Accidently deleted my IMEI and I need to restore it - Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hi forum,
First of all EFS backup is really REALLY important, do it.
Here is my problem, i wanted to update mahdi rom and wiped cache and data to flash a clean rom. While doing it also formatted system, firmware etc. carelessly.
I have no IMEI right now. I have a backup(not EFS) I did it but it didn't bring my IMEI with it. How can I restore it? or can I restore it? I have been reading topics for hours but I haven't found any solutions yet.
Thanks.

fastboot flash the stock cache.img or restore a Nandroid of the cache.img
Bad format of cache is most common cause of this, not efs on this device
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

Flash stock
Try to flash the stock rom and see if can solve the problem, however the EFS backup is very important and often you can't restore it without a full nandroid backup..

rootSU was right. It worked which means thunder_bolt96's suggestion also works. Thanks a lot.

Related

Restore TWRP Backup?

Hi, just have a quick question that's been bugging me for a while now. If I have made a full backup using TWRP and I want to restore it, should I:
Fully wipe system and caches and then restore; or just restore right over my current ROM?
****, good question
Sent from my HTC One X using xda app-developers app
Restore takes care of wiping for you.
Piggybacking off the OP, sometimes when I try to restore my TWRP backup it fails, and then the only way I've found to get it working again is to do a boot loader factory reset, and then essentially start from scratch or load an older working backup. No problem, just a minor annoyance. Is there something I'm doing wrong or any advice someone can give me?
Sent from my HTC One X using xda app-developers app
Hydromea said:
Hi, just have a quick question that's been bugging me for a while now. If I have made a full backup using TWRP and I want to restore it, should I:
Fully wipe system and caches and then restore; or just restore right over my current ROM?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I always wipe everything before a restore, just in case
Better safe than sorry
Restoring a back up !
When restoring a back up from any recovery wipe everything just as if you were installing a new rom. Factory reset, cache, dalvik cache, system just to be safe. Factory reset wipes data and all cache but not system and if you do a factory reset and then try to wipe I think dalvik again you get an error but no harm done it just will not do it again. I usually do them all and then do the superwipe zip and that willl give you a good piece of mind that it is properly wiped. Also, I have noticed that using the external sd card seems to work best for installing roms or backing up and restoring back ups or anything else like mods or themes. Here is the superwipe zip in case anyone needs it.
Hydromea said:
Hi, just have a quick question that's been bugging me for a while now. If I have made a full backup using TWRP and I want to restore it, should I:
Fully wipe system and caches and then restore; or just restore right over my current ROM?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've done both, but I like not having reinstall all my apps, and reset all my ringtone, and that goes with a full wipe. so when ever i can i flash over. Just make sure your slashing the same rom over the old one.
You shouldn't worry about losing ANYTHING on a backup when you do a factory reset, because the backup houses all of the data and settings anyway.
All you do is Factory Reset, Nandroid>Restore, and your old backup will flash everything the way it was when you did a backup in the first place. Factory Reset is always wise, especially when you're fiddling with different ROM's based on different kernels or systems (AOSP/Sense).
XNine said:
You shouldn't worry about losing ANYTHING on a backup when you do a factory reset, because the backup houses all of the data and settings anyway.
All you do is Factory Reset, Nandroid>Restore, and your old backup will flash everything the way it was when you did a backup in the first place. Factory Reset is always wise, especially when you're fiddling with different ROM's based on different kernels or systems (AOSP/Sense).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ahh, this is true I recant my statement. I was mistakenly thinking about flashing a new ROM over an older version, not a buck-up. I feel stupid.
when restoring a nandroid if you've got the new HBoot I think you have to restore boot.img separately via fastboot. Is that right?
gunnyman said:
when restoring a nandroid if you've got the new HBoot I think you have to restore boot.img separately via fastboot. Is that right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope. I just flashed a bunch of roms yesterday and did restores with no issue. I think if your using the stock rooted 2.2 you are correct, but any other rom a restore works fine.
Not Restoring = Bad Idea
Hydromea said:
Hi, just have a quick question that's been bugging me for a while now. If I have made a full backup using TWRP and I want to restore it, should I:
Fully wipe system and caches and then restore; or just restore right over my current ROM?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have made the mistake of not wiping everything (excluding sd card) when changing ROMs or when restoring from a backup. This may be a little different because it was when I was switching to a new ROM on my brother's phone, but I tried to take the lazy way out and not restore everything. I really didn't feel like redownloading everything. I soon learned that this was a mistake, and his "phone" app suddenly disappeared. He was also unable to send or receive texts. This soon made the process even longer than I wished it to be because I needed to go back and restore everything again and get it back to normal.
Error While Restoring using twrp
I took a back up of everything using TWRP and then when i tried to restored its giving me error while restoring system E:Unable to extract tar archive . Please help
Are you trying to restore a backup from a different version of TWRP? For example, currently running 2.7.0.8 but backup was originally made using 2.3.3.1?
Sent from my Evita
error on backup restore twrp
hi i have a nexus 4 running 6.0.1 reserection remix, however when i do a backup on twrp then transfer
it to my pc its fine, but when i restore it it not going as a zip and its giving me this error, could not find meta-inf/com/google/android/update-binary' in the zip file. error installing zip file/sdcard/twrp/backups/01c237769c62991c.zip please help, thanks
Become a member of the w
WOW! After a good 3/4 days of frustration, thinking I had ruined my device, I finally got my TWRP backup to restore.
It's my first time using this software and the restoration process is truly amazing. I mean, my test messages were still there, even my browser history and last page loaded up in chrome were still there. I'm blown away.
The strange thing is that It didn't work when all 3 partitions were selected. When I tried it this way (as per the many step by step instructions that I read) my phone would load up a black screen with just the notification bar visible. I'd see my voicemail, sms, wifi and battery icons at the top, but absolutely nothing else except for a myriad of pop ups that read 'Unfortunately [app name] has stopped working'.
So I bit the bullet and did some trial and error with the partitions.
Turns out that when I only selected 2 of the 3 (I believe they were 'Boot', 'Data' and deselected 'System') everything loaded up just as it was before the backup, except there were only the stock apps available and no google services at all. .....Very odd.
So I did the boot to recovery method before turning the phone off (vol. up - Home - Power) which restarted the phone and strangely brought back EVERYTHING as mentioned at the start of this post.
You can probably understand my confusion here and while I'm VERY happy that it all worked out, I don't understand why it worked with only 2 of the partitions but not with the recommended 3 of them?
Can anyone shed any light on this?
---------- Post added at 01:16 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:02 PM ----------
debmikeshan said:
hi i have a nexus 4 running 6.0.1 reserection remix, however when i do a backup on twrp then transfer
it to my pc its fine, but when i restore it it not going as a zip and its giving me this error, could not find meta-inf/com/google/android/update-binary' in the zip file. error installing zip file/sdcard/twrp/backups/01c237769c62991c.zip please help, thanks
Become a member of the w
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmmm. I'm definitely no pro at this stuff, in fact i'm very new when it comes to using TWRP, but this is what happened with me.
First of all, the backup that I did was simply a folder of files, not zip.
Transferred that do my PC, wiped my phone with TWRP and replaced the backup folder back into the TWRP/Backup folder. However, after reading up on how to restore on about 10 different android sites/forums, only 1 post shared the most vital piece of information.
You folder has to be in the 'serial' number folder that's located in the 'Backup' folder for TWRP.
When I put my backup folder just into the TWRP/Backup folder, the Restore section would only see the folder itself but the partitions were not available/listed for selection.
Once I placed my Backup folder into the TWRP/Backup/e1oog75 (that alphanumeric name is just a random example made for visual clarity) folder, my partitions were visible and available for selection right away.
Hopefully this helps somewhat.

[Q] General Nandroid question about restoring a backup and custom kernels

Hi
I have a couple of questions, been digging around xda and the web and found some conflicting answers...
1) Does a Nandroid backup also back up the kernel? I'm thinking about dabbling with some custom kernels, but don't want to potentially mess things up as well as have an easy way back to the stock kernel if I don't like the custom one for one reason or another.
2) What would happen if I made a Nandroid backup from recovery, did a full wipe (/data, /system, /sdcard, caches), rebooted then restored from the Nandroid backup?
I'm still pretty new to all this but I've done some reading and a wee bit of flashing & rooting on Nexus devices and the HP Touchpad. I also have an old TF101 that I'd really like to tinker with as well.
Thanks!
cardula said:
Hi
I have a couple of questions, been digging around xda and the web and found some conflicting answers...
1) Does a Nandroid backup also back up the kernel? I'm thinking about dabbling with some custom kernels, but don't want to potentially mess things up as well as have an easy way back to the stock kernel if I don't like the custom one for one reason or another.
2) What would happen if I made a Nandroid backup from recovery, did a full wipe (/data, /system, /sdcard, caches), rebooted then restored from the Nandroid backup?
I'm still pretty new to all this but I've done some reading and a wee bit of flashing & rooting on Nexus devices and the HP Touchpad. I also have an old TF101 that I'd really like to tinker with as well.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know much about kernel but I do know that Nandroid backup backups everything exactly where the phone is.
That means if you do factory reset and restore Nandroid backup it will restore everything from the day you made the Nandroid backup.
I hope it clarifies everything.
Let me answer your questions.
1. When you do a nandroid backup, it backs up everything. Including the kernel.
2. If you nandroid backup, factory reset your device then restore your nandroid backup. Your device will return to the same state you had it previously. You will have all your content, files and settings. However if you do a backup, then factory reset and reboot, your device will be wiped of everything but it will boot up. As if the device was just turned in upon purchase. Also note, if you do a backup, then wipe your device (factory reset) you will not lose your backup.
Just note, if you ever flash a ROM, even if the developer states there is no issues. MAKE A BACKUP, sometimes things go wrong.
Happy flashing
If I helped, don't hesitate to hit that Thanks button
Thanks for the quick replies!
I was a bit confused about 2) because I read somewhere that if you make a nandroid backup of a stock ROM, then install a custom ROM (non-Stock based ie CM, PA or OmniROM) you must flash the stock ROM again before you can restore the nandroid backup, or else restoring the nandroid backup will not work. Is this true?
Consider the following example, say I:
-flash TWRP on my device and root
-make nandroid of stock, rooted ROM
-wipe /data, /system, /sdcard and caches and reboot back into recovery
-ADB push a non-stock custom ROM .zip file and flash the custom ROM
-decide I want to return to stock, rooted ROM after a while
-Boot into TWRP, then wipe /data, /system, /sdcard and caches and reboot back into recovery
-ADB push my original stock, rooted nandroid backup to /sdcard while in reocvery
-restore nandroid backup
What would be the outcome of the above example? I'm very curious...but I'd like some advice before attempting something like this myself as I'm still kinda new to all this
BTW I'm now comfortable flashing back to stock using fastboot and the google facotry image to restore a Nexus device so I now know how to do this in case things go south. I'm just curious if this would work on a device where returning to a full stock state isn't so easy.
No you don't need to install anything to get back to the previous state. So if you had a stock rooted ROM, then backed it up. But you decided to flash, let's say. Cyanogenmod but you wished to return back to stock, you don't need to flash stock ROM, all you have to do is just wipe data and restore your backup.
And for the example.
The outcome would be, you would be resulted with a stock, rooted rom.
If I helped, don't hesitate to hit that Thanks button
Thanks again, krishneelg3 for the quick reply. Been wondering about this for a while.
Cheers
No worries, if you have any other questions to ask, just ask. xda is a giving community !
If I helped, don't hesitate to hit that Thanks button

[Completed] Restore OS After Wiping System Partition - Galaxy S5

Due to problems with Google Services on my rooted Galaxy S5 (SM-G900F) I opted for a reset from TWRP and it returned to a condition where after some initial screens it was just stuck at "Checking for Updates" so I went back into TWRP and told it to wipe the other partitions. Whoops - now I have no OS (I was sort of assuming that the factory reset OS was somewhere else)
Which is the stock ROM for my Region - UK, unbranded - where do I get it from and how do I load it using Odin and/or TWRP?
TIA
Hello,
Did you make a nandroid backup of your stock ROM or a nandroid backup of a custom ROM if you installed one? If you have a nandroid backup of either of those then you can restore them in TWRP by choosing the restore option and then your nandroid then swipe the slider at the bottom of the screen. If you installed a custom ROM at any time before this and you still have the ROM file then you can reflash the ROM and Gapps.
If you don't have a custom ROM stored anywhere but can still get to recovery, then you can download any of the custom ROMs compatible with your device and a Gapps package that matches it and put them on your extsdcard then boot to recovery and flash the ROM and gapps, do the normal wipes in recovery after flashing, the normal wipes(wipe data/factory reset, wipe cache and wipe dalvik cache), DO NOT CHOOSE THE ADVANCED OPTIONS THAT LET YOU WIPE PARTITIONS.
Check this thread to see if it is your stock firmware, it SHOULD be but double check first, it also has instructions for rooting again and installing recovery.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s5/development/stock-rom-root-recovery-sm-g900f-t2967725
If that doesn't work then go to Sammobile.com and search for your stock firmware by using your device model number.
The firmwares can sometimes be found at samsung-updates.com also.
Find the right firmware for your exact model number and flash through Odin.
For further assistance, post your question in the forum linked below.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s5/help
Good luck.
Droidriven said:
Did you make a nandroid backup of your stock ROM or a nandroid backup of a custom ROM if you installed one?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sadly not - wasn't expecting to need it, thought it would revert to factory default - I have Titanium backup of apps and data.
I am hopefully a few minutes away from downloading the stock ROM and hopefully can reflash that using ODIN.
KD
colehill said:
Sadly not - wasn't expecting to need it, thought it would revert to factory default - I have Titanium backup of apps and data.
I am hopefully a few minutes away from downloading the stock ROM and hopefully can reflash that using ODIN.
KD
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Making nandroid backups in recovery is the most important and valuable function of custom recovery, flashing ROMs is its' secondary purpose Android is not like PC with a recovery partition that restores a factory IMG, on PC that factory IMG is stored in a recovery partition. The factory reset feature in stock android does not restore an IMG, it deletes all data from the user partition and leaves everything in system partition the way it is, if you delete a system app and then do a factory reset then you will still not have the system app that you deleted. Anything you modify in system remains the way you modified it if you use the factory reset option. You should only use the factory reset in recovery, not the factory reset in system settings when you have a rooted device with custom recovery.
I'm sure that when you found the recovery, the directions had to have mentioned making a nandroid backup of your stock ROM before flashing anything, your present situation is why you do that, so that if anything goes wrong then you can easily restore to the one ROM that you know for sure works with no issues.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk
Droidriven said:
I'm sure that when you found the recovery, the directions had to have mentioned making a nandroid backup of your stock ROM before flashing anything, your present situation is why you do that, so that if anything goes wrong then you can easily restore to the one ROM that you know for sure works with no issues.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I installed the TWERP recovery as part of the rooting operation and I didn't pay any attention to the backup option - I thought that's what Titanium did.
I am learning and will make sure that I take a Nandroid backup once I have it back up and running. Life would be so much simpler if only Samsunng didn't stuff their 'phones with bloatware that can't be deleted in stock mode.
KD
colehill said:
I installed the TWERP recovery as part of the rooting operation and I didn't pay any attention to the backup option - I thought that's what Titanium did.
I am learning and will make sure that I take a Nandroid backup once I have it back up and running. Life would be so much simpler if only Samsunng didn't stuff their 'phones with bloatware that can't be deleted in stock mode.
KD
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Titanium backup can only backup data that you installed or downloaded, it does not backup anything that comes on the phone itself, that is what custom recovery is for.
When following guides to mod your device, read and understand ALL instructions before you even make the first move to touch your device. Get used to being thorough about reading and understanding first or you'll end up in a mess, possibly even hard brick your device, all it takes is one wrong move. Not all mistakes are fixable with android devices.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk

Reverting back to stock recovery

Hi,
I flashed Twrp but I can't backup, because it can't mount data.
I thought, I'd try to revert back to stock recovery and then flash twrp again.
Does anybody know how to do that without flashing an entire stock Rom?
Thanks
nearlygod said:
Hi,
I flashed Twrp but I can't backup, because it can't mount data.
I thought, I'd try to revert back to stock recovery and then flash twrp again.
Does anybody know how to do that without flashing an entire stock Rom?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi
Why you just flash TWRP again and start from begining?
Anyhow if you wish to reflash your stock recovery You need to reflash a stock boot.img
Here you have 2 ways to do it:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=66934553&postcount=218
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=66922116&postcount=215
In those threads the point was to re root but the principle is valid you can use them as guides
nearlygod said:
Hi,
I flashed Twrp but I can't backup, because it can't mount data.
I thought, I'd try to revert back to stock recovery and then flash twrp again.
Does anybody know how to do that without flashing an entire stock Rom?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had this problem and found out in my case, at least, it was because when I rooted, I didn't "format data" during the process. I've been told that if you don't format data during the process, you leave the data partition encrypted, and thus it can't be mounted (at least by non-system apps and processes). No guarantees here as always, but If you back everything up and redo the root process and do the data format, then you may be able to mount data. At that point you can restore your apps and info. I've also read (but haven't tried this!) that you can do a nandroid backup and restore ALL your data from that nandroid after you reset your phone (which the data format will do). You should google everything I have suggested and see if you can get what you need in this way, without having to reflash the ROM entirely or try to revert to stock recovery.
kettir said:
I had this problem and found out in my case, at least, it was because when I rooted, I didn't "format data" during the process. I've been told that if you don't format data during the process, you leave the data partition encrypted, and thus it can't be mounted (at least by non-system apps and processes). No guarantees here as always, but If you back everything up and redo the root process and do the data format, then you may be able to mount data. At that point you can restore your apps and info. I've also read (but haven't tried this!) that you can do a nandroid backup and restore ALL your data from that nandroid after you reset your phone (which the data format will do). You should google everything I have suggested and see if you can get what you need in this way, without having to reflash the ROM entirely or try to revert to stock recovery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1
Hi. Yes, I had to format everything. Now it works. Also the issues I had with Titanium Backup are gone. I flashed the ExtSdFix and I'm almost running like on Kitkat, yeah

Settings reset issue on every restart??

So I decided to flash some ROMS on my Alcatel 5045D but I wasn't completely happy with them so I decided to go back to the stock ROM.
Before flashing anything, I made a full backup of all the partitions via TWRP to be able to restore it.
So here is the problem: After restoring it, it works, but every time I restart the phone, all my settings and app permissions reset.
What I've already tried:
- Restore the backup again
- Wipe Caches
- Wipe Data, System and Caches and then restore the backup again
Is there any solution for this without flashing a downloaded stock ROM?
pepesasa said:
So I decided to flash some ROMS on my Alcatel 5045D but I wasn't completely happy with them so I decided to go back to the stock ROM.
Before flashing anything, I made a full backup of all the partitions via TWRP to be able to restore it.
So here is the problem: After restoring it, it works, but every time I restart the phone, all my settings and app permissions reset.
What I've already tried:
- Restore the backup again
- Wipe Caches
- Wipe Data, System and Caches and then restore the backup again
Is there any solution for this without flashing a downloaded stock ROM?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe, but it might turn into a wild goose chase, it is simpler and easier to just flash the stock firmware file via your device's compatible flashtool and be done with the issue.
If you are worried about losing data, you can backup your data by other means than TWRP, then flash the stock firmware, then restore your data then reflash TWRP.
Sent from my SM-S767VL using Tapatalk

Categories

Resources