Database Info

[Q] Skyrocket on Simple Mobile (tmobile) - Brain is fried

Alright, so i am having a bit of an issue. And it's probably because i'm a complete noob....
So, I have a new GS3, and wanted to give my (already rooted and flashed with Cyanogenmod 10) Skyrocket to my mom to use on Simple mobile (a company using T-mobile's towers).
I read that you can flash radios for T-mobile onto the phone, and so I figured everything would work.
Here is what I did.
I unlocked the phone while in Cyanogenmod10
Flashed LiquidSmooth RC9 - read it had less bugs
tried flashing multiple Tmobile Radios
I get NO service. I cant pick any of them up..
Baseband comes up as UNKNOWN...
So i'm currently downloading ODIN and going to try to flash to stock and just start from scratch...
Any suggestions on what to do?

Do you still have an imei?

Try unlocking the phone after you've gone back to stock. I don't know how you did it with cm10. I don't think it works with anything but stock.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I957 using xda app-developers app

No, the IMEI is blank when i do the *#06# code....
also, when i put the simple mobile sim in the phone, it automatically came up asking for the network unlock code. That's how i was able to unlock it.

Did you ever backup your imei? Flashing back to stock will hopefully bring it back if not you may have some issues. Also as mentioned above it's better to unlock from a stock ROM or at least stock based.

Alright, Flashed to stock, IMEI is back (thank god), and i'm getting service.
Now here are the issues ahead of me, and any help would be greatly appreciated.
I am on STOCK ATT ICS Rom.
I GET SERVICE (however, it's only 2g) i know i need to flash the radios for Tmobile,
Was going to use this ---> Blaze_4G_LB7_ICS_Radio_MOD ...... Direct DL, CAN BE USED FOR T-MOBILE/WIND ON ICS (from the skyrocket reference thread)
First i know i have to root, install CWM, all that.
Now, should i flash a custom rom? If so, which one would you suggest. ( i assume, i have to give her ICS, not JB, right?)
Also, you said backup my IMEI, i'll look this up in the meantime, but if you could include a link in your post on a how-to just in case i dont find it, i would really appreciate it.
Also, is there anything else i should do to get this working properly?
thank you very much for all your help.

eternalcold said:
Alright, Flashed to stock, IMEI is back (thank god), and i'm getting service.
Now here are the issues ahead of me, and any help would be greatly appreciated.
I am on STOCK ATT ICS Rom.
I GET SERVICE (however, it's only 2g) i know i need to flash the radios for Tmobile,
Was going to use this ---> Blaze_4G_LB7_ICS_Radio_MOD ...... Direct DL, CAN BE USED FOR T-MOBILE/WIND ON ICS (from the skyrocket reference thread)
First i know i have to root, install CWM, all that.
Now, should i flash a custom rom? If so, which one would you suggest. ( i assume, i have to give her ICS, not JB, right?)
Also, you said backup my IMEI, i'll look this up in the meantime, but if you could include a link in your post on a how-to just in case i dont find it, i would really appreciate it.
Also, is there anything else i should do to get this working properly?
thank you very much for all your help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Custom ROM is your choice. There are a lot of JB ROMS that are pretty stable. Also a new stock JB leak in the dev section. As far as backing up your imei. You'll need to root first as soon as you do get a file explorer and copy the whole EFS folder to your external SDcard. Then also copy it to your computer. The imei is held within the EFS folder. From now on do this as soon as you root BEFORE you flash anything. lol

hechoen said:
Custom ROM is your choice. There are a lot of JB ROMS that are pretty stable. Also a new stock JB leak in the dev section. As far as backing up your imei. You'll need to root first as soon as you do get a file explorer and copy the whole EFS folder to your external SDcard. Then also copy it to your computer. The imei is held within the EFS folder. From now on do this as soon as you root BEFORE you flash anything. lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you very much! I'll start rooting now and back it up immediately. I would love to give her a JB rom, mainly for google now. However, that radio is for ICS. Is that going to cause a problem? or will it even work on JB?

I've been on JB for months using an ICS radio. I'm on ATT so I can't say for certain but it shouldn't be an issue. Just go to the DEV thread and spend a few hours reading up on what's available. Like I said most of the ROMs are pretty stable at this point.

FYI, on skyrocket the IMEI is stored in mmcblk0p18 and mmcblk0p19, not /efs partition. Might really want to back those up, especially before attempting a usb unlock. The /efs only really stores exports of certain properties from mmcblk0p18.

cschmitt said:
FYI, on skyrocket the IMEI is stored in mmcblk0p18 and mmcblk0p19, not /efs partition. Might really want to back those up, especially before attempting a usb unlock. The /efs only really stores exports of certain properties from mmcblk0p18.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the heads up. lol I thought for sure they'd be stored in the same place they where for my SGS4G. So what is stored in the imei folder in EFS then?

[Q]

Hi all, well this is my question. Few days ago i got my efs folder corrupted and my imei damaged, my phone had no signal. Then i got it to a place where repair cellphones and they got my SGS4G fixed. Heres the question, qhen i look into the restored efs folder i noticed that nv_data files are in a folder called root inside efs folder, and also, they are small files, i mean, they are 706kb files when they are supoused to be of 2mb atleast. So i wonder, is everything ok?, its possible to put another rom qith no problem ? help please.

All you had to do really was restore your phone back to stock and it rebuilds the imei. I've changed imei's on a phone by flashing over a different efs file and when I used 1 click to back to stock, the original imei was back.

While we are discussing this. Have you copied the folder and transferred it to your pc yet?

champ1919 said:
While we are discussing this. Have you copied the folder and transferred it to your pc yet?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, only in my sd card , but dont worry, i havent flsahed anything yet, ill do it when i before to start . And man, i tried flash back to stock rom, but it didnt worked, my imei cntinued on 0s. But well, i still wondering if its ok that my nv_data files are so small.

Zeros are no bueno...:thumbdown:
When you say "stock" which Rom are you flashing?

Yeah hahaha, its such a disaster have it on zeros. But well, i got it fixed now, but flashing to stock rom didnt help, and with "stock" i mean to flash to original rom that T-Mobile develoaps for my mobile, its supoused that if u fo that ull get your imei back, but it is not always the solution :/.

OP please title your thread....Thank You

So did you ever figure it out?

Strange efs/imei problem, wont flash to stock

so I have a SR I just put a new (used, off ebay but new to me) motherboard in, and it works fine except for no imei/baseband, so obviously no data/voice/etc.
the efs folder seems to be fine...imei folder is in there, keystr file is there...I don't understand what the problem is.
the worst part is, only certain roms will flash...I cannot flash to stock, I've tried with odin and from recovery, a couple different stock versions of GB, ICS, and still no luck. It actually flashes, then does the "android is upgrading" screen, but then bootloops on the optimizing apps part. I've tried to flash to stock probably 20 times now, wiped everything, fixed permissions, etc...without fail it bootloops every time.
the only roms Ive gotten to flash are slim and jedi...no stock rom will flash, nor avatar and a couple others I've tried. but slim and jedi flash and boot right up...just have blank imei/baseband.
I've scoured threads for days trying to figure out what to do here...nobody seems to have my exact problem, and everything I've found about restoring efs/imei/baseband has involved flashing to stock...which I can't do.
anyone have any ideas?

Have you tried flashing different radios (baseband)?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1785999

causticfix said:
so I have a SR I just put a new (used, off ebay but new to me) motherboard in, and it works fine except for no imei/baseband, so obviously no data/voice/etc.
the efs folder seems to be fine...imei folder is in there, keystr file is there...I don't understand what the problem is.
the worst part is, only certain roms will flash...I cannot flash to stock, I've tried with odin and from recovery, a couple different stock versions of GB, ICS, and still no luck. It actually flashes, then does the "android is upgrading" screen, but then bootloops on the optimizing apps part. I've tried to flash to stock probably 20 times now, wiped everything, fixed permissions, etc...without fail it bootloops every time.
the only roms Ive gotten to flash are slim and jedi...no stock rom will flash, nor avatar and a couple others I've tried. but slim and jedi flash and boot right up...just have blank imei/baseband.
I've scoured threads for days trying to figure out what to do here...nobody seems to have my exact problem, and everything I've found about restoring efs/imei/baseband has involved flashing to stock...which I can't do.
anyone have any ideas?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Take a look at this thread, it may help. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=25172599#post25172599

thanks for the replies...
I've flashed UCM1 and UCLL3 radios, they flash fine but no change...still can't flash to stock and no imei/baseband/service.
That fix thread was one of the first I found, but as I still have my keystr file in the efs folder, I didn't think it would apply to me...I suppose I could make an external backup of my efs, delete it and try one of those methods from scratch.

read through the restore to stock sticky http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1652398 and go through the trouble shooting sections, if that doesn't help u could have bad hw

causticfix said:
so I have a SR I just put a new (used, off ebay but new to me) motherboard in, and it works fine except for no imei/baseband, so obviously no data/voice/etc.
the efs folder seems to be fine...imei folder is in there, keystr file is there...I don't understand what the problem is.
the worst part is, only certain roms will flash...I cannot flash to stock, I've tried with odin and from recovery, a couple different stock versions of GB, ICS, and still no luck. It actually flashes, then does the "android is upgrading" screen, but then bootloops on the optimizing apps part. I've tried to flash to stock probably 20 times now, wiped everything, fixed permissions, etc...without fail it bootloops every time.
the only roms Ive gotten to flash are slim and jedi...no stock rom will flash, nor avatar and a couple others I've tried. but slim and jedi flash and boot right up...just have blank imei/baseband.
I've scoured threads for days trying to figure out what to do here...nobody seems to have my exact problem, and everything I've found about restoring efs/imei/baseband has involved flashing to stock...which I can't do.
anyone have any ideas?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey, Im facing the exact same problem! just that my imei turned to 0 and basband to unknown after i upgraded to cynogenmod 10.1-rc.2.
It was working fine till suddenly one day i lost network. I tried everything like you did. So far ive had no luck fixing my efs!
What you can do is download QTPS and in it there is a RF NV Item manager to rewrite your efs. For that you need to put you phone into DIAG mode unfortuantely i cant get to that on 10.1nightly cynogenmod that im using.
I m stuck. I know for sure flashing roms or radios wont help at all. the same boot loop problem happens when I flash using odin, it use to work perfectly fine earlier.
Some how the nv_data.bin and such files are missing from my efs>imei folder that contain the imei data.
If you find something please lemme know too [email protected]

Vgkiller said:
Hey, Im facing the exact same problem! just that my imei turned to 0 and basband to unknown after i upgraded to cynogenmod 10.1-rc.2.
It was working fine till suddenly one day i lost network. I tried everything like you did. So far ive had no luck fixing my efs!
What you can do is download QTPS and in it there is a RF NV Item manager to rewrite your efs. For that you need to put you phone into DIAG mode unfortuantely i cant get to that on 10.1nightly cynogenmod that im using.
I m stuck. I know for sure flashing roms or radios wont help at all. the same boot loop problem happens when I flash using odin, it use to work perfectly fine earlier.
Some how the nv_data.bin and such files are missing from my efs>imei folder that contain the imei data.
If you find something please lemme know too [email protected]
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just factory reset when it boot loops
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using Tapatalk 2

Vgkiller said:
Hey, Im facing the exact same problem! just that my imei turned to 0 and basband to unknown after i upgraded to cynogenmod 10.1-rc.2.
It was working fine till suddenly one day i lost network. I tried everything like you did. So far ive had no luck fixing my efs!
What you can do is download QTPS and in it there is a RF NV Item manager to rewrite your efs. For that you need to put you phone into DIAG mode unfortuantely i cant get to that on 10.1nightly cynogenmod that im using.
I m stuck. I know for sure flashing roms or radios wont help at all. the same boot loop problem happens when I flash using odin, it use to work perfectly fine earlier.
Some how the nv_data.bin and such files are missing from my efs>imei folder that contain the imei data.
If you find something please lemme know too [email protected]
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
will do.
also, you may know this already, but just in case, be aware the skyrocket doesn't use nv_data.bin...I thought it did too when I first started searching around about this, and when i couldnt find it I was pretty freaked out...but then i found out the skyrocket actually uses 3 encrypted partitions rather than a nv_data file. so if you have at least some files in your efs/imei folder you may be in a better spot than it seems. of course if its totally empty, you'll likely have a lot more work to do.
I'll update if I have any luck.

causticfix said:
will do.
also, you may know this already, but just in case, be aware the skyrocket doesn't use nv_data.bin...I thought it did too when I first started searching around about this, and when i couldnt find it I was pretty freaked out...but then i found out the skyrocket actually uses 3 encrypted partitions rather than a nv_data file. so if you have at least some files in your efs/imei folder you may be in a better spot than it seems. of course if its totally empty, you'll likely have a lot more work to do.
I'll update if I have any luck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes I have two files in my imei folder i,e keystr and mps_code.dat!
I tired changing them from root explorer! pasted someones else's efs folder! but still I cant fix my imei is stays 0.
i donno how to get to diag mode with this rom, otherwise i could have tried my luck with QPTS.

Incase you have broken your imei without backing it up, there is another way. And yes it is legal.
Here's the tutorial http://goo.gl/wtW29 and here's the needed tools (software & hardware) http://goo.gl/54mtk.

lingowistico said:
Incase you have broken your imei without backing it up, there is another way. And yes it is legal.
Here's the tutorial http://goo.gl/wtW29 and here's the needed tools (software & hardware) http://goo.gl/54mtk.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I actually have octopus box as well as the z3x samsung tool installed, however, they're both server activation based...the software is useless without an $89 (octopus) to $120( (z3x) activation.
I'd rather not spend that kind of money for something I'll likely only need once, so I'm gonna do as much as I can in the way of free solutions, and if I have no luck there I'll probably just send it to mobiletechvideos for their $40 efs/imei repair. I'm guessing they use one or more of these repair box programs themselves anyway, and will do the same job for only $40.
thanks for the suggestion anyway though..

causticfix said:
I actually have octopus box as well as the z3x samsung tool installed, however, they're both server activation based...the software is useless without an $89 (octopus) to $120( (z3x) activation.
I'd rather not spend that kind of money for something I'll likely only need once, so I'm gonna do as much as I can in the way of free solutions, and if I have no luck there I'll probably just send it to mobiletechvideos for their $40 efs/imei repair. I'm guessing they use one or more of these repair box programs themselves anyway, and will do the same job for only $40.
thanks for the suggestion anyway though..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There's this polish guy who probably also has all the same boxes and he takes €10 for imei repair by remote desktop.
http://forum.samdroid.net/f70/repair-imei-s2-5729/
And finally you could try helping the op of this thread to add compatibility for skyrocket, this would be free.

lingowistico said:
There's this polish guy who probably also has all the same boxes and he takes €10 for imei repair by remote desktop.
http://forum.samdroid.net/f70/repair-imei-s2-5729/
And finally you could try helping the op of this thread to add compatibility for skyrocket, this would be free.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Isn't there any way to fix my imei on my own ?
Mt efs folder also looks good now with all the files it should have but still the imei remains unaffected.
Also i'd like to know that the qualcom nv tool showed my esn as dead and mied as 000....000 does the dead thing mean it isnt repairable ?
I tried using QPTS but this is where I get stuck.. (img attatched)

Vgkiller said:
Isn't there any way to fix my imei on my own ?
Mt efs folder also looks good now with all the files it should have but still the imei remains unaffected.
Also i'd like to know that the qualcom nv tool showed my esn as dead and mied as 000....000 does the dead thing mean it isnt repairable ?
I tried using QPTS but this is where I get stuck.. (img attatched)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Obviously there is since some random polack can do it for you on his PC, the problem is the lack of knowledge.
Those who know won't tell you how, because they want € for it :crying:

lingowistico said:
Obviously there is since some random polack can do it for you on his PC, the problem is the lack of knowledge.
Those who know won't tell you how, because they want € for it :crying:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This totally defeats the purpose of this forum then. Its sad.

Vgkiller said:
This totally defeats the purpose of this forum then. Its sad.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
People want money for it because it's mostly used for making stolen phones work again.
That means real life risks like fines, jail etc.
Of course there are lots of examples when people experiment with this or that and delete their imei accidentally, or want to change the imei for some other reason. But these are more rare.

An update...
I managed to finally get flashed to stock...still null/null imei & baseband unknown. Efs folder is still there with files, keystr file is on...not sure what else I can do myself at this point so, I guess its time for the Polish dude or mobiletechvideos.

Hi People,
Did any1 found any solution?

talk2sharn said:
Hi People,
Did any1 found any solution?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
unfortunately not for me. I finally got the polish dude to try restoring the imei remotely...he used like 3 or 4 different programs, nothing worked.
so, i just got a broken SR with a cracked lcd off ebay for $50 and used the motherboard from it.

causticfix said:
unfortunately not for me. I finally got the polish dude to try restoring the imei remotely...he used like 3 or 4 different programs, nothing worked.
so, i just got a broken SR with a cracked lcd off ebay for $50 and used the motherboard from it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ohkies.
Did you ask the polish guy about the reason why he was not able to fix your mobile. Coz, I'm just having similar problem like yours. I tried working with all the local samsung service centre guys, nothing worked. One guy said that my mobile IMEI is locked in some database, so it is not picking or detecting my SIM, hence locked. I know that my mobile is unlocked and is valid, I ignored his comments.
I assume you changed your MotherBoard of the mobile with the new cracked SR's, so that it could take new IMEI instilled in new board. Is it so?
Also, please suggest me about any alternatives on how to fix this problem.:crying:

[Q] Galaxy Note 2 - where is IMEI stored?

Hi,
After installing a custom ROM, the IMEI reported by Android is different from the one on the sticker under the battery.
I believe the IMEI is somewhere in the 'efs' folder, but where exactly? There are all sorts of files and folders in that folder.
There is even a folder called 'imei', but it contains just one file called 'mps-code.dat', and that is only three bytes long, which isn't enough to contain the 15-digit IMEI.
Can anyone help?
Thanks,
Steve
(Phone is Samsung Galaxy Note 2 GT-N7100)

Steve Thackery said:
Hi,
After installing a custom ROM, the IMEI reported by Android is different from the one on the sticker under the battery.
I believe the IMEI is somewhere in the 'efs' folder, but where exactly? There are all sorts of files and folders in that folder.
There is even a folder called 'imei', but it contains just one file called 'mps-code.dat', and that is only three bytes long, which isn't enough to contain the 15-digit IMEI.
Can anyone help?
Thanks,
Steve
(Phone is Samsung Galaxy Note 2 GT-N7100)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's inside the efs folder in the root of your phone.
Backing it up eh?

eatsleep said:
It's inside the efs folder in the root of your phone.
Backing it up eh?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, my phone stopped working and I think it's because the IMEI has got corrupted when I was messing with various custom ROMs - it no longer matches the sticker. I want to figure out a way to fix it - I can't bear the thought that I've just bricked a fine phone that I paid good money for.
Where in the efs folder? There are loads of files and folders in there.
Thanks,
Steve

Wait wait,
You can't text or connect to the network?
Try flashing a official firmware and see if the IMEI matches...
It's not that simple to modify your IMEI n.o, special softwares are required to do this.... It's stored in .nv_data
Don't you have any efs backups?
IMEI getting corrupt is seen many times in s3 and note 2 devices....
And also, modifying your iMEi is illegal, but people out there use a software to do it.... May not be good to discuss this software here...
And one more thing, does your phone shows a generic IMEI number when you dial *#06* ?

eatsleep said:
Wait wait,
You can't text or connect to the network?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for replying, eatsleep. That's right - the whole phone works fine. It will see all the mobile networks in my area, and will register itself on mine (O2-UK). The only thing that doesn't work is voice telephony, SMS, and mobile data.
eatsleep said:
Try flashing a official firmware and see if the IMEI matches...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I've done that. No good, I'm afraid.
eatsleep said:
It's not that simple to modify your IMEI n.o, special softwares are required to do this.... It's stored in .nv_data
Don't you have any efs backups?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here I must admit to being a bloody fool. I didn't know what I was doing and messed about stupidly in CWM, mounting and unmounting, deleting, reformatting, and so on. Basically I was trying to follow several guides at the same time, and made a total mess of it.
And no, I didn't know about backing up the efs before I started.
eatsleep said:
IMEI getting corrupt is seen many times in s3 and note 2 devices....
And also, modifying your iMEi is illegal, but people out there use a software to do it.... May not be good to discuss this software here...
And one more thing, does your phone shows a generic IMEI number when you dial *#06* ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not a generic one. It's really weird, because it's almost but not quite the same:
Sticker inside phone:
xxxxxx05861xxx3
*#06#:
xxxxxx05681xxx1
The ...86... has reversed to ...68... and the final 3 has become 1.
I'm an idiot and furious with myself.
Thanks again for any help you can give, though.
Steve

Wow! I've just seen how much it costs to buy that eight-tentacled device who's name shall not be mentioned.
$135 makes poor sense if it's only going to be used once. Perhaps the best idea is to check my local phone repairers until I find one who has the device?
Steve

Bumpety bump just this once:
Any chance of correcting the IMEI myself?
Thanks,
Steve

Steve Thackery said:
Thanks for replying, eatsleep. That's right - the whole phone works fine. It will see all the mobile networks in my area, and will register itself on mine (O2-UK). The only thing that doesn't work is voice telephony, SMS, and mobile data.
Yeah, I've done that. No good, I'm afraid.
Here I must admit to being a bloody fool. I didn't know what I was doing and messed about stupidly in CWM, mounting and unmounting, deleting, reformatting, and so on. Basically I was trying to follow several guides at the same time, and made a total mess of it.
And no, I didn't know about backing up the efs before I started.
Not a generic one. It's really weird, because it's almost but not quite the same:
Sticker inside phone:
The ...86... has reversed to ...68... and the final 3 has become 1.
I'm an idiot and furious with myself.
Thanks again for any help you can give, though.
Steve
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey babe..... please remove both of your IMEIs from here and never post them again in public. I'll post back in some time.... and your IMEI looks quite fine to me but still, lemme look for some time
And, your phone is not bricked, you've just got a bad IMEI

eatsleep said:
Hey babe..... please remove both of your IMEIs from here and never post them again in public. I'll post back in some time.... and your IMEI looks quite fine to me but still, lemme look for some time
And, your phone is not bricked, you've just got a bad IMEI
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for replying! I've edited my post to remove the IMEI, as requested. Perhaps you could alter the one where you quote my message?
I realise everyone must say this, but I'm genuinely not trying to do anything questionable or immoral. I just want to restore the IMEI so it's the same as the one on the sticker.
Thanks,
Steve

Steve Thackery said:
Thank you for replying! I've edited my post to remove the IMEI, as requested. Perhaps you could alter the one where you quote my message?
I realise everyone must say this, but I'm genuinely not trying to do anything questionable or immoral. I just want to restore the IMEI so it's the same as the one on the sticker.
Thanks,
Steve
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can't find some content for your device but please do one last precaution before following any more tutorials, backup your efs folder and place it in a safe place.......
If you don't find anything, I can provide you with some guides for s3 (my device ) but don't know if they'll work for you....
One advice, reset your phone and send it to any service center.... They may charge you if you are out of warranty.....
here is a random thread i found but I have a bad feeling about the person.... Carry on at your own risk but back up your current efs, it may be recoverable but can move to a unrecoverable state after some repair attempts so, we can have hope....
link:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2141928&page=1

eatsleep said:
Can't find some content for your device but please do one last precaution before following any more tutorials, backup your efs folder and place it in a safe place.......
If you don't find anything, I can provide you with some guides for s3 (my device ) but don't know if they'll work for you....
One advice, reset your phone and send it to any service center.... They may charge you if you are out of warranty.....
here is a random thread i found but I have a bad feeling about the person.... Carry on at your own risk but back up your current efs, it may be recoverable but can move to a unrecoverable state after some repair attempts so, we can have hope....
link:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2141928&page=1
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you again, eatsleep! I really appreciate your continuing help.
I've gone about as deeply into this as I think I can, without trying even more bits of dodgy software from around the web which might make the situation worse. So, I think my next step should be to take it to a reputable service centre on a no-fix-no-fee basis. If they can't fix it either, then I'll regard it as a write-off and - on the grounds that there is nothing to lose - I'll have one last go with anything/everything I can find on the net.
Whatever the outcome I will report back so that others can benefit from my mistakes!
Thanks everyone who tried so hard to help - have a good weekend.
Steve

Steve Thackery said:
Thank you again, eatsleep! I really appreciate your continuing help.
I've gone about as deeply into this as I think I can, without trying even more bits of dodgy software from around the web which might make the situation worse. So, I think my next step should be to take it to a reputable service centre on a no-fix-no-fee basis. If they can't fix it either, then I'll regard it as a write-off and - on the grounds that there is nothing to lose - I'll have one last go with anything/everything I can find on the net.
Whatever the outcome I will report back so that others can benefit from my mistakes!
Thanks everyone who tried so hard to help - have a good weekend.
Steve
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, samsung can definitely help you, but again, be sure to make a backup of current efs to get back if situation gets worse!
And if you fail, then we can try some softwares out there, which might me improper to discuss here, but leave that for only when everything fails....
Wish you all the best

Sooo, my gf and I have same phones. S7 edge. I made back up of mine superstock rom. And made back up of hers rom. We decided to change phones becouse I bought rose gold very cheap and she has gold. So, my back up i transfered to pc, which later got corrupt I dont know why. And her back up tranfered to my phone. Wiped everything. Restored her back up, and by mistake recovered her efs in my phone. Now imei shows 000000. As I said, my back up corrupted, cant open on pc, twrp shows errors of corupted file...how can i recover my imei? Flashing stock clean rom via odin or samsung swich doesnt help...

Wixcee said:
Sooo, my gf and I have same phones. S7 edge. I made back up of mine superstock rom. And made back up of hers rom. We decided to change phones becouse I bought rose gold very cheap and she has gold. So, my back up i transfered to pc, which later got corrupt I dont know why. And her back up tranfered to my phone. Wiped everything. Restored her back up, and by mistake recovered her efs in my phone. Now imei shows 000000. As I said, my back up corrupted, cant open on pc, twrp shows errors of corupted file...how can i recover my imei? Flashing stock clean rom via odin or samsung swich doesnt help...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Time to send it back to Samsung for a new board. That's if they have one. Other then that you can try flashing a compete stock rom but normally that doesn't happen.
You learned a lesson. Never restore a backup from a different device.

Wixcee said:
Sooo, my gf and I have same phones. S7 edge. I made back up of mine superstock rom. And made back up of hers rom. We decided to change phones becouse I bought rose gold very cheap and she has gold. So, my back up i transfered to pc, which later got corrupt I dont know why. And her back up tranfered to my phone. Wiped everything. Restored her back up, and by mistake recovered her efs in my phone. Now imei shows 000000. As I said, my back up corrupted, cant open on pc, twrp shows errors of corupted file...how can i recover my imei? Flashing stock clean rom via odin or samsung swich doesnt help...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Without an IMEI/EFS backup that was created before doing this, you're not gonna find much of a solution for restoring the device.
DO NOT CONTACT ME VIA PM TO RECEIVE HELP, YOU WILL BE IGNORED. KEEP IT IN THE THREADS WHERE EVERYONE CAN SHARE

eatsleep said:
Wait wait,
You can't text or connect to the network?
Try flashing a official firmware and see if the IMEI matches...
It's not that simple to modify your IMEI n.o, special softwares are required to do this.... It's stored in .nv_data
Don't you have any efs backups?
IMEI getting corrupt is seen many times in s3 and note 2 devices....
And also, modifying your iMEi is illegal, but people out there use a software to do it.... May not be good to discuss this software here...
And one more thing, does your phone shows a generic IMEI number when you dial *#06* ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi
I am using SM-N9500 samsung note 8 model, i frequently change the roms.. but last time i tried to install a custom rom and then i lost IMEI. i am getting error like IMEI-unknown, baseband- unknown, no network and sim cards not working..
i tried installing stock rom, custom roms, it was installing successfully but IMEI is not working. i didnt even back up my EFS folder. So, kindly help me to get back my IMEI.
please find below link to see all the procedures i followed and failed. kindly help me to restore my IMEI.
https://www.google.com/url?q=https:...246000&usg=AFQjCNF056_y5gTI2xpc9jM_I0ZlfkgpkA

Network Problems after flashing Lineage OS

Hey everyone! I had flashed Lineage 14.1 on my Samsung J210F(https://forum.xda-developers.com/an...ageos-14-1-t3680656/post74433279#post74433279)
And everything was working perfectly until I wanted a file from the stock ROM. I flashed the stock ROM and after my work was done, I flashed Lineage again. Now in the middle of this flashing I lost my network. I tried changing the APN settings and even tried putting it on GSM Only but it's of no use. The network comes and goes abruptly. I even tried going back to the stock ROM but now it's the same over there too. My radio band and everything is as it is. I just can't figure out what's wrong. I have tried reflashing multiple times. There is no problem with the physical hardware or the sim as I have tried it with a different phone too. I haven't touched my efs file either.
Any suggestions would be appreciated!

Somebody please help. I just cant find any solution to this. I've been through each and every forum possible but I still cant find anything. IMEI and everything is normal. I did try to flash the stock rom and the stock rom receives network but as soon as I switch to custom rom, the network goes away. Please help

Bump

DoHave a look at your IMEI status with *#0011#
If it's NG you may have inadvertently corrupted your EFS partition. I dealt with that myself recently. If that's the case, if you've got a backup of the EFS, try to restore it. If not, backup your EFS to your PC or another secure external location, in case of worse emergency later. Then empty your EFS folder except for the FactoryApp and prov_data folders and their contents, then flash a clean firmware with Odin.
This can backfire. Read-up and Backup before proceeding.
I have no further expertise to offer. I just blundered out of messing up my EFS during flashing.

Crike said:
Have a look at your IMEI status with *#0011#
If it's NG you may have inadvertently corrupted your EFS partition. I dealt with that myself recently. If that's the case, if you've got a backup of the EFS, try to restore it. If not, backup your EFS to your PC or another secure external location, in case of worse emergency later. Then empty your EFS folder except for the FactoryApp and prov_data folders and their contents, and reboot.
This can backfire. Read-up and Backup before proceeding.
I have no further expertise to offer. I just blundered out of messing up my EFS during flashing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes I have backed it up before but this case isn't about that. I have the proper IMEI number. I'm just not getting signal and it's becoming really frustrating now.
I even tried going back to the stock ROM but I'm not getting any signal there either. Please see the picture attached

darshan1504 said:
Yes I have backed it up before but this case isn't about that. I have the proper IMEI number.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I seemed to have the proper IMEI, too, but it's status was NG anyway. Check *#0011# if you haven't yet, to verify.

Crike said:
I seemed to have the proper IMEI, too, but it's status was NG anyway. Check *#0011# if you haven't yet, to verify.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
*#0011# doesn't work for me but *#06# does and this is what it shows

If you can figure out how to get into servicemode on your device (which is what *#0011# does on my device) then you can check the IMEI status, or if you're confident you can restore the EFS partition try the method I described above.
Beyond that, I'm a virtual noob. My only counsel is to be patient and cautious. Someone with actual expertise may advise you yet in the sub-forum for your device or a thread discussing a similar problem.

Crike said:
If you can figure out how to get into servicemode on your device (which is what *#0011# does on my device) then you can check the IMEI status, or if you're confident you can restore the EFS partition try the method I described above.
Beyond that, I'm a virtual noob. My only counsel is to be patient and cautious. Someone with actual expertise may advise you yet in the sub-forum for your device or a thread discussing a similar problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The code for me for service mode is *#*#197328640#*#* but I can never get to open it. It just looks blank

There may be other ways to verify the IMEI Status, but that is beyond what I know. Someone more expert may have advice.

Crike said:
If you can figure out how to get into servicemode on your device (which is what *#0011# does on my device) then you can check the IMEI status, or if you're confident you can restore the EFS partition try the method I described above.
Beyond that, I'm a virtual noob. My only counsel is to be patient and cautious. Someone with actual expertise may advise you yet in the sub-forum for your device or a thread discussing a similar problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Also, I can find FactoryApp but I can't find prov_data folder. This is what my folder looks like. Can you send a picture of yours

If your backup is of your recent, working setup, it might be interesting to compare it to your current EFS. I have no suggestions as to how to inspect the contents of a backup.

Crike said:
There may be other ways to verify the IMEI Status, but that is beyond what I know. Someone more expert may have advice.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm quite sure there's nothing wrong with the IMEI number. I have confirmed it multiple times. I just feel so helpless. I don't even get to know if someone's calling me. I just hope I can fix this ASAP

Crike said:
If your backup is of your recent, working setup, it might be interesting to compare it to your current EFS. I have no suggestions as to how to inspect the contents of a backup.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is not a backup. This is the actual EFS folder. Anyways thanks for the help. I'll keep bumping till someone else sees it

Also I would like to add that the network sometimes bounces on and off after a reboot so..

My IMEI seemed correct as well. The problem was with something in the EFS partition which resulted in IMEI status NG, and I only discovered this was the issue after seeing the actual IMEI status assessment by the servicemode. I repeat: the IMEI numbers shown by *#06# didn't indicate anything was wrong.
Should you proceed along the path I suggested, make sure to flash a fresh firmware from Odin directly after. It seems to be required to restore the EFS after the procedure mentioned before.
Google "FactoryApp" and "prov_data" before proceeding.
Beyond that, good luck.

Crike said:
My IMEI seemed correct as well. The problem was with something in the EFS partition which resulted in IMEI status NG, and I only discovered this was the issue after seeing the actual IMEI status assessment by the servicemode. I repeat: the IMEI numbers shown by *#06# didn't indicate anything was wrong.
Should you proceed along the path I suggested, make sure to flash a fresh firmware from Odin directly after. It seems to be required to restore the EFS after the procedure mentioned before.
Google "FactoryApp" and "prov_data" before proceeding.
Beyond that, good luck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Btw I did try that code when I had flashed back the stock ROM and it showed IMEI Certificate PASS. I'm sure there's nothing really wrong here because as I said the network sometimes bumps on and off after reboot

I have a question what is the baseband number on the phone? My ROM hasn't been updated for sometime now and I have got official updates for the stock ROM. Does the new update for the stock ROM come with new baseband? Will flashing the update for the stock ROM update the baseband too? Or is that in the kernel? I've read that updating the baseband usually fixes network problems. Please help me fix mine

I just extracted the new update for the stock ROM but I couldn't find any modem.bin file in there. There's just usual system, recovery,etc. If I don't have the modem.bin file how can I flash the radio/baseband? Should I just flash the firmware via Odin through AP or CP option?

Bump