Database Info

[Q] IMEI of 0 after TWRP restore

I shattered the screen on my Nexus 5 so I ordered a replacement from Google and before switching to the new one, I made a nandroid backup using TWRP.
I put my SIM in the new Nexus, transferred my nandroid backup, and restored it to my new phone.
Now, I cannot connect to AT&T due to my IMEI showing as 0.
I think I have narrowed down the problem to restoring the EFS partition on the new phone when I wasn't supposed to? So far, I have tried restoring the phone to stock (from this guide). I even tried manually changing the IMEI to the correct number (but it doesn't stick, just reverts to 0).
Is there something else that needs to be wiped in the stock restore process that's not covered in that guide? What am I missing? Any help is greatly appreciated.

Sounds like you're gonna need another replacement
sent from my HAMMERHEAD neXus

You're hosed. You can't transfers the imei to another phone

CRIME INC. said:
Sounds like you're gonna need another replacement
sent from my HAMMERHEAD neXus
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ouch....
Is there anything I should have done differently? Just not flash the EFS partition? I normally setup from scratch but I loved how I had my other setup and just wanted to retain that configuration.

jd1639 said:
You're hosed. You can't transfers the imei to another phone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wasn't intending on transferring the IMEI. I just want to get the phone's IMEI corrected so it works.

qwen3579 said:
I wasn't intending on transferring the IMEI. I just want to get the phone's IMEI corrected so it works.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
By restoring the efs partition you did try. It's contained in there. That's where things went wrong and there isn't anything you can do about it

jd1639 said:
By restoring the efs partition you did try. It's contained in there. That's where things went wrong and there isn't anything you can do about it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great.... SO there is no way to reset the EFS partition, I'm guessing?

Just goes to show if you don't know what you're doing you should stay well clear!
You're going to have to buy a new one as there's no way Google are going to RMA it
---------- Post added at 01:54 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:54 PM ----------
qwen3579 said:
Great.... SO there is no way to reset the EFS partition, I'm guessing?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not unless you backed up the new one first, no

EddyOS said:
Just goes to show if you don't know what you're doing you should stay well clear!
You're going to have to buy a new one as there's no way Google are going to RMA it
---------- Post added at 01:54 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:54 PM ----------
Not unless you backed up the new one first, no
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's what I thought. I usually back up everything before doing anything. I just got in a rush....

EddyOS said:
Just goes to show if you don't know what you're doing you should stay well clear!
You're going to have to buy a new one as there's no way Google are going to RMA it
---------- Post added at 01:54 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:54 PM ----------
Not unless you backed up the new one first, no
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Speed kills
---------- Post added at 08:02 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:01 AM ----------
qwen3579 said:
That's what I thought. I usually back up everything before doing anything. I just got in a rush....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Speed kills

Thanks for the help guys. Luckily, I still have my old with the cracked screen. I'm just going to have to take the screen off the new one and put it on my old one..which is what I was trying to avoid.
Beats having to buy another one due to my screw up.

jd1639 said:
Speed kills
---------- Post added at 08:02 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:01 AM ----------
Speed kills
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LOL...says the guy with a Porsche!

qwen3579 said:
That's what I thought. I usually back up everything before doing anything. I just got in a rush....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's a harsh lesson

Alright, so I swapped the motherboards of the phones, booted up my new phone, restored from nandroid (avoiding the EFS this time, just in case) and I'm back up - crack free.
Thanks for the info guys, lesson learned.
"What do we do when we fall"?

qwen3579 said:
Alright, so I swapped the motherboards of the phones, booted up my new phone, restored from nandroid (avoiding the EFS this time, just in case) and I'm back up - crack free.
Thanks for the info guys, lesson learned.
"What do we do when we fall"?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad you got something working

Yea. All guides need to make sure to post a warning and a link to the EFS backup thread. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2514095
First thing I did was make a backup of mine and store it away in a safe place as well as on the phone. I've flashed two friend's N5's with CM as well, and I did the same with their EFS just in case something happens.
One other route you could try is restoring the phone to factory default, relock the bootloader so the mod trip isn't set, and send it back saying it wont connect to cell network, and take your chances RMAing it. However the display swap may be easier. Either way once you swap your display back, do a EFS backup with that link and save the files it makes in a safe place.

qwen3579 said:
I shattered the screen on my Nexus 5 so I ordered a replacement from Google and before switching to the new one, I made a nandroid backup using TWRP.
I put my SIM in the new Nexus, transferred my nandroid backup, and restored it to my new phone.
Now, I cannot connect to AT&T due to my IMEI showing as 0.
I think I have narrowed down the problem to restoring the EFS partition on the new phone when I wasn't supposed to? So far, I have tried restoring the phone to stock (from this guide). I even tried manually changing the IMEI to the correct number (but it doesn't stick, just reverts to 0).
Is there something else that needs to be wiped in the stock restore process that's not covered in that guide? What am I missing? Any help is greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Somewhere in xda there is a guide to create an imei,i don't have the link to the thread, I'll see if i can find it for you or you may Google it
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

Juansegovia20 said:
Somewhere in xda there is a guide to create an imei,i don't have the link to the thread, I'll see if i can find it for you or you may Google it
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I found a guide CATing the IMEI to /dev/pttycmd1 - that didn't work. Most are hesitant with sharing info on changing IMEIs, which is understandable. It's just frustrating knowing what the problem is and not being able to fix it.

i don't get any mobile connection

Hi guys,
my old N5 felt on the ground and breaked.
So i did a backup using TWRP and restored it to my new Nexus.
Unfortunately my new one can't get any mobile connection.
The IMEI seems to be missing :crying: (see screenshots)
Please advice.
Thanks in advance!!!

Looks like you restored a backup that included efs. EFS is unique to every handset and cannot be recovered without a backup. In short, you just ruined your phone
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

i know that there is a workaround for this issue for samsung phones when no efs-backup is availabel.
does anything like that exist for the nexus 5?

leAndroid91 said:
i know that there is a workaround for this issue for samsung phones when no efs-backup is availabel.
does anything like that exist for the nexus 5?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you can try flashing the factory img

simms22 said:
you can try flashing the factory img
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
so it's the same for nexus and samsung?
- flash stock
- wipe data/factory reset
- wipe cache
- reboot
- delete efs folder
- flash stock rom

There isn't an "efs folders" and you shouldn't delete anything. Just flash stock
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
---------- Post added at 08:43 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:41 PM ----------
leAndroid91 said:
i know that there is a workaround for this issue for samsung phones when no efs-backup is availabel.
does anything like that exist for the nexus 5?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually that workaround depends on what actually happened to efs in the first place. It does not fix all efs issue, believe me
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2511512&page=715
Go to post #7148.
If all else fails, looks like you MAY get lucky if you Fastboot flash each image in a ROM zip manually.

pwrmedia said:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2511512&page=715
Go to post #7148.
If all else fails, looks like you MAY get lucky if you Fastboot flash each image in a ROM zip manually.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
flashing each image in fastboot didn't work
isn't there a way to restore the IMEI manually?
i guess it has to be stored somewhere on the device and i've it on the sticker.

leAndroid91 said:
flashing each image in fastboot didn't work
isn't there a way to restore the IMEI manually?
i guess it has to be stored somewhere on the device and i've it on the sticker.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As it's illegal in many countries to tamper with the imei, it cannot be discussed here. Send it to an lg service centre for repair
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

Help With Nandroid To New Device

So I cracked my N5 and got a new one today. Did a Nadroid via CWM on the old phone and was looking to transfer to the new and then restore. I see that it's located in /mnt/etc/etc/ but I can't tell if I'm transferring it correctly or not.
I'm doing adb push (file) to /mnt/etc/ but since it's almost a 2gb file, I can't tell if it's working or if it's crashed out.
Is what I'm doing correct? I'm hoping once the transfer is done, I can just restore in RomManager.
Thanks guys!

Minker17 said:
So I cracked my N5 and got a new one today. Did a Nadroid via CWM on the old phone and was looking to transfer to the new and then restore. I see that it's located in /mnt/etc/etc/ but I can't tell if I'm transferring it correctly or not.
I'm doing adb push (file) to /mnt/etc/ but since it's almost a 2gb file, I can't tell if it's working or if it's crashed out.
Is what I'm doing correct? I'm hoping once the transfer is done, I can just restore in RomManager.
Thanks guys!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First of all do not use Rom Manager as it is a buggy, unstable and crappy app. Uninstall it immediately and never use it again Flash CWM or Philz Touch CWM to make or restore a backup. Just place the nandroid you made via usb in the /clockworkmod/backup/ file and see if you can restore it in recovery.
- Edit- as @rootSU said don`t restore EFS or it will mess up you`re phone. Can you restore apps with Tit. Backup or Helium or adb?

Do NOT restore efs
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

rootSU said:
Do NOT restore efs
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
S**t you`re right, made a booboo here

do i need to backup/restore cache?

Minker17 said:
do i need to backup/restore cache?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wouldn`t restore the backup cause the EFS files of your former and current phone are different. You will mess up your phone severely. Its best to restore your apps by other means.

So what's the best way to "clone" my broken device to the new one?

If you're using philz, you wont be backing up efs by default so restoring nandroid is fine. Can't talk for TWRP though
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

Minker17 said:
So what's the best way to "clone" my broken device to the new one?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unless you we`re able to isolate and delete your old EFS files from the backup and replace them with your current one i wouldn`t do it. Don`t know if thats possible and i wouldn`t know how to do that myself anyway. I`d just restore the apps and its data and set it up as you want to. Maybe someone else can give you better advice but thats what i can tell you.

Backed up and restored and everything appears to be going great! Thanks guys!
Is there a main thread for Philz so I can familiarize myself?

Minker17 said:
Backed up and restored and everything appears to be going great! Thanks guys!
Is there a main thread for Philz so I can familiarize myself?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://forum.xda-developers.com/goo...ouch-custom-gui-gesture-t2565174/post51634791, next time use the search function please Top right corner.

gee2012 said:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/goo...ouch-custom-gui-gesture-t2565174/post51634791, next time use the search function please Top right corner.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for that.
I didn't know about Philz Touch.
I am glad I can finally get the right date and time on my backups plus it adds the ROM name and version +1. :good:

dechronic said:
Thanks for that.
I didn't know about Philz Touch.
I am glad I can finally get the right date and time on my backups plus it adds the ROM name and version +1. :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oooh that reminds me I needed to update recommended time settings. Done
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

rootSU said:
Oooh that reminds me I needed to update recommended time settings. Done
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In the Time settings, I set the Time Zone for my region and Time Zone offset to +0 min and used the Qualcom Time Daemon to get the current date and time.
That is what worked for me.
There is another recommended way?

dechronic said:
In the Time settings, I set the Time Zone for my region and Time Zone offset to +0 min and used the Qualcom Time Daemon to get the current date and time.
That is what worked for me.
There is another recommended way?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, that is recommended way but my thread had an older,outdated way
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[Q] Can I Flash another OnePlus' TWRP backup?

Hey guys. I just got my second OnePlus after mine fell and got a new one.
I was wondering if I can flash my other oneplus' TWRP backup on this so i dont have to configure all over again.
Thank you!

badjoras said:
Hey guys. I just got my second OnePlus after mine fell and got a new one.
I was wondering if I can flash my other oneplus' TWRP backup on this so i dont have to configure all over again.
Thank you!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would say no. I just remember some people doing this would and it replaced IMEI information from previous phone and could potentially screw up your new phone. What is so important that you need to restore for TWRP anyways. A fresh flash on a new phone is the best route to take my friend
We make too much of simply taken the time to restore and reset things on a new flash.

playya said:
I would say no. I just remember some people doing this would and it replaced IMEI information from previous phone and could potentially screw up your new phone. What is so important that you need to restore for TWRP anyways. A fresh flash on a new phone is the best route to take my friend
We make too much of simply taken the time to restore and reset things on a new flash.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
HMMMMMMMM... The OPO only backs up: boot, data, system and cache. It does not backup EFS nor would i check it on the restore menu,
I guess i will give it a go, and see how it goes. already got it backed up

badjoras said:
HMMMMMMMM... The OPO only backs up: boot, data, system and cache. It does not backup EFS nor would i check it on the restore menu,
I guess i will give it a go, and see how it goes. already got it backed up
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its your OPO I just don't see why you would risk it but go ahead if it don't work can only be mad at yourself. Lol
Still don't see the big deal in flashing ROM and using TB to restore apps from nandroid
Sent from my A0001 using Tapatalk

playya said:
Its your OPO I just don't see why you would risk it but go ahead if it don't work can only be mad at yourself. Lol
Still don't see the big deal in flashing ROM and using TB to restore apps from nandroid
Sent from my A0001 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Done it, it's all good, as expected.
Like I mentioned to you, that whole EFS problem does not exist if it does not back it up from another phone and restore it onto a new one.
Props and thanks

badjoras said:
Done it, it's all good, as expected.
Like I mentioned to you, that whole EFS problem does not exist if it does not back it up from another phone and restore it onto a new one.
Props and thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
cool and yeah I know that but I just dont see the reason to take the risk at all. I see so many take shortcuts and then we have a million how do I fix this that and the third threads. Glad it worked for you

I was going to say yes even if I never tried it as nand only backs up system, boot and data which should be no problem to copy and paste to a same model phone...you tried it first by yourself so good move
Sent from my Oneplus One

Shouldn't be a problem part of restoring to stock on some other phones is flashing a twrp backup and stock recovery. It shouldn't be a problem atall

As long as your not restoring EFS your fine. I have done this many times on many different phones.

[Q] Lost IMEI when tried to restore TWRP backup from other phone

Hello everyone,
I wanted to move all the contents of one Nexus 5 to another one, but I'm learning that I might have failed to properly account for the EFS partition and now my phone has an IMEI of "0" and won't register with T-Mobile. I'm not sure how to restore it at this point, as no backup of this phone was ever taken (it was stock).
Can anyone point me in the right direction? I did find someone else who had this problem here:
http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/85807/nexus-5-imei-0-how-to-restore-imei
and that led me to
http://forum.xda-developers.com/goo...t/modem-nexus-5-flashable-modems-efs-t2514095
which had a script for, I think, helping to download or export the EFS information. Problem is that this phone doesn't have any IMEI info any longer! I do have another N5 I can use if needed to extract what I need and then perhaps I can edit the IMEI manually?
Thanks a lot everyone

Sorry to say, but there is no fix short of sending it to LG and they'll charge you
Sent from my Nexus 9 using XDA Free mobile app

I lost my IMEI a while ago when flashing a openmaster build (that's pure aosp). Reflashed stock by factory images/flash-all.sh, got my IMEI back no sweat.
a maguro wrote this.

beekay201 said:
I lost my IMEI a while ago when flashing a openmaster build (that's pure aosp). Reflashed stock by factory images/flash-all.sh, got my IMEI back no sweat.
a maguro wrote this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's a lot different than flashing a nandroid from a different device with the efs partition
Sent from my Nexus 9 using XDA Free mobile app

Not sure if it's possible but you could try... I'm thinking it may be possible to edit the nandroid with the EFS part to the IMEI of the 2nd device. Your device should have the IMEI sticker on the back, so you could try to replace the IMEI in the nandroid to the one on the back of the phone. Hopefully you understand what I'm trying to stay and good luck with it.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using the N5X LRX21V ROM

fastboot format cache
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

Tampering with the imei is illegal

procitysam said:
Not sure if it's possible but you could try... I'm thinking it may be possible to edit the nandroid with the EFS part to the IMEI of the 2nd device. Your device should have the IMEI sticker on the back, so you could try to replace the IMEI in the nandroid to the one on the back of the phone. Hopefully you understand what I'm trying to stay and good luck with it.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using the N5X LRX21V ROM
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is what I was thinking of doing. How would I get the EFS part from the 2nd device? Would I use TWRP to back that part up, then try to restore only that onto the old phone (after replacing the original, proper IMEI from the label)?
Thanks!

dicecuber said:
Tampering with the imei is illegal
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Only if your changing it to another. In this case the OP would be legal to try and restore the correct IMEI to the phone.

I've done a backup on the other phone of just EFS, and have three files:
efs1.emmc.win
efs2.emmc.win
recovery.log
But I can't get anything out of the two .win files. I tried changing their extensions to .zip, .tar, and .tar.gz, but none allow me to open them with 7-Zip. And even if I did, they're each about 3MB in size and I wouldn't know where to look for the IMEI. If anyone has any thoughts I would appreciate them.
Thanks

jd1639 said:
That's a lot different than flashing a nandroid from a different device with the efs partition
Sent from my Nexus 9 using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
still, recovering /efs... forget copying it from another device.. just flash factory images.

beekay201 said:
still, recovering /efs... forget copying it from another device.. just flash factory images.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've tried that twice already. Factory images would be awesome for me if they worked. After I do it, the IMEI is still zero.
It seems that everyone feels I am trying to do something illegal. On the contrary, I'm just trying to get the phone to work with its own IMEI short of sending it back to LG, which I will do if I have to, but I thought this would be a lot easier to do given that I have two Nexus 5s right hear to play with, and the IMEI stickers still on both of the phones. I read that on the Nexus 5 that stuff is stored in EFS, and erasing it was a total noob mistake (even though I've been flashing phone ROMs for years and years now), since I never suspected that IMEI info would be in non-hardware areas of the phone. Live and learn, I guess.

beekay201 said:
I lost my IMEI a while ago when flashing a openmaster build (that's pure aosp). Reflashed stock by factory images/flash-all.sh, got my IMEI back no sweat.
a maguro wrote this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I will do it again. I flashed factory quite a few times with no luck. I then installed TWRP again just in case I find a way to recover or reinstall the EFS partition. So that's the current state of the phone.

sshanky said:
I will do it again. I flashed factory quite a few times with no luck. I then installed TWRP again just in case I find a way to recover or reinstall the EFS partition. So that's the current state of the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You could try this http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=51823398. But from my experience the only way you're going to get the imei back is to send it to LG
Sent from my Nexus 9 using XDA Free mobile app

theesotericone said:
Only if your changing it to another. In this case the OP would be legal to try and restore the correct IMEI to the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Suppose it depends on the law you read and how you interoperate it but most of them generically say something like "tamper" or "modify". Either way though, all discussion of it is banned.

jd1639 said:
You could try this http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=51823398. But from my experience the only way you're going to get the imei back is to send it to LG
Sent from my Nexus 9 using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just checked that out, and it looks interesting. However, someone asked if it rebuilds EFS and the answer was "no".
If anyone has any way to explain something to me in general terms, so that they do not feel they are discussing anything illegal, I would appreciate it a lot. Or a PM, or any roundabout way of discussing it...anything that can help me would be great.
Thanks

Did you ever do a TWRP backup?

Tried LG flash tool but it did not restore the IMEI.

sshanky said:
Tried LG flash tool but it did not restore the IMEI.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As mentioned. Unless you have an efs backup from the second device before restoring. You're screwed. Send it to LG for paid repair. It won't cost much.