Thanks in advance and if I'm not so clear let me know.

IIMEI Changed to 0049.. and 'not registered on network'

Dear,
I think that my question was raised many-time in this forum, and i really tried to read any thread similar to my issue, and i tried all solutions but no luck, and I am feeling that i am missing something, here my story :
Problems started with me when i bought a new battery for my phone ( i don't think that this cause the problem, because as my knowledge imei has nothing to do with battery), please correct me if i am wrong.
So, when i putted the new battery, I got this silly issue 'not registered on network', and then i knew that i lost my imei as well (it is dummy number like 0049... )
So what i did is i tried to flash the modem, i tried many version, but this did not resolve my problem.
Then i tried to install the firmware from the beginning and rested all data and wipe all data and cache, (here i think i missed to take backup of my efs files). does flashing a new firmware,reset or wipe data will remove the efs files?
Installing new firmware didn't work also.
So i tried to backup and restore efs files, but it did not work also.
Please can you help me resolving this issue, since now i am out of idea and i don't know what to do.
Thank you in advance

here

Thank you for your answer,
But i already tried to install many modem, and i did tried this one XXDME4 modem, but not luck.

i am struggling here,
Please help me

Please help :crying:

did you use odin and thr newest stock firmware from i.e. sammobile?

Hi,
Yes i did, but it did not solve the issue

EFS
I have been trying to understand the phone system. I could not locate the detailed information on net but have guessed based on my experience and if I would have designed the phone.
1. Downloader area: I think this is fused when the system is fabricated and cannot be changed. It's job is to receive the image and flash into phone's bootloader area. (This is equivalent to EEPROM in PC mother boards)
2. Bootloader area: This is where recovery gets loaded. This is where root of file system is created "/". and basic directories are created. Both 1 and 2 are located separately from 3.
3. Internal Storage: This is separate memory chip. This is usually partitioned in multiple partitions and one of them is EFS (encrypted file system). These partitions are formatted and mounted on various directories in basic file system. The /system mountpoint contains the OS. This is the reason, why we format it and then install the system files from partition mounted at /sdcard mountpoint. Normally this is known as usb storage (internal storage).
4. External sdcard: It is external storage card which is mounted on /external_sdcard or something similar.
I have galaxy note 2. It started rebooting once in a while for last two months. In August, it refused to boot up. I could boot up the bootloader and downloader section both. At that time, the memory areas were getting corrupted. Probably, my galaxy note 2 was one of those initial one with bad memory chip. Later in bootloader section, I could figure out that the EFS could not be mounted. In service center as well as with other technicians, it was told that memory chip is bad. One of the technician replaced the chip. I opted for this repair insted of mother board replacement as it was far cheaper. He also got the EFS restored from samsung service.
My understanding of EFS is that this file system is encrypted with a key. This key is encrypted further with private key of certificate of manufacturer. All programmes can use public key to get the key and hence the IMEI and other information. The certificate containing public key should be part of EFS filesystem header. At OS level, this whole process can be bypassed and you can have a mechanism for any IMEI or any other parameter. It is the OS which controls the radio and transmits the information to network.
So, get your phone checked if the memory has not gone bad. Even if you can reformat and use it, it will fail soon. Further, if you are not using customized OS (which bypasses EFS protection), or you have a tool to create an EFS on your own with your own certificate and information, than you need to get in touch with Samsung service. They will create the EFS image and put it back in your phone or give it to you for putting it back.
If certain memory area is bad and system is able to boot, then it creates the default EFS that is where you get changed IMEI.
aj1m said:
Dear,
I think that my question was raised many-time in this forum, and i really tried to read any thread similar to my issue, and i tried all solutions but no luck, and I am feeling that i am missing something, here my story :
Problems started with me when i bought a new battery for my phone ( i don't think that this cause the problem, because as my knowledge imei has nothing to do with battery), please correct me if i am wrong.
So, when i putted the new battery, I got this silly issue 'not registered on network', and then i knew that i lost my imei as well (it is dummy number like 0049... )
So what i did is i tried to flash the modem, i tried many version, but this did not resolve my problem.
Then i tried to install the firmware from the beginning and rested all data and wipe all data and cache, (here i think i missed to take backup of my efs files). does flashing a new firmware,reset or wipe data will remove the efs files?
Installing new firmware didn't work also.
So i tried to backup and restore efs files, but it did not work also.
Please can you help me resolving this issue, since now i am out of idea and i don't know what to do.
Thank you in advance
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