Hello everyone,
As this is my first thread, and I have been reading previous assists based on IMEI fixing and couldn't find the answer I am looking for, I really hope that the XDA community can help me fix my Galaxy S4 I9500. I will try to explain the problem the best I can, and I will create a list of every solution I have tried in the 3 week phone fixing saga I have.
1. The problem :
My friend decided he does not need this phone anymore, everything was fine with it except the battery was swollen(but I bought a new one so it doesn't matter). The day before he gave it to me, he accidentaly dropped it in the toilet and it couldn't boot. I opened the phone, cleaned it with alchohol and the phone booted up normally. The thing I noticed was that in the status bar the network symbol was replaced with No signal symbol. I tried 3 SIM cards and none worked. I decided to downgrade to 4.4.2 KitKat version and this is where everything went even worse. I used Odin to downgrade a firmware downloaded from sammobile.com, but I didn't create an /efs backup because I have flashed an Alcatel Idol 2 before and there were no problems with the IMEI or so. It turns out that Samsung devices are different and I am left with NO EFS BACKUP. I know, I should have checked what to do before flashing the device, but what's done is done. The device is doing everything great, there are no problems with Wi-Fi or Bluetooth either, except I cant connect to a network because IMEI is null/null and the Baseband is unknown. The thing is, I am not sure if the IMEI is wiped completely because of a hardware problem, or it's software related because of the /efs folder, because I am not a developer, but a civil engineer :silly:
2. Solutions I've tried so far :
- Flashed many different Android versions;
- Flashed a Lollypop with adonis.pit with Re-partition checked on Odin;
- Tried writing an IMEI and repairing the EFS with Octoplus box;
- Tried flashing an EFS backup from my friend's Galaxy S4 I9500 ( IT IS ILLEGAL IN MANY COUNTRIES, NOT IN MINE, BUT I WANTED TO TRY AND CHANGE THE IMEI LATER SO IT WOULD NOT BE A PROBLEM );
- Tried flashing with a IMEI_null_fix.tar.md5 file which i found on a forum and that didn't fix it either;
- Tried KIES to return the stock ROM but either it does not recognize my device, or it says that my device could not be initialized or so;
- Took the phone to service, but in my town the only service we have is not very professional and they didn't even know the IMEI null does not mean that I will have no wireless connection/bluetooth connection, so they didn't fix it either;
- Tried with EFS Pro, Terminal Emulator and programs similar to those, 3rd party and PlayStore ones;
- Maybe other things but I could not remember because I think I tried everything...
I don't know if the problem can be fixed, but deep inside me I hope that there is a solution, and I think this is the best place to search for help, because it is a great phone and I don't want to throw it away just like that.
Thanks in advance everyone, hope you can come up with a solution.
Anyone please ?
You may get more help in the s4 forum as this is the s6 forum mate.
christopherrrg said:
You may get more help in the s4 forum as this is the s6 forum mate.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
An admin redirected this thread here, its not me haha...
Thread closed.
OP reposted in the correct section.
Related
A friend has the null IMEI issue and I want to try the procedure outlined for the Samsung Captivate in the following thread:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=881162
Samsung Captivate Android Development - > RESTORE IMEI and Product Code w/o ADB, PC (ALL DONE ON PHONE) nv_data.bin
I don't think the product code used for the captivate will work with the nexus S. Can someone tell me the product code to use when editing the following lines in nv_data.bin? (copied from the above thread!)
00188008|2e|34|00|00|00|00|ff|41|.4....A
00188010|54|54|00|00|00|00|53|47|TT....SG
00188018|48|2d|49|38|39|37|5a|4b|H-I897ZK
00188020|41|41|54|54|00|00|00|00|AATT....
Sorry if this has already been conclusively shown as not possible for nexus S. Some people on the captivate thread have managed to restore it using this method and I thought it would be worth a shot.
The nexus S in question is the SLCD version i9023.
Given below are the steps that caused the issue.
==============================================
Some days ago, official ICS for Nexus S was released, but my cell couldn;t auto update because it was running a custom ROM. I tried to follow this procedure to switch to 2.3.3 or .4. (http://www.pcworld.com/article/242759/how_to_revert_your_android_smartphone_to_a_stock_rom.html )
Installing the above ROM, my cell went berserk. The ROM booted fine but 3 of my touch buttons wouldn't light up and keyboard input alignment was all wrong and I had to remove battery and restart it every time I wanted to go back into some other setting.
After 9-10 restarts, I managed to reach the update setting, downloaded Gingerbread 2.3.6 OTA and installed it. It worked perfectly, and I was all set to download ICS and install it. Then I followed this link and installed ICS reaching where I am at the moment. (http://www.addictivetips.com/mobile/manually-install-android-4-0-3-ics-update-on-nexus-s-download/)
This ICS works perfectly fine, except that the phone is not receiving any network signals whatsoever.
I had made Oxygen's backup using CWM's backup feature on the cellphone and I thought I'd restore it, so I did a vol up + power, and selected recover. The cell restarted, showed a dead android, and booted into ICS. Several attempts have resulted in the same.
==============================================
what were the cercumstances when he lost the "IMEI" ?
would you tell us please , so we avoid that from happening to us ?
Thanks
mahanddeem said:
what were the cercumstances when he lost the "IMEI" ?
would you tell us please , so we avoid that from happening to us ?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have updated the opening post with the answer to your question.
hi there,
i have a SM-9005( Australian Telstra) which i bought used a couple of weeks/ about a month ago. NOT KNOWING WHAT I WAS DOING i tried to install android 5.0 via odin but, the thing that i did'nt realise was that it was the hong kong firmware after installing it i encountered a problem something like " binary (number) < (number) i figured that it was because when i decided to install it the storage was about 95% full and it only had like 300mb left so i just went into recovery and restored the phone. after successfully installing 5.0 i noticed that the phone was starting to be glitchy as in system would'nt respond (lag) no sound and camera and mic and calling wouldn't work. so i decided it was best to just roll back to the old os 4.4.2 and thats what i did. after doing so i realised that the same problems were still there "no in/outgoing call, no sound, no Google Now, no S-Voice, no camera, slow lock screen and slow settings" after trying to research and not finding anything that would help me ( mainly as my phone is Australian variant) i decided to install a custom rom Cyanogenmod, although this fixed the camera the other problem were still there and after trying to even restore from a nandroid backup via twrp recovery the problem has still not been resolved and well....:crying:
Hi, thank you for using XDA assist. Start here, http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2439633 Also see this which is your device specific forum, http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-note-3
thanks, but?
jd1639 said:
Hi, thank you for using XDA assist. Start here, http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2439633 Also see this which is your device specific forum, http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-note-3
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks, but i have no idea what to do with this information neither do i know what to call the problem (name for problem would be good). as for what phone model mine is, it is the same as the one in the link it is 32gb telstra aus vrs.
Thread closed.
This has probably been covered before but I couldn't find the topic and I apologize if there is a specific area for these sorts of questions and I ask that this topic be moved there if need be. Anyway, I have an unlocked Galaxy S3 which I purchased off Ebay and activated on MetroPCS. The activation went fine, the IMEI is clean, but my question is, if I install a custom ROM will it change my IMEI? And if so, what sort of problems could that cause for my phone being able to use data or make phone calls? I've never flashed a custom ROM to a phone before so I'm not sure if it CAN change the IMEI, I was just warned by a friend that after he flashed his, the last few digits for his changed and he had to call his provider and it voided his contract. I have installed custom ROMs before but they were on an android based MP3 player so I never had to worry about an IMEI, however I enjoyed the special features that ROM had compared to the stock ROM and was wanting to have similar features on my phone.
Also on an unrelated note, my girlfriend had an old Galaxy S2 that sat in her closet for about 2 years. It had stopped working so she packed it up and was about to throw it away until I decided to fiddle around with it. It's model number is SPH-D710 so it doesn't look like a traditional Galaxy phone, so holding the home button does not help me boot into download or recovery mode. My problem with it, it doesn't boot up, it stays at the Galaxy SII screen and doesn't move passed that, Odin fails when attempting to flash a ROM onto it (Custom or recovery), and holding vol up+home+pwr does not boot it into recovery. She told me her brother previously rooted it with a custom ROM (No idea which) and it worked for some time before ****ting the bed. My theory is that he did a poor job at flashing and somehow removed the recovery menu completely and so the phone is stuck as a soft brick. That would mean my only option to save it would be to flash it but it fails every time. Is there anything more I can do to save it or should I just scrap it for parts?
EDIT: I went for it and installed it. IMEI is still the same and phone works fine as a phone. Currently my only issue is that it can't read my SD card nor can I copy files to or from my SD card to my computer. I have windows 8 and it says unspecified error when I try. Is this a problem with cyanogenmod or did I kill my SD card when I flashed?
Hi there,
You'd be best served asking for help from the experts who own your device here:
[Q&A][SGS2][Newbies][Experienced Users][RCs] New members friendly Q&A thread
Good luck
Hey guys, so I'm pretty new to all this, I wanted to root my Galaxy S6 - SM-G920F - to be able to play pokemon from home... yes, that sad. So I started reading XDA like my brother recommended and "learnt" how to root my phone. In the beggining when i was installing SuperSU I had some problems and my phone went into bootloop, but it was because of my cable, I then reflashed it with another cable and it fixed the bootloop issue. I went on to install TWRP and that's when mistakes started happening. First of all, I forgot to back up my phone, including the EFS which, after reading countless posts, I understood is what gives the phone the IMEI code.
I tried installing the standard Xposed on Galaxy S6 (only later on i learnt you must use Wanam on samsungs from S6 and above) and my phone went into bootloop, with out knowing what to do (i tried the uninstall zip but it was failing to install from twrp...), very stupidly, i deleted my System folder... After much more reading, i tried using KIES3 and Smart switch to recover, but they always ask for the stupid recovery code,which I don't have, when i tried the upgrade and initialization option... I tried costum roms and a ****load of stuff. Custom Roms would usually work, my phone would turn on and that's when i noticed my SIM wasn't beeing recognized. (later on i also found out i didn't have IMEI) tried flashing the appropriate MODEM for my galaxy but it all failed. I don't remenber all the stuff I did tbh... I tried the tyrannus ROM and XtreStoLite Universal Deodexed Mod Edition ROM, and tried flashing the MODEM that comes with the last mentioned ROM and yeah, probably just useless attempts that wouldn't fix the problem in the first place. Then i tried flashing Stock, from Sammobile: I bought my phone at the Portuguese vodafone, so G920FXXS3DPF5_G920FVFG3DPC1_TCL (marshmallow) with Odin but it would always fail. Then i read something about splitting the folder in 5 and flashing 1 by 1 and it would work until the Hidden zip, which would always fail. I tried not flashing Hidden and my phone turned on and I went back to stock although, still with out IMEI or baseband. Then after more reading, i found out the best solution would be giving it to a store.
So i just rooted, twrp and did what i wanted to do in the first place. With the correct Wanam Xposed this time (later on i found a way to hack pokemon with out root... sucks :v) and i managed this time.
Yesterday i went to the stored and today the guy told me to go get it, with high hopes i went there, to find out he couldn't fix the problem... He tried Octobox to rewrite the IMEI from the one in the back of phone, but he says it failed. So now I really don't know what to do. The guy went on holidays and told me to go back there when he comes back, we wants to try to downgrade to lollipop and try to fix it from there (he said he has more tools available to work with). It could work, Galaxy S6 just got marshmallow 1/2 months ago officially, and i bought the phone in october of last year, so maybe with the ROM it came with, I really don't know.
At this point I'm just looking for suggestions. I'll be paying attention to the forum and try to reply to all the questions you might have to my best. Thank you all for your time and patience!
:EDIT: so... another major mistake i guess, I found out today, by asking my parents where they got the phone, that the phone wasn't actually purchased in vodafone, the phone was bought in a Samsung store, so it is unblocked. So most likely I've been flashing the wrong stock rom all along. Could you guys guide me in the right direction from here?
What would be the appropriate ROM for the unblocked? vodafone portugal is TCL, optimus is OPT and MEO is MEO. There is another one under the name TPH, would that be the appropriate one?
Solved
Okay... using the correct stock rom fixed all my problems... sorry for wasting your time guys! TPH was the right one
Where did you find your roms?
micromax e311, 4.4 kitkat rooted and CWM philztouch 6.59
hi guys sorry for this new thread, i know there are other similar threads like this too but i know those posts wont help me coz i tried everything, so please dont shout at me, and in near future someone too will face problems like me and they may try to fix and nothing will work for them, so here it is.
last night i was trying many different custom roms like touchwiz, mangna, and others etc which made my phone bootloop many times, but that didnt worry me as coz i fixed that by flashing another rom but here the issue starts where my phone cannot detect sim card no more and it was in slot 2 as my sim slot 1 was broken many months ago, baseband and everything was unknown, i tried everything every imei changer app from playstore to factory reset, previously nandroid backup, stock rom flash, mtk engineering mode in cds information( now cds information also greyed out , no idea how). nothing worked!!! so i kindly request you Developers to help me out of this situation , any help will be appreciated
Snapshots attached.
N.B- I DONT HAVE PC ..
Russel Got stucked said:
micromax e311, 4.4 kitkat rooted and CWM philztouch 6.59
hi guys sorry for this new thread, i know there are other similar threads like this too but i know those posts wont help me coz i tried everything, so please dont shout at me, and in near future someone too will face problems like me and they may try to fix and nothing will work for them, so here it is.
last night i was trying many different custom roms like touchwiz, mangna, and others etc which made my phone bootloop many times, but that didnt worry me as coz i fixed that by flashing another rom but here the issue starts where my phone cannot detect sim card no more and it was in slot 2 as my sim slot 1 was broken many months ago, baseband and everything was unknown, i tried everything every imei changer app from playstore to factory reset, previously nandroid backup, stock rom flash, mtk engineering mode in cds information( now cds information also greyed out , no idea how). nothing worked!!! so i kindly request you Developers to help me out of this situation , any help will be appreciated
Snapshots attached.
N.B- I DONT HAVE PC ..
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Click to collapse
Hello and welcome to xda-assist,
we actually don't do technical support, we're here to guide you to the most suitable board on xda, unfortunately the phone you're using has no specific device Forum, make sure you give proper information
https://forum.xda-developers.com/general/general/guide-how-to-question-t3464199
and ask here again
http://forum.xda-developers.com/android/help
My personal opinion is that you successfully damaged your efs / nvram partition with your flashing adventure, so a proper backup would be the best help, have you backed up this critical participation? On most mtk devices you can restore imei with engineer mode but you'll have to redo it every factory reset, unfortunately it seems you tried that already, if non of this works I would ask in the mentioned help section but it could also very likely be that your phones phone functionality can't be recovered anymore..
That's why first thing is always a proper backup of all critical partitions and efs / nvram is definitely one of the most important ones.. If you missed that a recovery method can't be guaranteed..
Good luck