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[SOLVED] Lost IMEI, backup does not help

Hello,
I'm kind of frustrated now, because I cannot get my IMEI back, though I have EFS backups, and do not get any errors.
I was using CM7 before. Everything was fine, except the KJ6 modem, which worked bad where I live, and that drained the battery. So I decided to go back to a BML ROM until it's possible to flash modems in CM7.
I used a 1-Click to get back to stock with CWM. It went fine. Then tried to flash Erik's MIUI. And for some reason it started bootlooping (this did not happen before).
I finally un-bricked the phone using Odin. But I found out I lost my IMEI. Have no idea how this happened. The EFS folder was there, all files too, but no IMEI, no baseband, no calls.
I had a backup of /dev/block/stl3. So I deleted the /efs contents and flashed the backup with Heimdall: "heimdall flash --efs efs.img" I got no errors, and the EFS folder was populated with files. But it did not help - still no IMEI.
I decided to go back to CM7 then. I installed CM7 before, and it worked fine. So I did everything as before, restored EFS, flashed the update. And got no IMEI in CM7 too.
I did it again, restored EFS, flashed update, even fixed permissions, but nothing helped. I got no errors when flashing, and still no IMEI afterwards.
I'm kind of tired of trying now. Would appreciate any help. Thank you.

Reflash your efs backup shutdown and pull battery. Hold the power button for a few seconds to drain leftover power and let the device sit for 10-15 min without the battery or power. This should reset your hardware.
Sent from my SGH-T959V using XDA App

Bassmanjames said:
Reflash your efs backup shutdown and pull battery. Hold the power button for a few seconds to drain leftover power and let the device sit for 10-15 min without the battery or power. This should reset your hardware.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Amazing! It worked! I've got IMEI back in CM7 now. Thank you so much!
Would it work now in a BML ROM too now? Or would it require doing the same steps? It's kind of scary to check, I don't want to loose the IMEI again

What you did is reset the hardware programming (in the micro chips) the same way a computer would if you forgot your bios password or something. Should work the same on bml.
Sent from my SGH-T959V using XDA App

Bassmanjames said:
What you did is reset the hardware programming (in the micro chips) the same way a computer would if you forgot your bios password or something. Should work the same on bml.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for your help, much appreciated.

this didnt work for me

What did you mean no imei? was there nothing there at all, or was there like a dxd with weird symbols?

mierkat09 said:
What did you mean no imei? was there nothing there at all, or was there like a dxd with weird symbols?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My phone's IMEI was "Unknown". See the screenshot below, it was made in CM7.

o ok thanks, mine was different and i just wanted to make sure
Sent from my SGH-T959V using XDA

Please use the Q&A Forum for questions &
Read the Forum Rules Ref Posting
Thanks ✟
Moving to Q&A

Bassmanjames said:
What you did is reset the hardware programming (in the micro chips) the same way a computer would if you forgot your bios password or something. Should work the same on bml.
Sent from my SGH-T959V using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you so much Bassmanjames. Seriously, thank you. Helped me tons.

[SOLVED]How to manually push efs backup

Ok so I got a little flash happy today and during the course of it I messed up my IMEI to all symbols. I went and reflashed everything about 10 times and tried to restore my efs backup from my card.
I guess that my efs backup became messed up because none of the times has it fixed my IMEI like it has in the past. I have another efs backup on the sd card and I remember reading somewhere that I can manually push the files.
I just cannot figure out what to push to restore the IMEI back to normal. I have pushed the EFS backup tar and got data back but with my IMEI still all symbols.
Can anyone tell me what files to push? I would greatly appreciate it

Have you flashed the efs_restore zip? I think there is a method posted in FB's unlocker thread.

Yes I have tried flashing the efs_restore zip so many times. I have no idea what happened on why it is not working. I have tried every MTD rom to date and I have always used the restore without an issue.... until today, when everything just stopped working. I do not get any errors during the restore zip and it appears it works until I boot my phone and check my IMEI

Maybe you just need to go back to kj6 via heimdall.

If you have a backup if your efs (the efs folder itself) you can just copy to the root directory and overwrite the corrupted one then reboot. It's the easiest way to fix it if you have a copy if the folder
Sent from my SGH-T959V using XDA

You didn't try going back to stock yet? Tisk tisk. Do that. Check that your signal/IMEI works on a stock rom, then flash AOKP from that, then flash CM9 or MIUIv4 after that. AOKP has the updater.sh fix that allows you to flash directly from BML so do that first.

Lol I was going to but I was at work when it happened. Thats what i did when i got home. I knew I could go back to stock but I knew I had read a way to do it without going back so I really was more curious that I could not figure it out. Going back was really painless and fixed the issue.
I was more looking for the info posted above on how to do so manually. Thanks for the info... now I know for the future ha. I will give out thanks and add solved to thread title when I get to a computer. Thanks everyone
Sent from my SGH-T959V using xda app-developers app

jigglynuts said:
Lol I was going to but I was at work when it happened. Thats what i did when i got home. I knew I could go back to stock but I knew I had read a way to do it without going back so I really was more curious that I could not figure it out. Going back was really painless and fixed the issue.
I was more looking for the info posted above on how to do so manually. Thanks for the info... now I know for the future ha. I will give out thanks and add solved to thread title when I get to a computer. Thanks everyone
Hi I had the same issue before and what I did was manually push the efs folder from my sd and then powered off my device. Then I took the battery out and held the power bottom with battery out for 10 sec to drain remaining charge on the motherboard. Then popped the battery back in powered it up and walaaa my imei came back try it won't hurt :thumbup:
Sent from my SGH-T959V using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Imei lost? Try this

Ok I notice that a lot of people are losing there IMEI flashing the great MTD Roms well I have had that problem & also by me losing my IMEI I had the volume bug where when I call someone or they call me I couldnt hear them but had to press the volume button. Hopefully this will keep the threads clean of this problem. To check for your IMEI on your dial pad press *#06# if all 0's come up you have lost your IMEI.
What is Efs?
thomas.raines said:
Efs is the files system that holds the unique identifiers for your device. Without it, your phone is basically useless. You won't be able to connect to any network properly do things like phone calls, internet, texting, are all degraded, if they even work at all... Make sure you know what you are doing before messing with it. Fb created a vet good guide on the wiki. Follow it to a T!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok now in order to restore your IMEI you will if have go back to stock KJ6.
You will have to use this http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=21953878&postcount=2 this is lumin30's Guide on how to use the KJ6 Heimdall One-Click 1.3.1 by bhundven it works after I used it my IMEI was restored and I didnt have that volume bug anymore. Also you will if you dont know how to put your phone into download mode this is a way how remove battery, hold volume up and down, plug usb cord into phone (make sure its in the computer first), and insert battery u will see a yellow triangle with an android.
Now once you restored your IMEI backup your EFS to your sdcard and computer because you might need it again I lost my EFS twice I was so glad that I had a backup. I hope this help.
credits
thanks to bhundven for Heimdall One-Click ---> http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1358498
thanks to lumin30 Heimdall One-Click for Dummies
thanks to Thomas.Raines for explaining to us what the EFS is

Hi i also have that volume button problem. Did u found any workaround.
Sent from my SGH-T959V using Tapatalk

xxmaleficxx said:
Hi i also have that volume button problem. Did u found any workaround.
Sent from my SGH-T959V using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah follow what i just posted above.

xxmaleficxx said:
Hi i also have that volume button problem. Did u found any workaround.
Sent from my SGH-T959V using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You've got to be kidding!
Carl

Not sure how I pulled this off but it may be an option for some with this problem ( lost IMEI ). I flashed from Antonx's modded stock ROM and had all 0's for my IMEI. Well being that I work at a place with no usable PC, I thought maybe I could pull my efs from a nand. Well since I am very green at this stuff I didn't really know where to look. Common sense said to look for a cwm folder,but no luck. Anyway saw this file sdcard/backup I opened it and behold efs so I copied and pasted to the efs file and rebooted. Bingo! My IMEI is back to normal. Like I said not sure how the backup got there but it worked. Hopefully a dev will see this and shed some light on it, but for now it might help someone without access to hiemdal.
Oh yeah I used root explorer.

Shortbus-Driver said:
You've got to be kidding!
Carl
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LOL!:laugh:

Where did you copy the file too? Mine is gone.
Sent from my SGH-T959V using xda app-developers app

scoop_dtx said:
Where did you copy the file too? Mine is gone.
Sent from my SGH-T959V using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just copy the files from the backup efs folder to your empty efs folder which should be on the first page that pops up when you open rootexplorer.

I didn't see this till I had fb tell me what to do, I did a one click then did cm7 then aokp and all worked. Must let cm7 build and wipe the systems before flash.
It had been a long time since I heard Linda speak.
All works now.
Sent from my SGH-T959V using xda premium

No signal: Replaced Sim Twice (correct forum)

Current modem i'm on.
CWM-UXKG3-Modem.zip
Current build i'm on,
SHG-i997
4.1.1
i997UCLB3
Paranoid Android 1.992
pa_infuse4g-userdebug 4.1.1 KR003L
eng.scott 20120825.131058 test-keys
I have a rogers sim card, and I cannot connect to any of them. I've had rogers swap out the cards, re initialize the account, etc.
I put in a BELL card, and presto chango it works instantly...
But I put in the rogers, that works on a sony xperia X1... and the phone (galaxy infuse4g) can't handle it... just can't find networks for sh...
Help please, Work phone... need it up and running asap
- rmleloup

Maybe apn settings?
Sent from my SGH-I997 using xda app-developers app

csandman1977 said:
Maybe apn settings?
Sent from my SGH-I997 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That would make sense, except i've put it in, and now it's empty... Dunno how, I want a complete factory reset, as it won't take with this new sim card in the way... might have to call rogers and switch back to the previous replacemennt... fffff....
What are the default apn's that are reliable for rogers? So I can have em ready to manually enter them for the 10th time... no joke..
- rmleloup

I think the apn settings are in the infuse super everything thread. Check the android development stickies. For some reason when I try to look at that thread xda force closes.
And did you try going back to stock to see if the sim card would work?
Sent from my SGH-I997 using xda app-developers app

After you entered APN, did you hit menu select save and then reboot?

csandman1977 said:
I think the apn settings are in the infuse super everything thread. Check the android development stickies. For some reason when I try to look at that thread xda force closes.
And did you try going back to stock to see if the sim card would work?
Sent from my SGH-I997 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have tried going to stock, just literally... trying apok variant now, nice install features. But anyhoo, testing literal now... Will look for those apn's and re enter...oi
Update: atnt apn only...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1791526
Needing Rogers... I don't want to "roam" on my own network
adfurgerson said:
After you entered APN, did you hit menu select save and then reboot?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hit save, but not reboot. They didn't stay...

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=24694720&postcount=7 APN for Rogers
Also did you lose your imei when you went to JB?

other than apn maybe not working for rogers, jb does a big conversion of the file system and occasionally phones lose the imei or baseband in th process. check them in settings>about phone. if they are null or corrupt you may need to flash a modem or restore the /efs partition. check the paranoid or cm10 q/a threads for details.

adfurgerson said:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=24694720&postcount=7 APN for Rogers
Also did you lose your imei when you went to JB?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It looks like I have... Suggestions?
Dani897 said:
other than apn maybe not working for rogers, jb does a big conversion of the file system and occasionally phones lose the imei or baseband in th process. check them in settings>about phone. if they are null or corrupt you may need to flash a modem or restore the /efs partition. check the paranoid or cm10 q/a threads for details.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What is a fool proof method, I can boot to cwm, I have tried flashing modems. But how could I restore the efs? And from what? As i'm unsure how to do this, I am new to repair... I would really appreciate walkthroughs, etc. even hold my hand...?
Rewards = Pick a game server, give me specs, and my pc can host.
50mbps down, 3mbps up, i7 @ 3.5ghz, 12gb ddr3, win7 ulti 64bit. I'm willing to fair trade help for fun.
- rmleloup
Read into paranoids reference to imei... I didn't backup... missed that...serious noob mistake... please help... I can read my sticker imei... how do I "install" it....
*** Edit ***
I found this,
http://mobilecon.info/restore-imei.html
---
Could someone translate this to english, ie lamen terminology that makes sense? I don't mind re wiping the device so I can make a efs backup etc, and re image the device. Hell if this takes me 3-4hrs i'm ok... I just want to get this done properly...

rmleloup said:
It looks like I have... Suggestions?
What is a fool proof method, I can boot to cwm, I have tried flashing modems. But how could I restore the efs? And from what? As i'm unsure how to do this, I am new to repair... I would really appreciate walkthroughs, etc. even hold my hand...?
Rewards = Pick a game server, give me specs, and my pc can host.
50mbps down, 3mbps up, i7 @ 3.5ghz, 12gb ddr3, win7 ulti 64bit. I'm willing to fair trade help for fun.
- rmleloup
Read into paranoids reference to imei... I didn't backup... missed that...serious noob mistake... please help... I can read my sticker imei... how do I "install" it....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it gets backed up during the install. (also the original is still intact it's just not mountable) look in the sdcard and see if there is a folder called backup with a subfolder efs. if so move the contents of /sdcard/backup/efs into /efs
if the backup itself is corrupt you can flash to stock with the pit file and repartition in odin or heimdall. i think there is a full rogers dump on here but you can use an att dump, only thing is you will lose the rogers boot screen forever if you use an att dump, unless someone finds the rogers param.lfs or makes a custom one. then flash a cwm kernel on it and make your own backup, i'd explain that but i forgot the block device and mount point for that. but i think qkster has a package for that so no worries, it should be in the cm10 thread. then upgrade to ics and then jellybean again. (ics first for cwm 6 untill a gb samsung kernel is developed with cwm 6.0, or the mtd conversion might not work) if you're lucky the efs restore will work this time, if not you will have to restore from your backup or the default backup.
if i would give better detail but i'm not exactly sure of it all right now because im already on cm10 so i can't see the orriginal rfs /efs folder and i'm not sure how qksters scripts save the /efs. but if you struggle with it pm me and ill give you my gmail/google talk and help work through it.

You could backup with infuse toolkit which makes a file you use in Odin to restore. There is a link to toolkit in cm10 op. This thread tells how to restore that file.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1858842&highlight=restore+efs

Dani897 said:
it gets backed up during the install. (also the original is still intact it's just not mountable) look in the sdcard and see if there is a folder called backup with a subfolder efs. if so move the contents of /sdcard/backup/efs into /efs
if the backup itself is corrupt you can flash to stock with the pit file and repartition in odin or heimdall. i think there is a full rogers dump on here but you can use an att dump, only thing is you will lose the rogers boot screen forever if you use an att dump, unless someone finds the rogers param.lfs or makes a custom one. then flash a cwm kernel on it and make your own backup, i'd explain that but i forgot the block device and mount point for that. but i think qkster has a package for that so no worries, it should be in the cm10 thread. then upgrade to ics and then jellybean again. (ics first for cwm 6 untill a gb samsung kernel is developed with cwm 6.0, or the mtd conversion might not work) if you're lucky the efs restore will work this time, if not you will have to restore from your backup or the default backup.
if i would give better detail but i'm not exactly sure of it all right now because im already on cm10 so i can't see the orriginal rfs /efs folder and i'm not sure how qksters scripts save the /efs. but if you struggle with it pm me and ill give you my gmail/google talk and help work through it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll pm you my google talk user. Just have to install it
Ty so much.
I've also installed es file explorer, which has a remote ftp feature. So i'm going to be trying to access that. (Root enabled, browse everything). Hoping I can access it effectively also...
- rmleloup

So, after multitude of re bricking... yes... heimdall, odin, rom manager, etc... going through red, green, blue, rainbow, and off blue cwm's, etc... I'm finally on dark knight 4.0.4, with a functional miui... It's alive, it works, now installing mass apps, oc'd, and awesome... Test calls function clean, bt is perfect (for phone purposes).
And top it off, celebrating with dean martin... and league of legends shortly.. and a keith's beer.
Thank you all, this forum is AMAZING.
- rmleloup
That's amore!

unknown imei,basband, and everything else.

aight so ive searched and searched for all kinda different methods. and done all of them. is it possible to have a permanent brick?
heres the story. i had been running cm10 for prolly 4 or 5 months. no problems. i wanted to check out liquid smooth rom. so i flashed it. no problems. had been running it for a month or so then one day at work when i went on break my network was gone. my apn's were deleted. came home inspected some more and my imei was unknown as well as baseband and many others were unknown. i took it back to stock many times using. gtg method. using heimdel. using odin. with different stock files. from different websites. including xda. i have tried just about everything to re do the phone. including going back to cm10. and other known working roms. ive *#*#4636#*#* and manually switched to gsm which wont change when i click it it still says unknown.
i dont belive it is a rom problem. i have been overclocked 1300mhz. what else is out there can i try. \
\
any help will be very appreciated

Have you by chance odined back to stock then reupgraded to JB? If not I can get you the necessary steps to do so...let me know
Sent from my SGH-I997 using xda premium

FauxAffliction said:
Have you by chance odined back to stock then reupgraded to JB? If not I can get you the necessary steps to do so...let me know
Sent from my SGH-I997 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yea i went to stock and back to cm10. still nothing. buttt now im unable to do any kinda flashes. im on rooted 2.3.6 threw odin. and no matter what i flash it will say somthing on the lines of failed to find file signature or what ever that code is. i tried changing the cwm in different ways still wont get off the what is it 2.5.2 cwm blue. ive basicly gave up. it seems its to far bricked or whatever the case may be

im sorry i need to correct that. i have not been able to flash to any other roms. i didnt go to stock and then cm10, due the the signature deal on cwm. i was thinking of another time i had problems. so no i have no been able to go to jb after the imei has went unknown

Did you flash a custom kernel to get cwm after going back to stock?

andros11 said:
Did you flash a custom kernel to get cwm after going back to stock?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
im in able to flash anything.....

really? no one can help me?

Are you trying to flash through Odin? Or through CWM?
Sent from my SGH-I997 using xda premium

psal217050 said:
Are you trying to flash through Odin? Or through CWM?
Sent from my SGH-I997 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
dont know how to flash a cwm threw odin. i tried loading a cwm threw rom manager and manually

kritz84 said:
dont know how to flash a cwm threw odin. i tried loading a cwm threw rom manager and manually
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
but im pretty sure the problem isnt with cwm im more interested in why and how to the imei isnt known and how to fix this problem if theres a cure

Download a heimdall one-click or odin back to stock pack. Open either one up and put your phone in download mode:
- turn off and have the usb cable connected to the pc.
- remove and reinsert battery
- hold both volume buttons and connect usb. Phone should now boot into download mode.
Run program and you will be good. Then look for entropy's dd kernel and flash it in download mode to get cwm.

andros11 said:
Download a heimdall one-click or odin back to stock pack. Open either one up and put your phone in download mode:
- turn off and have the usb cable connected to the pc.
- remove and reinsert battery
- hold both volume buttons and connect usb. Phone should now boot into download mode.
Run program and you will be good. Then look for entropy's dd kernel and flash it in download mode to get cwm.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i guess u didnt read my first post. ive already done that. ive done many things....
but anyway weirdest thing just happend. i have been using my phone via wifi. so its been on a while without a sim card inside of it.
\
i noticed i had signal bars. i looked at the imei and its was a number. it was a different iemi then what its supposed to be but there was a imei. baseband was still unknown but anyway i shut the phone done and inserted my sim card. btw its a straight talk sim. and restarted it now im back to unknown imei......

ok so im back on cm10. before i was on cm10 its was giving me the imei which wasnt my original imei. i guess cuz i flashed a efs.tar. but anyway i was able to make a phone call. now im flashed on cm10. and no imei no baseband nothin. i tried flashing the efs again with odin and still nothing. when i do the *#*#4636#*#* it still wont let me switch to gsm. and i cant add a apn.

kritz84 said:
ok so im back on cm10. before i was on cm10 its was giving me the imei which wasnt my original imei. i guess cuz i flashed a efs.tar. but anyway i was able to make a phone call. now im flashed on cm10. and no imei no baseband nothin. i tried flashing the efs again with odin and still nothing. when i do the *#*#4636#*#* it still wont let me switch to gsm. and i cant add a apn.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
odin or heimdall back to stock.
follow andros11's guide on how to flash jb
he spent the time to write the guide; spend the same amount to time to read the guide

Seems IMEI was kidnapped about a month after Liquid
Ironically, I seem to have EXACTLY the same issue that this original poster has. I have been flashing my Infuse for a little over a year now and I Flashed Liquid, I'd say about 3 weeks ago, maybe end of November. Everything has been smooth sailing. About a 2 days ago I started noticing that my network would just drop - for no reason. But at first it came back. Ok, no problem, probably just a glitch. However yesterday morning it happened again and then I was without the use of data for most of the day until around 6pm. It came back but the bars were grey but I was able to make a phone call. Once I made another call it did not go through, I tried to hangup and it just hung there. there was nothing I could do to get it to hang up. Rebooting the phone resulted in no bars at all. Nothing, nada, ziltch. So last night I reflash it a couple times and notice that there was an update to Liquid (2.1 beta). cool. I wipe, flash 2.1b and it is beautiful. EXCEPT for the fact that I have no network. wifi works fine, but no carrier whatsoever. GRRRR. I decided to back every thing up (have done so several times in the past), stock back down to 2.3.6. Barebones and all it all looked great until I hung up the phone... Same thing. So I went all Rambo on the phone, wiped it down to the very last compound. AT&T wouldn't know the wiser if they took it from me. Master Reset, wiped files, data, I think I took an IC out with all of the wiping I did... Result? No IMEI, circle with the slash. Upset, disappointed and dejected I slumped back to XDA (after I went on Craigslist feeling my phone was broke) to see if I missed anything. That was where I found some links about missing IMEI. To make a long story short, I DO have an old copy of EFS thanks to QKSTER, but I have no idea how to restore. I swear I have been on this since 6:30am and just now am I finding these threads. Must have gone through about 50 others... Sigh. BTW, along the way of my flashing experience today, my network came back temporarily, but I have not relied on it because I knew it would leave me. Just don't know how to use Heimdall to restore. To make a long story short, using Windows, could someone please help me with how to restore my EFS to see if this would solve my dilemma?
808

Dnice808 said:
To make a long story short, I DO have an old copy of EFS thanks to QKSTER, but I have no idea how to restore. I swear I have been on this since 6:30am and just now am I finding these threads. Must have gone through about 50 others... Sigh. BTW, along the way of my flashing experience today, my network came back temporarily, but I have not relied on it because I knew it would leave me. Just don't know how to use Heimdall to restore. To make a long story short, using Windows, could someone please help me with how to restore my EFS to see if this would solve my dilemma?
808
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What is the format of your EFS folder?
*.zip
*.tar
just a folder?
If you have lost the signal while on JB, see if you can factory reset the phone.
/settings/privacy -reset
Then put it into download mode.
Use the heimdall 1 click uclb3 and flash it once, then without closing heimdall, check the bootloader box and flash it again.
After this, check your imei and band. If it works, no further back up is needed.
If you're still missing the imei, you can flash one of the gb kernel in the second post to get cwm.
Then use the root pack in post #2,
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1629079 to install root and su.
install a root tool like root explorer (remember to toggle the r/o r/w) or adb and copy the /efs into the phone's root efs folder,
reboot
check the baseband.
you can also check this thread
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1895500

qkster said:
What is the format of your EFS folder?
*.zip
*.tar
just a folder?
So it is in the .tar format that your script backed it up in. Finding another link on the we (which he also linked back to XDA, http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1264021 I was able to take my backup (that I used with your script) and follow his steps -mostly- (my/your backup had a 'root' folder that had the nv_data.bin file in the afs/settings folder while the instructions did not mention that. I followed the backup location settings (which in turn was also the same as the default that I had backed up)) and replace the EFS folder. It still did not restore it in any flash image just like that. Still had the the circle w/slash. However while I was still searching and typing out that loooong last passage I wrote, my phone network came back for a little while. I know this because I began receiving a bunch of texts. I was able to make a phone call. But it still happened again when I made another, it did not go through and when I hung up, it just stayed there looking at me with its grey, blank look. Even killing the phone app did not work. I rebooted back to the same drama.
If you have lost the signal while on JB, see if you can factory reset the phone.
/settings/privacy -reset
I actually was on 2.3.6 using your posts, first the basic rooted flash having to then using the Entropy kernel and then I did the lazy flash that was already rooted and just having to add the vold file to /system/etc/blah/blah. I do want to add that I DID have wifi active at this time and it may not be associated, but the first poster did mention he felt it may have had something to do with it. With wifi on, after awhile of me NOT looking at the phohe (actually doing so made me want to HULK SMASH), the network came on and my texts came in. I was able to look in settings and see ATT, and my IMEI. I was almost finished with my passage to you so I decided to update to Liquid 2.1 beta, but moving up to JB, then to LiquidSmooth. Of course doing so I got the circle w/slash, but wifi started restoring my apps.
Earlier I mentioned that I did a whole rubba dub dub, meaning I did do the /settings/privacy -reset thingy, wiping the phones carcass. I will do it again (at this point nothing to lose), following everything you ask to a 'T'.
808
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Click to collapse

qkster said:
What is the format of your EFS folder?
*.zip
*.tar
just a folder?
If you have lost the signal while on JB, see if you can factory reset the phone.
/settings/privacy -reset
Then put it into download mode.
Done.
Use the heimdall 1 click uclb3 and flash it once, then without closing heimdall, check the bootloader box and flash it again.
Done
After this, check your imei and band. If it works, no further back up is needed.
Sigh, did not do a darn thing. Circle w/slash.
If you're still missing the imei, you can flash one of the gb kernel in the second post to get cwm.
Done.
Then use the root pack in post #2,
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1629079 to install root and su.
install a root tool like root explorer (remember to toggle the r/o r/w) or adb and copy the /efs into the phone's root efs folder,
reboot
check the baseband.
Went in Root Explorer, did the toggle, deleted the contents of efs then copied the contents of my backup into there. Rebooted. Nada.
you can also check this thread
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1895500
I then was going to try the other link using Odin, but I cannot get Odin to see my phone. I read some thread talking about if I use Heimdall I will have problems using Odin because they use the same ports? How frustrating. The weird part is now that I have the flashed, rooted 2.3.6 image and using wifi, at some point tonight my network may come back on. Or it may not.
808
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Click to collapse
Bugged out, huh?!!???

Dnice808 said:
Bugged out, huh?!!???
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Click to collapse
I wasn't sure if there was a question there.
From my experience, flashing to JB (MTD partition) from GB without going through ICS may result in lost of imei.
Sometimes, it just happens. I had very limited experience with JB.
The few methods that I've tried worked for me. Just simply flashing back to stock with a re-partition ( (Heimdall -1-click for me) usually brings back the /efs and imei without doing anything extra.
If you haven't, and if you can, I would try the heimdall-1-click a few times.
If you want to use Odin, you may need to reinstall samsung drivers and use a different usb port on the PC than the one you used for heimdall.
You may also want to check the signal of the phone at your location. you may be getting poor signal and it has nothing to do with the phone's OS

qkster said:
I wasn't sure if there was a question there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Me stating that it is bugged out, was me just confirming that it is Weird!
qkster said:
From my experience, flashing to JB (MTD partition) from GB without going through ICS may result in lost of imei.
Sometimes, it just happens. I had very limited experience with JB.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok just to explain myself better. I have been saying that I was going from GB to JB when in fact I meant to say that I was going from GB to ICS. Sorry for that. Also, the reason my responses have looked wacky is that I was trying to select the multi quote button and getting no response. Hopefully this response is a little more organized.
qkster said:
The few methods that I've tried worked for me. Just simply flashing back to stock with a re-partition ( (Heimdall -1-click for me) usually brings back the /efs and imei without doing anything extra.
If you haven't, and if you can, I would try the heimdall-1-click a few times.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
See that is what confuses me too. I have flashed back and forth several times at this point, and sometimes the /efs and imei do come back, but now they have never stayed. It is the only reason why I have tried to pretty much rule out a hardware issue. Even when I flash and there is no imei, there is the same /efs folder. And when I wipe the whole thing sparkling clean, even the newly formed /efs folder has the correct imei but it is just not being recognized on the phone.
qkster said:
If you want to use Odin, you may need to reinstall samsung drivers and use a different usb port on the PC than the one you used for heimdall.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Of course what I did was accidentally leave my phone home preventing me from testing it out with Odin on another machine. Its all good though.
qkster said:
You may also want to check the signal of the phone at your location. you may be getting poor signal and it has nothing to do with the phone's OS
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have an AT&T prepaid phone and the sim from the Infuse works in it flawlessly...
808