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Imei how to get old one?

I got my mobile today after 3 weeks repair. They charged me for repair and replaced motherboard(HTC desire). Now i have new IMEI but same old problem. If i look at my mobile all the screws are not even touched. My problem- how can i prove they just flash rom and nothing else??????. Is there any other information that shows me that the mother board is not changed.
Thanks for help.

To have a new IMEI means you have a new motherboard.. The IMEI is specific to the radio.. The only way to change it, is to change the phone......
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App

just a word of advice . . . .
azyouthinkeyeiz said:
To have a new IMEI means you have a new motherboard.. The IMEI is specific to the radio.. The only way to change it, is to change the phone......
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
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HI there mate, im not 100% sure that statement is entirely accurate.
I think that there is a method of flashing an IMEI number and it is illegal to do so in the UK and may well be as illegal in other countries.
The sole reason i say this, is that the OP mentioned in his opening post that the same problem remains even after a "new motherboard" - I would be extremely wary of that situation. Also, if the phone is insured in anyway- the IMEI will be the reference number for any claim that would be made and if it has changed and not updated with the insurer- you will NOT be covered.
I personally would take the phone right back asap and ensure that a bonafide repair was/is carried out. The serial number should also change if the MOBO is swapped out, so if you still have the box you could check the serial number from the info section on phone whilst on -check this against the box
KInd Regards
LandUzu
You mention that the problem is still there- could you let me know what the initial reason for repair was??
P>S> Most if not all devices, have some form of "void" sticker system- these are tiny stickes that are placed over screw heads in order to indicate whether the screws have been removed. I would take the back cover off, take the battery out and look for these stickers on the screws. If there are none, or the screws look like they have been undone/scratched- then i would say a new MOBO has been fitted. If there ARE void stickers however, then you may have just had a different IMEI flashed (carries a jail senence in UK for doing this)
The other problem you face in identifying this , is that the repairer may have just replaced the stickers AFTER replacing the MOBO.
Hope this sheds a little light on you prob bud.

Id definitely go back to whoever fixed it, even if just to get the repairs checked out and certified documentation for work carried out! What was the problem with your phone? Is it possible that it could be a common manufacturers problem with that particular handset?

First of all thanks for ur answers.
LandUzu said:
You mention that the problem is still there- could you let me know what the initial reason for repair was??
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It get extrem hot and turn itself off or it hangs for many hours.(only option is to remove battery)
Void sticker (Three of them on the sides) are not removed.. only one of them (from 4) is removed :.
I have same serial no. and same old IMEI on the back side of my mobile ( or is there any other method to check serial no?) . But if i press *#*#4636#*#* or *#06# i get new imei... and they gave me also on paper that they have changed the MB.

Sounds lile a trip back to tell them the MB cant have been the problem after all then, keep that paperwork safe

[Q] IMEI is 0, no EFS backup

Recently, I RMA'd my Nexus. When I got the new one, I made a Nandroid backup of my old phone with TWRP, including my EFS. To make a folder for backups on the new Nexus (after rooting etc), I backed up my EFS folder. But, stupid me deleted the folder and then copied the backup of my old phone to the new folder. When I restored the backup, I didn't uncheck the EFS option and after the restore I wasn't getting anymore service. Immediatly I realized I had flashed the EFS from my old Nexus 5. My IMEI is 0, and the IMEI SV is 05 as of now. I tried a factory reset to no avail.
I have attemped to recover the deleted EFS files from my SD card (I used an SD card reader over OTG to backup), but it says they were only recovered partially. Is it worth it to attempt to restore these files, or will that mess up my device more?
Lastly, I still have the IMEI sticker on the back of my replacement. Is there anyway I could "rebuild" the EFS, or insert the IMEI into it to get it to work again?
Any kind of help would be appreciated. I have to send in my old phone in 2 days, so I don't have a lot of time to fix this. Not sure what I'm going to tell support when I say my replacement isn't working.
Thanks.

afff53 said:
Recently, I RMA'd my Nexus. When I got the new one, I made a Nandroid backup of my old phone with TWRP, including my EFS. To make a folder for backups on the new Nexus (after rooting etc), I backed up my EFS folder. But, stupid me deleted the folder and then copied the backup of my old phone to the new folder. When I restored the backup, I didn't uncheck the EFS option and after the restore I wasn't getting anymore service. Immediatly I realized I had flashed the EFS from my old Nexus 5. My IMEI is 0, and the IMEI SV is 05 as of now. I tried a factory reset to no avail.
I have attemped to recover the deleted EFS files from my SD card (I used an SD card reader over OTG to backup), but it says they were only recovered partially. Is it worth it to attempt to restore these files, or will that mess up my device more?
Lastly, I still have the IMEI sticker on the back of my replacement. Is there anyway I could "rebuild" the EFS, or insert the IMEI into it to get it to work again?
Any kind of help would be appreciated. I have to send in my old phone in 2 days, so I don't have a lot of time to fix this. Not sure what I'm going to tell support when I say my replacement isn't working.
Thanks.
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So far you are in trouble, sadly.
read this thread with your same issue http://forum.xda-developers.com/google-nexus-5/help/messed-n5-imei-0-t2750697

Yep the phone is screwed without a service centre fixing it.

As I thought. I will try to restore my EFS with the files I got but I doubt it will work.
Looks like I'll have to relock my bootloader and send it back, hoping they won't notice. Is there any specific things you would recommend doing before sending it back in.

afff53 said:
Is there any specific things you would recommend doing before sending it back in.
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The honest thing to do would be to send it to LG for warranty repair., They can repair it, rather than sending it to google as an RMA. They can never resell it as new so they lose money on what is essentially your mistake.

rootSU said:
The honest thing to do would be to send it to LG for warranty repair., They can repair it, rather than sending it to google as an RMA. They can never resell it as new so they lose money on what is essentially your mistake.
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I understand it isn't morally correct, but I won't have any phone for however long it takes for them to repair if I send it back. May be selfish, but they make plenty of money anyways. I RMA'd from TMobile, and they said they repair RMA'd phones and then send them to people who request RMAs. You don't think they would be able to do anything to fix it? Also, I thought LG warranty doesn't cover "tampering"?

afff53 said:
I understand it isn't morally correct, but I won't have any phone for however long it takes for them to repair if I send it back. May be selfish, but they make plenty of money anyways. I RMA'd from TMobile, and they said they repair RMA'd phones and then send them to people who request RMAs. You don't think they would be able to do anything to fix it? Also, I thought LG warranty doesn't cover "tampering"?
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Yes it can be fixed quite easily, which is why an RMA is a waste of a perfectly good phone. It just cant be fixed by you as it requires equipment.

afff53 said:
I understand it isn't morally correct, but I won't have any phone for however long it takes for them to repair if I send it back. May be selfish, but they make plenty of money anyways. I RMA'd from TMobile, and they said they repair RMA'd phones and then send them to people who request RMAs. You don't think they would be able to do anything to fix it? Also, I thought LG warranty doesn't cover "tampering"?
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What you're talking about is essentially fraud and no they don't make "plenty of money" but even if they did that is beside the point. Every case of fraud costs them money which they in turn pass on to consumers. Why should I or anyone else have to pay for your negligence?

You made the mistake not Google or LG. Be a man and own up to your mistake instead of trying to "pass the buck". I'm sure you understood rooting and modding phones voids warranties. I'm sure you weren't planning on making a mistake. You did though. You and only you. Pay LG to fix it for you.

theesotericone said:
You made the mistake not Google or LG. Be a man and own up to your mistake instead of trying to "pass the buck". I'm sure you understood rooting and modding phones voids warranties. I'm sure you weren't planning on making a mistake. You did though. You and only you. Pay LG to fix it for you.
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Suppose you're right. How am I supposed to get LG to fix it?

afff53 said:
Suppose you're right. How am I supposed to get LG to fix it?
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Call Google and explain exactly what you did. They will refer you to LG for warranty. After that put it in a box and wait to get it back. I doubt the charge will be that much. At the end of the whole thing you'll feel like a better person. And next time back up your EFS first.

There's also the possibility that "your local friendly mobile repair store" can fix it.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

You need box to generate new EFS with your imei. Some repair shops have it.

My neighbor has lots of jewellery, I have none. So what's so wrong with me taking some of theirs???

Alright, thanks for the help

afff53 said:
Alright, thanks for the help
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Can you help me?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/google-nexus-5/general/pls-help-pls-imei0-network-t3028916

mnhs1010 said:
Can you help me?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/google-nexus-5/general/pls-help-pls-imei0-network-t3028916
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Like what was already said, there is no way to fix it yourself. You need to get it repaired either at a repair shop or google.
This thread should be closed, not really gonna help anyone.

There IS a solution!
See my answer at http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/85807/nexus-5-imei-0-how-to-restore-imei (at the bottom of the page).
It really works, I just done it, and my phone gets original IMEI and can 3G/LTE.

thx but .rar file gone - can you repost it for me?
I'm suffering from IMEI=0 after phone went into weird boot loop. I'm hoping your solution will work, but the file on the russian forum is 404... Can you repost it?
Thanks!

payz said:
I'm suffering from IMEI=0 after phone went into weird boot loop. I'm hoping your solution will work, but the file on the russian forum is 404... Can you repost it?
Thanks!
Hello! Just register there and you will can download files.
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Guys, I need help with OPO

Hello, my mom really wanted a new phone fast because right now she uses an old samsung and it's has some problems but for her phone is in need because of work... So in eBay we found an awesome deal! OnePlus One auction, and we won that phone only for 37 pounds. Phone has to come tomorrow, but I was scrolling through eBay and I wanted to read some feedbacks on seller again so I went to OPO information and then I readed that phone doesn't pick up any network. So, I know that mother will kill me because network will not work. So I wanted to ask, is there any way fix that fast without any parts changing? Just change something in settings and it will work?

Are you serious dude?
Ever heard of "If it looks too good to be true, then it probably is"?
If it was that easy to fix then it would have been sold for far more than £37. Basically, no chance of fixing it in settings I'd guess, but you could try flashing a factory ROM image and praying lots.

Not sure until you actually get the phone and see what's wrong with it.

Soo, phone came and any sims doesn't work on him. So we took it to the repair, they told that they will see if they can fix it. So we waited until next day, they told that they will try to fix it until today. We came to the repair and they told that they changed the sim tray and problem still exist and they said to us to wait until tomorrow if phone gets any better they will call us. But my mom wanted to know, can be that problem can't be fixed at all?

Does the phone show IEMI in Settings/About Phone/Status/IEMI Information? "do not post your IEMI" just let know if does.
For the price you've paid inc the repair you could have got a Nexus 5 in good condition on Ebay.

stylez said:
Does the phone show IEMI in Settings/About Phone/Status/IEMI Information? "do not post your IEMI" just let know if does.
For the price you've paid inc the repair you could have got a Nexus 5 in good condition on Ebay.
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I think so that it shows IMEI, I can't check right now because phone is teardowned and I saw that antenna was corrupted so we gonna changed it on Thursday and what about nexus 5, we could get it but only 16gb but my moms needs more memory so .
And more about IMEI, last time when I checked IMEI was in place but I don't know what about last time when I restored the phone after flashing ROMs .

If you have TWRP installed try backing up the EFS partition. That's where the IMEI is stored.

There's no more problems after antenna change, thanks everyone who tried to help!

Can a Android phone be programmed to steal subscriber info ?

Hi all. Long time no see
Well, to sum it up : a few years ago I bought a phone on the cheap, which turned out to be a chinese copy of a Galaxy Note 7.
Not having much use for it (it didn't have accelerometers nor magnetometer neither GPS apparently) it stayed in a drawer for 3-4 years before I decided to give it to a family member, who had to go to her phone operator's shop to get a new SIM card, as the old one was too big.A few days later, she gets a SMS from the operator saying that she is in overuse of international phone calls (she never phones out of country, she uses Whatsapp for that), all toward Tunisia, and had racked up a bill of 650€ and counting ! :O
Luckily she won't have to pay them, as while she was at the shop in order to inquire, 3 new calls had been placed in the meantime. But she had to get a new SIM and have her number changed as well.
I thought -and the shop as well- that her SIM subscriber ID had been stolen, but I wonder how this happened : either the guy at the shop who switched her SIM cards did it (possible, as he told her to wait 15-20mins to be activated. When she got the new SIM with a new number from another clerk there was no wait involved), or somehow the phone forwarded the SIM data to a hacker who used it to clone the original SIM.
Since I've found no info about that on the web, I wanted the adice of experts in the matter.
So what d'you think, guys ? Any input appreciated. Thx !

Did she have the CCP virus yet?
WYSIWYG. Deep six ditch the phone.
Change all account passwords once she gets the new phone.
Not only firmware rootkits but the possibility of embedded hardware backdoors. The former can be removed, the latter not. This piece of junk isn't worth the risks!

blackhawk said:
Did she have the CCP virus yet?
WYSIWYG. Deep six ditch the phone.
Change all account passwords once she gets the new phone.
Not only firmware rootkits but the possibility of embedded hardware backdoors. The former can be removed, the latter not. This piece of junk isn't worth the risks!
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Thx !
Do you know of any methods to analyse the phone and confirm this, perhaps ?

Snakeforhire said:
Thx !
Do you know of any methods to analyse the phone and confirm this, perhaps ?
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Click to collapse
Malwarebytes. You already know it's compromised.
You could try reflashing the rom to a know good version.
The user themselves could have downloaded a rootkit... no saving dumb bunnies.
Be careful what you download and the apps you load.

blackhawk said:
Malwarebytes. You already know it's compromised.
You could try reflashing the rom to a know good version.
The user themselves could have downloaded a rootkit... no saving dumb bunnies.
Be careful what you download and the apps you load.
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Click to collapse
only app that was downloaded was Whatsapp bcoz she needed it, she doesn't know how to install other apps (she's a 60+yr gramma)

Snakeforhire said:
only app that was downloaded was Whatsapp bcoz she needed it, she doesn't know how to install other apps (she's a 60+yr gramma)
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I won't let WhatsApp near my phone.
I was born at night but not last night... someone might have tricked her into downloading something maybe to view a vid etc. Social engineering and malware go hand in hand.
WhatsApp members are wholly unvetted.

Question What am I missing

Bought phone off marketplace; verified it was working by inserting my SIM card and making a phone call prior to purchase. Later on while setting up the phone I discover that it's got administrative software installed on it and retail mode turned on.
Looking closer at the box, it said it's a demo unit. (I know, should've been more thorough)
The question I have is if it's a true demo unit that's unsalvageable, why was I able to make the call? (I used my own SIM)

Some demo units can make calls. People like to try them out in stores. Personally, I'd try to return it. Maybe you can flash a new firmware. Doubt makeup of hardware any different since it works. Never know though.

mt2020 said:
Some demo units can make calls. People like to try them out in stores. Personally, I'd try to return it. Maybe you can flash a new firmware. Doubt makeup of hardware any different since it works. Never know though.
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Unfortunately returning isn't an option, the guy knew this thing had an issue and decided to not tell me. I figured since it made a call, it should be fine.
The IMEI number comes back as clean, I might try and see if I can use it for a "trade In" if flashing new firmware doesn't seem like it can happen.

How much did you pay?

kat3k said:
How much did you pay?
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Too much of course.

Just go into Settings->Developer Options->Demo mode and take it out of demo mode.

Rubby1025 said:
Just go into Settings->Developer Options->Demo mode and take it out of demo mode.
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Doesn't allow me to, asks for a password, none of the ones i've found floating around have worked.
there's a admin lockdown, software called SENNCO from Brichtec, its what's removed the "wipe data/factory reset" from the recovery menu im guessing.

mt2020 said:
Some demo units can make calls. People like to try them out in stores. Personally, I'd try to return it. Maybe you can flash a new firmware. Doubt makeup of hardware any different since it works. Never know though.
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I'm able to get to the recovery screen and it seems to allows me to install updates from ADB; am I okay trying to use my pc/ODIN to flash tmobile firmware I have for this device?

Why not? You said if non of this works you're going to trade it in... As long as you don't brick it... And if you're on TMobile... Is it eligible for care plus? If so, you may be able to pass it off to them for repair

Great minds...i was doing that while you posted i guess. Was able to flash and reboot and it went back to the same locked down version that was there before. I guess this means that it's the bootloader/recovery that's locked down? Will try replacing that next.
Any idea where I might find the TWRP for this phone?

ankur079 said:
Great minds...i was doing that while you posted i guess. Was able to flash and reboot and it went back to the same locked down version that was there before. I guess this means that it's the bootloader/recovery that's locked down? Will try replacing that next.
Any idea where I might find the TWRP for this phone?
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Not really sure, haven't rooted or used recovery software in a long time. Finally decided to let others be beta testers and just want a working phone. Go to Samsung Care plus web site, plug in your serial number or IMEI and it will tell you if it qualifies for coverage. If so, $8 month, first 3 or 4 months free, cancel at anytime. If covered, pay deductible and let them fix or replace, which in this case would most likely be replace. Past that, USA phones are pretty locked down if they weren't purchased unlocked. Yea, you can unlock a provider phone after a while on their plan, but boot loader still tough to Crack. I think that's what you just ran into.

mt2020 said:
Not really sure, haven't rooted or used recovery software in a long time. Finally decided to let others be beta testers and just want a working phone. Go to Samsung Care plus web site, plug in your serial number or IMEI and it will tell you if it qualifies for coverage. If so, $8 month, first 3 or 4 months free, cancel at anytime. If covered, pay deductible and let them fix or replace, which in this case would most likely be replace. Past that, USA phones are pretty locked down if they weren't purchased unlocked. Yea, you can unlock a provider phone after a while on their plan, but boot loader still tough to Crack. I think that's what you just ran into.
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Click to collapse
thanks, worth a try i suppose if nothing else pans out.