Related
What is it? Because I want to download the mokeeOS, but the installation is confusing me, so I wanna know if the efs matters
Sent from my SGH-T959V using XDA
1. Yes efs matters a lot
2. I don't know a whole lot but it holds the network info, imei number, and alot of other really important things
Sent from my SGH-T959V using xda premium
Although there is a way to make sure you have a backup, flash this file in cwm
sourceforge.net/projects/teamacid/files/fb/cwm/cm7-efs-backup.zip/download
And there will be two files in the root of your sd card
Efs-backup.tar and efs-backup.tar.md5 ( I suggest save it to your computer, it saved my ass )
And you can restore this backup at anytime by flashing this
sourceforge.net/projects/teamacid/files/fb/cwm/cm7-efs-restore.zip/download
Good luck
Sent from my SGH-T959V using xda premium
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!
Sent from my SGH-T959V using XDA
I would suggest using a root browser to copy the EFS folder to somewhere safe on your PC and copy a 2nd back-up to your SD card. I lost IMEI going from CM7 to moKeeOS but was able to easliy restore it with a back-up and a root browser.
The flashable EFS back-up/restore from FB should still be used, but with EFS/IMEI I don't think you can be too careful and backing it up manually as previously stated is a good idea.
Yeah, I keep multiple copies of it on my PC. The reason being is that I copy it whenever I do a backup before a flash. So I have a directory with the date with 3 folders: efs, nandroid, and sdcard. I used adb to copy them:
Code:
cd efs
adb pull /efs/
Probably overkill, but better to be safe than sorry, eh?
Ok, but once you lose IMEI and don't have a backup (I received this phone for repair), then what can I do?
serialteg said:
Ok, but once you lose IMEI and don't have a backup (I received this phone for repair), then what can I do?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's pretty much screwed without the OEM Samsung/Tmo software. You would have to send it to Samsung for repair, or you might get lucky and get an engineer to hook you up, but that is unlikely...
thomas.raines said:
It's pretty much screwed without the OEM Samsung/Tmo software. You would have to send it to Samsung for repair, or you might get lucky and get an engineer to hook you up, but that is unlikely...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks for the answer. that OEM software isn't available in the forums or anywhere else for us? because I swear I flashed something OEM'ish without root with heimdall.
also, the imei is on the battery part of the phone, can't i fix it?
i read somewhere that you could use a phone just fine without imei on the about phone.
you can use the phone without imei, but it doesn't function as well as it would with it. Also, i was using titanium backup and it said my device's id was changed, and it showed my actual imei. If i were to restore it, would that fix the imei?
EFS help on the SGH-T959V
Basically, I've had a hell of a time with some EFS drama this weekend, made a total noob mistake, but in a stroke of luck I was able to "recover" so to speak my EFS even after it was supposedly "wiped."
After some thorough research and READING and bit of thought, I realized that the PIT mapping layouts between BML and MTD are indeed different, and that in theory if one remaps to BML (in layman's terms a stock partition map) then the EFS data originally on the phone gets correctly remapped (at least in my case it did).
To reiterate:
1. I did a nandroid backup. Basic ****. I hope to god you at least did this step too.
2. I used the cm7-efs-backup.zip script to backup my EFS. This was my first mistake. In my case, I don't know why I'm still researching, this script failed to make a backup .tar on my sdcard or anywhere else for that matter. It didn't throw any error messages either on the screen in the process. Not trying to attack the authors of that script, I'm just saying it didn't work for me this time.
3. I pushed the TWRP boot.img with Heimdall
4. I used the cm7-efs-restore.zip script which also "succeeded" but did nothing to restore any sort of EFS obviously because there was no backup to begin with.
5. I flashed R11 unofficial cm7 and booted up. Everything was fine but the IMEI was corrupted and I confirmed that the new MTD EFS partition was empty. On T-Mobile I could place no calls and only got sporadic and intermittent data access.
It was at this point I was sure I had ruined my phone.
After some more careful reading I realized that the original EFS was still present on the firmware, however the new MTD layout I flashed (wisely) stores its EFS partition in a different physical location. In theory, I thought if I reverted to BML and a stock ROM then I would recover the original EFS. In my case, this was successful.
1. I accessed the most recent "boot.img" file from my most recent nandroid and pushed that back to the device with Heimdall
2. At this point you have to flip your USB drivers back to USB Composite Device.
3. I then used a Heimdall one click to return to a rooted stock KJ6 "Gremlin Remover"
4. Upon restart, everything was fine (sigh of relief)
At this point, I'm still trying to determine why my EFS cannot be backed up with a few automatic tools. I made a backup of the file structure, but even lyriquidperfection's EFS Pro 1.4.7 can't make a backup of the EFS. It can access the ADB Server, but the backup 'fails'.
I'll check back in after I figure out why.
Hopefully this info will help anyone else who has switched to MTD and has a missing EFS.
nick.tansy said:
At this point, I'm still trying to determine why my EFS cannot be backed up with a few automatic tools. I made a backup of the file structure, but even lyriquidperfection's EFS Pro 1.4.7 can't make a backup of the EFS. It can access the ADB Server, but the backup 'fails'.
I'll check back in after I figure out why.
Hopefully this info will help anyone else who has switched to MTD and has a missing EFS.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had similar issues yesterday. If your trying to install the twrp and then downgrade to the version with wifi dont flash the boot.img with heimdall. Follow the instructions for installing via cwm.
Just install the zip that has twrp in it. But follow the directions for normal cwm installation.
Also when trying to make a backup of your efs, make sure system is mounted. I initially did not have any problem but I was on antonx's kernel and when you flash with that recovery it would mount properly. What is happening is system isnt getting mounted. So its making a null backup.
The most important thing to do is when you are trying to make a backup of your efs is mount system!
Hi have you tried the updated EFS Pro v1.7.13? It can now automatically detect the mount point of the '/efs' folder for back up and restore. Also many many bug fixes and new code to communicate with adb.exe alot more quickly and efficiently.
Head over to the forum and check it out.
I already solved this problem, but this would seem useful other people with the same problem. But what forums are you exactly referring to?
Sent from my SGH-T959V using XDA
mierkat09 said:
I already solved this problem, but this would seem useful other people with the same problem. But what forums are you exactly referring to?
Sent from my SGH-T959V using XDA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This one.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=18524176
This nandroid was the first one I ever made. I made the mistake of transferring this backup to my PC via USB instead of airdroid or some other wireless application. Because of this when I tried to restore it on my phone I got an error. The contact was saved to phone but not synced to google account. There is an important contact that was saved along with that nandroid. I need that contact....pretty much now lol. The nandroid is still on my PC. I have 7zip if that's what I'll need. What part of the nandroid should I be looking in to retrieve contact information? Any help is GREATLY appreciated. If I need any other programs just let me know.
**EDIT- I tried extracting data.img and it says "file is broken." Basically, transferring this nandroid over USB corrupted the file somehow. Is there a way to fix it so I can extract theme .img's and find my missing contact?
**EDIT- http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=714114 This thread explains how to fix corrupt md5 sums. However, it's a little over my head. Can anyone help me through the process please?
I DID IT! In the last few hours I was able to teach myself how to install and run basic ADB Shell commands to fix my corrupted MD5 sum in my stock rooted nandroid backup and was able to obtain my lost contacts. If anyone ever has an issue with a corrupted MD5/nandroid the above link's method is confirmed to work....REALLY saved my ass.
Nice job man I might have to do this on my other phone there's a bug where cwm craps out when generating md5 so the backups are useless.
Hey nice job man! I love to see people that figure out problems on their own. That's how you learn. :thumbup:
Thanks guys. Oh yeah, it was definitely a learning process that won't be forgotten!
Nice job! I had a problem with a nandroid corrupting my MD5 (was an older version of CWM at the time). That thread saved my bacon too!
Hi,
I have a note 3 neo, 7505 and i updated the firmware. It was all working good for a week then i was listening to soundcloud to sleep and the phone restarted, since then the phone doesn't have an imei and says to insert sim card, and of course unknown modem..
Anyway, i created a backup of the efs using twrp, i have tried gazillion ways to restore the backup and gazillion manual ways too. Going to stock recovery... trying to copy manually the nvdata and all but it doesnt resolve. The files are placed there, i can see it in the shell but the thing just wont work!
i don't know how to proceed to this, i don't know if its a hardware fault, had it been that, shouldnt have i gotten the efs corrupted or some issue? could it be that the hardware itself is damaged all of a sudden? i dont think so, i pretty much think its the efs and yet i cant restore it?
should i attach my efs folder if someone can look through hex editor or logs to suggest a possible solution?
Thanks a lot and also i have search through and proceeded with many solutions and after that created a thread. hope someone can help.
P.S. I just noticed the serial number can be seen in phone status, so apparently its reading NVdata? or is it getting it from elsewhere? how to test if its a hardware fault?
penandweb said:
Hi,
I have a note 3 neo, 7505 and i updated the firmware. It was all working good for a week then i was listening to soundcloud to sleep and the phone restarted, since then the phone doesn't have an imei and says to insert sim card, and of course unknown modem..
Anyway, i created a backup of the efs using twrp, i have tried gazillion ways to restore the backup and gazillion manual ways too. Going to stock recovery... trying to copy manually the nvdata and all but it doesnt resolve. The files are placed there, i can see it in the shell but the thing just wont work!
i don't know how to proceed to this, i don't know if its a hardware fault, had it been that, shouldnt have i gotten the efs corrupted or some issue? could it be that the hardware itself is damaged all of a sudden? i dont think so, i pretty much think its the efs and yet i cant restore it?
should i attach my efs folder if someone can look through hex editor or logs to suggest a possible solution?
Thanks a lot and also i have search through and proceeded with many solutions and after that created a thread. hope someone can help.
P.S. I just noticed the serial number can be seen in phone status, so apparently its reading NVdata? or is it getting it from elsewhere? how to test if its a hardware fault?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The point is that TWRP creates faulty EFS backups on many devices which can't be restored properly.
There are different backup solutions (e.g. EFS Pro) confirmed working which may help you prevent future issues. I prefer the manual backup using adb shell or terminal emulator:
dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk0pXX of=/storage/SdCard/efs.img bs=4096
(XX needs to be replaced with the model specific partition number as they use different partition tables)
Restore:
dd if=/storage/SdCard/efs.img of=/dev/block/mmcblk0pXX bs=4096
thanks LS.xd, but i guess i have a pretty solid backup as i did create backup various ways, some were corrupt, but one that i working with has nvdata and every other file along with imei pretty intact....
i can open it up with winrar, and open the nvdata with hexeditor, i was wondering if i could confirm some way that the back up is actually 100% solid?
wondering if the partition's aren't aligned. I don't know for sure if EFS folder in the root directory is the same as being pointed by /mmcblkp03/platform/by-name/EFS ?
i mean they should be the same thing, its just a redirection right?
what should i be doing now? the baseband is unknown and the imei wont just work, waste the phone? or it could be done via some boxes or some other process?
there must be a starting point? isn't there some way i could use a generic imei and just any modem? then i could replace nvdata may be? right now, i'm installing various versions of stock firmware and repeatedly placing old efs data in various ways and i kind of turning hopeless. first i lost a nexus then i bought a g4 last month, gave me a bootloop just a week after, gone dead. then i bought the n3n and now this..... i mean 3 phones in a row..... i really hope this could work..
penandweb said:
there must be a starting point? isn't there some way i could use a generic imei and just any modem? then i could replace nvdata may be? right now, i'm installing various versions of stock firmware and repeatedly placing old efs data in various ways and i kind of turning hopeless. first i lost a nexus then i bought a g4 last month, gave me a bootloop just a week after, gone dead. then i bought the n3n and now this..... i mean 3 phones in a row..... i really hope this could work..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So you got some non TWRP made EFS backup, too? You can list your partitions using shell:
[email protected]:/ # cat /proc/emmc
You can use the dd command once you know the layout. Backups not generated manually may only be restored with the specific app/version and are probably not compatible using other restore methods. For my OnePlus 3 EFS backup can generated fine using TWRP but restoring it screws up the partition. Manually created image works fine. As I don't have a Note 3 Neo I don't know how it behaves for your device.
any idea how would i go on about inspecting the nvdata.bin? i'm in hex editor trying to see something resembling imei but its just so much garbage except a few lines.
i can't be sure whether its corrupt or not...
in efs -> imei -> a file called mps_code.dat i open it up in hex editor, and it has only 3 characters.....
is it possible i could initially use a generic imei and modem and later on populate it with actual somehow or just keep using generic one for now until i find a better solution, using hex editor or something...?
there are some tutorials on qualcom.. none for exynos but it should happen the same way, somewhere in nvdata, you place the imei ... and it would be generic method for most exynos devices...
i wish someone could guide me to that...
also can it be restored via "boxes"?
penandweb said:
any idea how would i go on about inspecting the nvdata.bin? i'm in hex editor trying to see something resembling imei but its just so much garbage except a few lines.
i can't be sure whether its corrupt or not...
in efs -> imei -> a file called mps_code.dat i open it up in hex editor, and it has only 3 characters.....
is it possible i could initially use a generic imei and modem and later on populate it with actual somehow or just keep using generic one for now until i find a better solution, using hex editor or something...?
there are some tutorials on qualcom.. none for exynos but it should happen the same way, somewhere in nvdata, you place the imei ... and it would be generic method for most exynos devices...
i wish someone could guide me to that...
also can it be restored via "boxes"?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
After 3 years I had to retire my HTC One S. I flashed roms and firmwares up to 3-4 times a week without having any issues. One sunny day some update bricked then nvdata. I spent a bunch of hours trying to restore it in different ways, extracted data from stock firmware as well as using dumps from other user's phones, as some users reported this error fixed doing so. Even when the files was identical it just did not work for me. Changing the mainboard was the only possible solution so I decided to get a new device.
All I want to say is try to restore a valid backup in a way confirmed working. If you don't have a usable backup ask in your device's forum for somebody may upload it. Or spend 100 hours messing around with hex editors until you reach then point where you realize its cheaper to switch the device as wasting a year's holidays browsing the internet for some solution.
Hey everyone!
I have a Teclast M30 (MTK6797) tablet.
I updated it to the latest firmware with the flashing tool, and lost my IMEI and SIM card capabilities.
No baseband, IMEIs are null.
Things I tried:
- Restore NVRAM, NVCFG and NVDATA with the flashing tool, after editing the scatter file to make them downloadable.
- Used TONS of tools, like various versions of MauiMETA, ModemMETA, SN Write Tool, R&W tool, and others.
- Use MDDB & APDB files from other/older FW versions.
- Relocking the bootloader, just for kicks.
- Generating MP0B_001 file and placing it into the directory mentioned in a post here.
- Obviously, different SIM cards, to eliminate the possibility.
- Using the technician code in the dialer. The relevant option is not listed in the Communications tab.
Any suggestion is welcomed. I really have no idea what to do at this point, especially considering that the tablet is being used constantly due to the quarantine, and ordered a SIM card to allow family members to communicate via video where there's no WiFi.
Thank you and best health!
munky-head said:
Hey everyone!
I have a Teclast M30 (MTK6797) tablet.
I updated it to the latest firmware with the flashing tool, and lost my IMEI and SIM card capabilities.
No baseband, IMEIs are null.
Things I tried:
- Restore NVRAM, NVCFG and NVDATA with the flashing tool, after editing the scatter file to make them downloadable.
- Used TONS of tools, like various versions of MauiMETA, ModemMETA, SN Write Tool, R&W tool, and others.
- Use MDDB & APDB files from other/older FW versions.
- Relocking the bootloader, just for kicks.
- Generating MP0B_001 file and placing it into the directory mentioned in a post here.
- Obviously, different SIM cards, to eliminate the possibility.
- Using the technician code in the dialer. The relevant option is not listed in the Communications tab.
Any suggestion is welcomed. I really have no idea what to do at this point, especially considering that the tablet is being used constantly due to the quarantine, and ordered a SIM card to allow family members to communicate via video where there's no WiFi.
Thank you and best health!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Flash the stock firmware that you previously had on the device before you updated. It might restore your IMEI.
Other than that, as stated in the XDA forum rules, we can't help you retore your IMEI unless you made an IMEI backup before the issue started. You obviously didn't create an IMEI backup so we can't help you with restoring it.
Sent from my SM-S767VL using Tapatalk
Droidriven said:
Flash the stock firmware that you previously had on the device before you updated. It might restore your IMEI.
Other than that, as stated in the XDA forum rules, we can't help you retore your IMEI unless you made an IMEI backup before the issue started. You obviously didn't create an IMEI backup so we can't help you with restoring it.
Sent from my SM-S767VL using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey, thanks for replying.
The action I took was the update of the official firmware.
No, unfortunately I haven't backed up my IMEI partitions, not that even at this point - I know which partitions are these.
As I said, I have the number printed out on the box the device shipped in, therefore essentially I'm looking for help in restoring this partition.
I made several restores to the official firmware, new and old, but IMEI isn't being restored. Hoping there's an actual solution to this - we need this SIM for WhatsApp communication, keeping in touch with family at very restrictive times.
munky-head said:
Hey, thanks for replying.
The action I took was the update of the official firmware.
No, unfortunately I haven't backed up my IMEI partitions, not that even at this point - I know which partitions are these.
As I said, I have the number printed out on the box the device shipped in, therefore essentially I'm looking for help in restoring this partition.
I made several restores to the official firmware, new and old, but IMEI isn't being restored. Hoping there's an actual solution to this - we need this SIM for WhatsApp communication, keeping in touch with family at very restrictive times.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I understand your situation perfectly....
But...
That doesn't change anything about my reply.
As stated, the XDA rules only allow us to help with restoring from an IMEI backup. The reason for this is because anything that involves using a flashtool or other methods to rewrite your IMEI can be used, by others that might see it, for nefarious purposes, such as using the instructions that we might give as a means to change the IMEI on a stolen device or a blacklisted device in order to activate the device, which is illegal in a lot of places. Therefore, those kinds of discussions are not allowed here, regardless of your reason or your needs. This rule is in place to protect a potential user's privacy and device security.
Sorry, can't help you at all. Keep searching on your own in other places other than XDA.
Sent from my SM-S767VL using Tapatalk
Droidriven said:
I understand your situation perfectly....
But...
That doesn't change anything about my reply.
As stated, the XDA rules only allow us to help with restoring from an IMEI backup. The reason for this is because anything that involves using a flashtool or other methods to rewrite your IMEI can be used, by others that might see it, for nefarious purposes, such as using the instructions that we might give as a means to change the IMEI on a stolen device or a blacklisted device in order to activate the device, which is illegal in a lot of places. Therefore, those kinds of discussions are not allowed here. This rule is in place to protect a potential user's privacy and device security.
Sorry, can't help you at all. Keep searching on your own in other places other than XDA.
Sent from my SM-S767VL using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I understand, obviously it's not the case here, but I wouldn't want to break any rules.
I haven't found a solution in days, before arriving here to ask. So, if someone sees it and has an idea, I would appreciate help, even with PMs.
The main purpose of utilizing a SIM card at all is whatsapp, it's not like we're going out in the near future.
Contacted Teclast's support, which explained that the IMEI partition was wiped, and the tablet has to be shipped back for a reflashing.
This is impossible as we're in quarantine, and we use the tablet daily. So... if there aren't any suggestions - guess we'll stay on WiFi, w/o WhatsApp.
https://androidmtk.com/download-mobileuncle-apk
It's in the GPRS settings.
Use the third (oldest) is best into
But as you said, it's on the box, so it's no biggie.
Set, reboot.
Recently, I corrupted my /EFS partition when I tried to change my MAC address. I don't have any backups of the partition and now my wifi doesn't work. Basically, my last option is to flash someone else's /EFS and hope for the best. Can someone send me their TWRP backup of this partition? It would help a lot. Thank you.
DJsushi123 said:
Recently, I corrupted my /EFS partition when I tried to change my MAC address. I don't have any backups of the partition and now my wifi doesn't work. Basically, my last option is to flash someone else's /EFS and hope for the best. Can someone send me their TWRP backup of this partition? It would help a lot. Thank you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can't just use somebody else's EFS partition on your phone, as the data it holds is unique to each device. First, read what EFS actually is:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/oneplus-one/general/guide-efs-partitions-how-to-lost-t3307793
The only way (that I've found) of making your phone run properly again is to use a UMT dongle (do some research on how it works first) and input your IMEI back manually (it's written somewhere on the box the phone came in), but that dongle is a bit costly. If you do not want to deal with that, you should just reach out to OnePlus support.
I'm curious, why would you change your MAC address? Android 10 already has a MAC randomizer.
But yeah, EFS and Persist partitions are device specific and containing low level stuff that I don't think transferring it from one device to anther would work. First thing you could try is flashing stock ROM using MSM Download Tool.
McAwesomePL said:
You can't just use somebody else's EFS partition on your phone, as the data it holds is unique to each device. First, read what EFS actually is:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/oneplus-one/general/guide-efs-partitions-how-to-lost-t3307793
The only way (that I've found) of making your phone run properly again is to use a UMT dongle (do some research on how it works first) and input your IMEI back manually (it's written somewhere on the box the phone came in), but that dongle is a bit costly. If you do not want to deal with that, you should just reach out to OnePlus support.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I read somewhere that it could work... And thanks, I know what the EFS partition is... However, is it a problem if I end up with someone else's IMEI? Also, I already did a backup of the current corrupted EFS so if the EFS from another phone won't work then I can just flash my old EFS back.
Also, my IMEI is intact. I haven't lost it. Only the MAC address is probably changed and that creates the problem. But I can't restore the original MAC address because the wlan0 interface doesn't show up in custom OS's. Only in OOS.
Edit: lol I actually already read the exact same article you've sent a link to.
freezingfox said:
I'm curious, why would you change your MAC address? Android 10 already has a MAC randomizer.
But yeah, EFS and Persist partitions are device specific and containing low level stuff that I don't think transferring it from one device to anther would work. First thing you could try is flashing stock ROM using MSM Download Tool.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does it? I couldn't find it there... I know that OOS has a MAC randomizer but i don't know if other custom OS's have it. Also, could you please verify if i'm using the right tool? This is the link: https://forum.xda-developers.com/oneplus-6/how-to/tool-msmdownloadtool-v4-0-international-t3798892
Because it's OOS 5.1.5 and that's faaaar from the newest one...
DJsushi123 said:
Does it? I couldn't find it there... I know that OOS has a MAC randomizer but i don't know if other custom OS's have it. Also, could you please verify if i'm using the right tool? This is the link: https://forum.xda-developers.com/oneplus-6/how-to/tool-msmdownloadtool-v4-0-international-t3798892
Because it's OOS 5.1.5 and that's faaaar from the newest one...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The latest one is here containing 10.3.5 https://forum.xda-developers.com/oneplus-6/how-to/op6-collection-unbrick-tools-t3914109
Android has had MAC randomisation since Oreo.