Hi there,
I have an issue with my Samsung galaxy note II which has meant that my /EFS directory has some how got corrupted.
If you would like to view more information on how this happened then please view my other thread here.
I need to know if there is a way of somehow re-creating the /EFS directory (bearing in mind that i do not have a backup of this directory). There is also an additional obstacle at the moment, i don't seem to be able to boot into android because of this issue; i have tried every trick i can think of but nothing works it just gets stuck at the Samsung logo.
I have read that this Directory is unique to every device and some people said it is impossible to re-create.
Is this true and if not is there a process for re-creating it myself?
Many thanks!
Hi, thank you for using XDA assist. The purpose of XDA Assist is to point you in the right direction to get your problem resolved. It is not an online help desk. Since you have already posted you question in the best place to get your answer I'm going to close this thread. But if you didn't specifically backup your efs partition in twrp, I don't know if cwm has that option, you're probably sol.
Hope I made the title descriptive enough
So, unknown IMEI and Baseband. I ran e2fsck on the persist partition, but it errored out. Formatting worked. I edited and copied the .bdaddr and .macaddr files and those addresses are sticking after a reboot (I know I'm leaving a lot of details out, just trying to prove I did some research and did the basic steps first). So, the /persist partition WAS bad, but is fixed now.
Still getting an unknown IMEI and Baseband (note, Baseband shows correctly in the bootloader screen). Flashed multiple times. Even flashed using the LG Flash Tool (twice, once before fixing the persist partition, and once after).
Now, I think this last bit is the problem. I tried backing up the efs partitions, /dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/modemst1 and /dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/modemst2. I was able to backup modemst1 no problem (nice 3MB img file). When trying to backup modemst2, it just says "I/O error".
I'm almost sure there's a way to fix this. Just a bad section of flash that needs to be worked around. Any thoughts?
Still trudging along.
Using the noerror and sync options for dd, I was able to copy the modemst2 partition. Obviously it's missing some data. To give you an idea:
Code:
6088+56 records in
6144+0 records out
Ok, not sure if I'm allowed to ask, but is there anywhere I could download a copy of the modemst2 partition? Don't care if the donor phone's unique information is removed. Depending on exactly which part is corrupted, I might be able to piece together a modemst2 file that will work on my phone. I don't think I'd need the modemst1 partition, though I wouldn't turn it down.
Hello
I am unsure if this goes here, since this is a generic question that would apply to most Android phones, I decided to put this here or on the General forum
I assume it's also not possible to do what I mention due to the way it's designed.
Let's say I have a new phone and I would like to get a backup of the whole phone partitions and partition table before doing any modification to it, using no root
Would there be a way to get the list of partitions of the phone using cat proc/partitions for example, or any other way
Then use dd to get bin/img files of the device, including bootloader, modem/radio, etc.
Use, let's say, sgdisk command to backup the partition table
I am open to other ideas I might haven't figured out yet.
In short words, I would love to dump my whole device low level data (such as EFS). I usually do this when I am already root, but maybe there's a way to do this without "tampering" the device on first place.
Thanks
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.
I guess I've been spoiled by @Funk Wizard Guides... Those were great when switching to a new device. How do you make an EFS backup on the 8T? I guess I should ask in the same thread just in case about restoring?
Ok I got my 8T a couple days ago, just been busy and haven't had time to mess with it so it's been sitting on my desk. I'm not finding many guides dedicated to the 8T, so perhaps someone can verify this. I've tested these on some other devices and they seem to work as long as the devices are rooted:
Run from an ADB Shell:
This backs up the persist partition:
dd if=/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/persist of=/sdcard/persist.img
This backs up the EFS (Modems):
dd if=/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/modemst1 of=/sdcard/modemst1.bin
dd if=/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/modemst2 of=/sdcard/modemst2.bin
One thing I've noticed is the modemst1.bin files from my other OnePlus devices are different than my original backups? I'm assuming these just get updated with firmware / software updates or something?
I am by no means an expert. But I think that is the ones that is important to backup, especially the persist partition.
Qnorsten said:
I am by no means an expert. But I think that is the ones that is important to backup, especially the persist partition.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know on previous OP devices the EFS (modems) stuff was backed up because that is where your IMEI (both in this case) was stored. If this got corrupted, you lost cell functionality. I think it's separate of the persist partition?
Hey dudes, is there another way to backup the EFS folder? I'm trying to copy it with root explorer pro but it doesn´t let me. I have a SM-G780F (S20 fan edition 4g)