Database Develop

Wrong IMEI fix?

Hello, I searched for a solution and I cannot find it...
I bought a captivate from ebay and it was rooted and Cog ROM, and I dont have a backup of the original nv_data.bin file.
any idea is someone is close to a fix? I cannot make any calls with this 004999010640000 IMEI, my carrier blocked?
please help!
best regards!

GRACO said:
Hello, I searched for a solution and I cannot find it...
I bought a captivate from ebay and it was rooted and Cog ROM, and I dont have a backup of the original nv_data.bin file.
any idea is someone is close to a fix? I cannot make any calls with this 004999010640000 IMEI, my carrier blocked?
please help!
best regards!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you sure you didn't buy a phone that was reported stolen?

flashman2002 said:
Are you sure you didn't buy a phone that was reported stolen?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't know if he can be sure on that...it was purchased on EBay after all.

I dont think was stolen, I have the original box, instruction manual etc...
I cannot made any voice calls, but 3G data network is working .

norcal einstein said:
Don't know if he can be sure on that...it was purchased on EBay after all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Easy way to find out. Call ATT from a working phone.
But if you have the box, I assume you checked the IMEI from the box and it doesn't match the phone IMEI? Maybe use Odin one click to JF6 to see what that will do. What batch phone do you have? If it is 1008 make sure you read up about the 3 button fix for it if you go back to JF6.

correct, IMEI from the box and it doesn't match the phone IMEI 004999010640000... Odin doesnt do any thing to the imei and is a 1006 phone...

I don't know what else you can do. Unless somebody knows how you can modify the imei in the code. I am surprised using coding didn't help at all. Sorry man wish I knew more to help you. I would call att and ask about your phone imei.
This is my captivate. There are many like it but this one is mine.

There are threads in development specifically about this.
Sent from my SGH-I897 using XDA App

Sounds pretty shady to me. You need to contact the seller and probably eBay and PayPal as well. Get your money back.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

this might be able to be fixed
first I would contact the seller, if that goes no where
try this
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=10184595#post10184595

try what worked for me
first return to stock jf6 eclair.
then try the following?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=881162

Im going to try this, any idea how to delete the efs folder?
the http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=8983897

how to delete efs folder
you must be rooted, then i would purchase root explorer from the market its a great investment. then navigate to root. there is a folder named efs there. for safe keeping, copy that folder to a safe place first.

mattbeau said:
you must be rooted, then i would purchase root explorer from the market its a great investment. then navigate to root. there is a folder named efs there. for safe keeping, copy that folder to a safe place first.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you don't have to delete the EFS folder. Just delete (or overwrite) the nv_data files and replace them with the corrected nv_data files or original backups.
once your rooted you can see the files with root explorer. Android Mate was a good alternative but they have changed it some so not sure how convenient it is anymore.

WOW! I just found a backup of nv_data.bin, I adb push it to the efs folder and removed the battery ... I got my IMEI back!

How to get lost imei back?

Guys, I called the service centre guy and this is the reply I got. I have not tested this. Any one can test it and tell me. If you think the service guy was posting a bad joke with me, I well delete this thread.
First, you need
A phone with the imei number.
You can also use this method to backup your files if you want to restore your imei number in the future.
Now connect the good phone via usb debug mid and open adb
Then, type the following.
Code:
Adb shell
dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk0p1 of=/sdcard/ilostit.dd
this will backup mmcblk0p1file
Follow until this step, if you want to backup.
Now go back to your phone without the imei number
Then move the back up to the sdcard
Then follow these command
Code:
umount /efs "unmount /efs
dd if=/sdcard/ilostit.dd of=/dev/block/mmcblk0p1
reboot
That's it!
Sent from my GT-I9003 using xda premium
Sent from my GT-I9003 using xda premium

Really a very...very useful post. Bro but is this method useful when we lost imei or before loosing our imei number? Bcoz if this method is for before loosing imei then we have nitrality app. But if we lost imei & in that case if it is helpful then its an awsome trick bro.

vishal24387 said:
Really a very...very useful post. Bro but is this method useful when we lost imei or before loosing our imei number? Bcoz if this method is for before loosing imei then we have nitrality app. But if we lost imei & in that case if it is helpful then its an awsome trick bro.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You first need to backup the files as I said in the post. You can later restore three backup and get back you imei.
Sent from my GT-I9003 using xda premium

Thanx bro...but suppose someone forget to backup those file the any solution we have?

vishal24387 said:
Thanx bro...but suppose someone forget to backup those file the any solution we have?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just pray god for a miracle to happen! It is better you back up now! And no other solution I think..even samsung uses this thing
Sent from my GT-I9003 using xda premium

Code:
Adb shell
dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk0p1 of=/sdcard/[B][U]ilostit.[/U][/B]dd
this will backup mmcblk0p1file
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I LOST IT ???
The rest of the code looks ok but putting that in to recover IMEI ?
Thats sounds like a joke to me lol

Not sure but i doubt it

ql to know.i was looking for that.

Dude, It is for the backup files.Anybody can try it out if they loose their IMEI. Also, the samsung guy was surely not joking about it, I believe. Plus,ilostit.dd is the backup file..,,and when Samsung restored my IMEI, see gave me the ilostit file..It is in my SD card now and he advised me to follow this method itself...

Just flash modem via odin,help in 95%

Wouldn't there be two identical IMEI's in this case, or am I mistaking?

How on earth is it posible to lose your IMEI?
Just dial *#06#

I keep asking myself that, the IMEI number suddenly got blank/unknown, no idea why.

thakrage said:
How on earth is it posible to lose your IMEI?
Just dial *#06#
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can loose your IMEI if flashing went wrong!!!!

Just flash modem with odin and than you have you imei back

Just flash a stock rom via Odin.. that definitely work.. not too sure about just flashing the modem.
Insanity CM

Jason123420 said:
Just flash a stock rom via Odin.. that definitely work.. not too sure about just flashing the modem.
Insanity CM
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, not always! I tried it for i9003 when I lost my IMEI!

Help...sorry.
Sorry my first post is a cry for help and a 'bump' at that...
Using a Galaxy S I9000, with no IMEI folder in EFS and the 00499... IMEI issue.
The phone was last used to uninstall an app and then 'crashed', resulting in no network.
It is running 2.3.5 XFJVA, CFW (do you need the numbers - if so, which ones?).
I've managed to reconnect to the network but still cannot get the calls and MMS to work.
I've tried your method, bangalorerohan, and have issues.
The first process takes forever, (didn't realise it was a 4gb file) and a message tells me it is writing but 'file too large' and copied 8388609 +0 records in and 8388607 +1 records out.
How do I know if this is working correctly?
After the 'dd if=/sdcard/ilostit.dd of=/dev/block/mmcblk0p1', I just get '>'.
Do I have to wait for something to happen...looks like I just added a line ready for the phone to read, from what I've read?
When I reboot the phone, nothing seems to have changed and the old 0049... IMEI is still there.
There is no IMEI folder in the EFS.
Thanks for taking the time to post a method...
Also, out of interest, why does the working phone give a '#' sign when connected after "adb shell", but the non-working phone give a '$'?

Hi Podgkin,
$ is normal user's prompt in Unix/Linux and so Android console.
# is root (superuser or administrator) prompt.
To make yourself root (superuser) you must have rooted phone.
You may try to issue the following command in the console:
Code:
su
And it will make you root if it is supported on your device (e.g. your device is rooted with patched su executable).
But!!! I would strongly advise to not do this procedure because EFS partition is not 4GB!!! E.g. on my SGS+ GT-I9001 it is around 5 Mb, no more.
First of all you should find exact model of your phone and look up the correct partition for efs e.g. in xda wiki.
Or just issue "mount" command - it should show what is the actual partition behind /efs.
This means that you've tried to copy wrong partition! Not EFS but something else. If you'd succeed in restoring this wrong data into right place you'll irreversibly destroy data that you've had.
Regards,
Andres

Thanks for coming back so quick, andres_a.
But the file created by banagalorerohan's...
dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk0p1 of=/sdcard/ilostit.dd
...is 4gb. (the ilostit.dd file)
Currently, there is only the 'restored by Android' EFS files available...this is the problem.
I need the IMEI folder restored, hence my use of the above.
And the phone is rooted as it is running CFW.
My trouble is getting the 'broken' phone to run/accept/recognise the ilostit.dd file, to see if that can help - I think?

SGN N7000: Help needed with repartitioning efs to ext 4 and error mounting efs??

I have tried to find more about my situation but asking seems to be the only way since all the info is either scattered or not available!
For two weeks I've been trying to fix my note from this ics emmc bug which made me loose efs folder and I have tried several methods with no luck, so I thought that repartitioning sd might kill the bug, so I repartioned just (parts)7,9,10,11 and also went for efs part that was empty anyway thought it might clear bad blocks, although afterwards I flashed efsfix.zip from another thread on here somewhere, because of which network and everything works just no lock screen and power button dialog? And when I flash any rom stock/custom it says (in red) error mounting efs, I found a solution for that by using terminal emulator and commanding "mount", But gotta do it manually afer every reboot?
And my imei is not the same as under my fone, how could I manually edit the imei and insert original fone info?
Could anyone help or guide me to a link so that I can recreate efs partition to ext 4 and the sort out other issues?
Edit: info in-depth!!
Thanks!

Does anyone know how to create/recreate an efs ext 4 partition on galaxy note? Is there a command or certain way to mount efs part as ext 4?

without efs backup you have lost your emei. Unless you resort to illegal methods in most countries (expensive z3x box)
At this point, just go to Samsung and have them illegally legally restore it lmao, they somehow are allowed to do it.
Anyway, how did you analyze its efs thats corrupted, cause if you can flash gb from pc odin succesfully its not super bricked
Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk 2

recreate can be done by flashing gb with pitfile and option clear efs. Then you should get generic emei. Which stupidly is also blocked in some countries.
That emei stuff is so overrated by secret agencies.
Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk 2

Thanks for the reply baz77.
Basically, I wasnt aware of this emmc wipe bug when I bought Note, I got my rom flashing experience and knowledge from SGS2, so after like a week of purchase I tried to flash ICS stunnner on my Note with squeaky clean, but resulted in getting my fone back from samsung after being revived, took 3weeks to return.
At this point I still didnt know about the bug because I had assumed that my own doing caused the super hardbrick, till I flash a criskelo rom with a wipe and my problems started off with not registered on network, after that I have been krazily searching and flashing to have the fone working flawless again without having to send the fone back to samsung becasue of the wait and tiny chips n crack on my fone.
And I figured that efs is corrupted by googling and gathering info about my particular problem and everything pointed towards efs being corrupted!
I am really hoping for them release a fix and I can get my fone back working as a whole again!
Edit: added missing words! Lol
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda premium with Alliance Rom v1.2 + no lock screen and power button dialog!?!?

Could I plz ask, where can I get the stock gb with pit file samsung
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda premium with Alliance Rom v1.2 + No lockscreen and No Power button dialog!?!?

baz77 said:
recreate can be done by flashing gb with pitfile and option clear efs. Then you should get generic emei. Which stupidly is also blocked in some countries.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Apparently, pitfile and efs clear option doesn't work, I tried GB with pitfile got the red 'error mounting efs' and tried stock UK ICS 4.0.3 from (thanks to) Dr.Ketan but Ive still got the error and no lockscreen and faulty power button?!? Plus:- Sim Network is gone :banghead: , i'll just have to flash that efsfix.zip and do the terminal "mount" procedure again!!! manually!
"Probaly Leagality issues there" I'll try the same pitfile procedure with rom from another country if it doesnt work then dont really want to but guess this fone's going back to Samsung for repairs before I sell it off.
Many Thanks for your help!!
<<SUNG>>from my <<SAM>> GT-N7000

baz77 said:
At this point, just go to Samsung and have them illegally legally restore it lmao, they somehow are allowed to do it. 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the custom binary count reset, so they shouldnt have any problems with repairing illegally then?? With stock UK ICS 403 Rom from this forum!?!
<SAMSUNG><ASONG> From GT-N7000!

I thought each rom had efs file, not so sure anymore. download and install 7zip, open the tar md5 rom file with it and ignore the warnings. should be efs. img in there, if not best download one, same csc as you have, if you know what it was before it became corrupt. I think kj4 has one, so you can flash whole gb rom with options efs clear and the pitfile.
If that fails, then perform a factory reset with code, do this only from gb, *2767*3855# in dialer. That might force the efs to reset itself to generic. Should not be needed, but hey it cant harm trying on gb. note own risk
If that fails, flash stock ics which you had in first place and ask them to fix it.
You need them anyway to get original emei back, which is why I said best go there. However if you still want to try above could give you a working emei. Its generic test emei and blocked in some countries thought, so if you need to travel...
Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk 2

baz77 said:
I thought each rom had efs file, not so sure anymore. download and install 7zip, open the tar md5 rom file with it and ignore the warnings. should be efs. img in there, if not best download one, same csc as you have, if you know what it was before it became corrupt. I think kj4 has one, so you can flash whole gb rom with options efs clear and the pitfile.
If that fails, then perform a factory reset with code, do this only from gb, *2767*3855# in dialer. That might force the efs to reset itself to generic. Should not be needed, but hey it cant harm trying on gb. note own risk
If that fails, flash stock ics which you had in first place and ask them to fix it.
You need them anyway to get original emei back, which is why I said best go there. However if you still want to try above could give you a working emei. Its generic test emei and blocked in some countries thought, so if you need to travel...
Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey baz77,
I tried the same pitfile method with a GB236 Rom built from HongKong and flashed it twice, because I read on this forum somewhere that in the event of errors, missing files and apps after a flash, roms should be flashed atleast once more to get'em fully loaded but unfortunately even that method failed to mount the efs part.
Afterwards, I was just googling for more solutions and I decided to download and flash another GB236 rom Open europe built (wipe version) from Dr. Ketan's stock rom deposites and to my joyous surprise there were 2 extra tar. files, one named efs.md5.tar, so I quickly got my fone in download mode and flashed the rom with pitfile and when that was done, I got the fone back in download mode and Flashed the efs.tar (PDA), CSC, Modem (PHONE) and for the first time in 2 weeks the fone booted up normally as it should with the welcome screen, working lock screen and power button dialog! pheeeewwww!!!
But the imei is still not the same as under the hood, but I guess since the efs part had been corrupted, my fones probabaly using the emergency imei, Im using Alliance v1 with no apprent faults or errors.
i'll flash the GB Rom and try the factory rest code method by you and if it works then dont have to go to samsung and if doesnt then i'll keep using the fone as it is for as long as I have it and keep looking for solutions, if nothing happens then i'll get it sorted from samsung before selling it.
Your help is much appreciated, Thanks baz77!!! :thumbup: :thumbup:
<SAMSUNG><ASONG>from<GT-N7000

back then.. there was an application on playstore that can fix IMEI issues... its called GSII repair.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/...GwsMSwxLDEsImNvbS5oZWxyb3ouR1NJSV9SZXBhaXIiXQ..
It worked mostly on all phones that I have heard of.. including the Note's of my friends whom their IMEIs got toasted.
See if you can give that a shot bud..
Ps. by the way.. most corrupted IMEIs have a mocked imei of 004999010640000
Others said that they were able to restore their original IMEI by flashing to stock GB, root the phone and install Root explorer, after that, you need to go to /EFS folder inside your phone(thru root explorer) and backup first your orig ' nv_data.bin ', now if you see a nv_data.bak in there with a previous date different from the bin file, then delete accordingly the nv_data.bin and rename the bak file to nv_data.bin reboot phone and check if orig IMEI is back on your phone.
Now this isn't applicable if your bak and bin files for ( nv_data) are all on the same date though.
don't try this yet unless your willing to give all possible options to restore back your original IMEI. Don't forget to try first the link I showed to you at the top.
Cheers.
:good:

letters_to_cleo said:
back then.. there was an application on playstore that can fix IMEI issues... its called GSII repair.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/...GwsMSwxLDEsImNvbS5oZWxyb3ouR1NJSV9SZXBhaXIiXQ..
It worked mostly on all phones that I have heard of.. including the Note's of my friends whom their IMEIs got toasted.
See if you can give that a shot bud..
Ps. by the way.. most corrupted IMEIs have a mocked imei of 004999010640000
Others said that they were able to restore their original IMEI by flashing to stock GB, root the phone and install Root explorer, after that, you need to go to /EFS folder inside your phone(thru root explorer) and backup first your orig ' nv_data.bin ', now if you see a nv_data.bak in there with a previous date different from the bin file, then delete accordingly the nv_data.bin and rename the bak file to nv_data.bin reboot phone and check if orig IMEI is back on your phone.
Now this isn't applicable if your bak and bin files for ( nv_data) are all on the same date though.
don't try this yet unless your willing to give all possible options to restore back your original IMEI. Don't forget to try first the link I showed to you at the top.
Cheers.
:good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi Letters_to_cleo,
Thank you for the suggestions mate, at the moment Im on Alliance v.1 403 rom, and I have just tried the fix from your link, did the steps1 & 2 restarted checked imei and it's the same serial (#to#) as you have stated, then i tried the step 3 which indicated that the nv_data.bin file is missing from that folder.
I have already gone to certain extents to return the fone in its generic state, so it won't matter if I tried once more besides trying repairs on GB rom is probably much safer then on ICS builts as long as the fone doesnt die on me,(completely again!), I 'll try your 2nd method in a bit and report back after!
Thanks for the support!!:thumbup:
<SAMSUNG><ASONG>from<GT-N7000

yeah that app wont work if you dont have efs backup. It distills from original. bak file the emei, now with the reflash of efs, even before you had lost it. only generic stuff left.
you need as mentioned before to go to samsung to repair emei, or find a phone place that can do it. You can yourself but in most countries its illegal. You need z3d box or equivalent for that, 150$$$$ lol, I have seen people who bought it offer that service for small fee. But be careful as ot could be illegal in your country, even if its going from generic emei to original emei lol.
Oh and you are welcome, been there done that, with the efs stuff. Samsung fixed mine.
My help is free, now if another has this you know how to help them
After Samsung fixes it,stay on gb, root phone and backup efs on multiple locations(pc, cdrom, floppy disk, bank vault you get it) In future when you buy android do that first. How to is in dr ketans toolbox thread in general section.
edit efs backup is not in nandroid, nor titanium backups. In fact still to date there is not one solution that can back everything up on your phone.
Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk 2

letters to cleo, corrupt emeis are empty or 0000000000000000000000000,
the 490000 emei is given when resetting efs. That is not corrupt anymore to my knowledge
Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk 2

oh I ran into missing lockscreen issues after fully fixing it, I have in my profile then statistics started a thread which links to a solution for that
Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk 2

Hi Enseven reporting,
@Letters_to_cleo, the methods you suggested dont work but thanks for trying to helping, i didnt find the bak file in efs folder but there 2 nv_data files, and they're both dated from Jan2011, renaming them just disable's the network and doent change the imei#, it remains the same!
@baz11, Yes mate, you are right this fone's going back to samung bcuz im not looking to $pend 150 on some box that I wont even use twice.
Im not really that fussed about imei not being as same on fone hardware, just as long the fone works, but like you said it probably is illegal to sell a fone with messed up serial no.
And on top of that fone's price would drop for having software issues, only wanted to fix it so that I could sell it on without loosing much $$ from the original price I paid for it, it'll be disapointing since Ive only had the fone for just over 2 months.
And I did manage to fix the welcome/lockscreen/power button issues by flashing efs.tar I got from that wipe version Open Europe Rom but even after the flash, it restore's the needed files but doesnt really prompt the features so I gotta insert this command through terminal emulator: "echo n- ON> /efs/imei/keystr" "sync"and factory reset, then the fone reboots normally with everything working but the IMEI ofcourse!
Wonder if your lockscreen fix works ive looked for it on your profile's statistic's tab but uable to find it, could you plz provide a link. Thanks
Ive tried all methods with some luck and no further progress apart from having to buy expensive equipment, so I guess i'll keep using the fone and looking for any miraculous solution till I resort to Samsung.
P.S: If they cant find a fix for the emmc bug by working on scripts , they should atleast invent a nano tech powder (gadget bug killer) to sprinkle on the motherboard, LOL!!!
because this problem goes way back, like another user said on here you could make a movie about now, and ithink it started off as a scifi now its a scifi/thriller, "shall I wipe before flashing & risk hardbrick Or shall I wait for samsung to pace up the support!!!
Thanks to xda and memebrs for being online 247 and all the support though!!
<SAMSUNG><ASONG>from<GALAXY-GTN7000>using xda premium!!!

Hi En7,
Sorry to hear my steps didn't work on your phone bud.
I checked some forums here in XDA and I've come across this one: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1804117. (I'm not sure though if you have come across that link before or not).
It is for the S3 forum but there's a tool in there that you can try to download and run to somehow restore your corrupted IMEI. It's worth taking the risk I should say but who knows..any given tool/info is highly useful and it could be a clear shot in bringing back your original IMEI back right?
Cheers bud!

lol that cracked me up nano powder hahaha good one.
you found the lockscreen fix, its the same fix I found while back from some guru.
I guess you can change emei to original with someone who has such a box. Finding is not to difficult, just need to go to a shop that can repair emei. Preferably Samsung thought, Just go to a samsung service centre, or store where you bought phone. Best unroot and put stock firmware that matches your phones original csc, to avoid anoying questions. Just tell the truth you updated phone and emei was gone/changed and you want original imei back. Samsung can fix it. Note, this time dont use pit or clear csc. Its not needed anymore.
I searched hard and long when I had that issue with emei, wasnt without a backup able to change it back to original, other then Samsung or such a box.
It annoyed the crap out of me. I can relate to what you were going through.
Everybody is nandroid this titaniun backup that, apparently efs is the only thing not standardly backed up with any standard mainstream solution.
Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk 2

oh, and good idea, maybe you should write a scifi thriller
Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk 2

stock GB 2.3.5 .tar.gz for Heimdall ?

Hey -- does anyone have or have a link to a working *.tar.gz of GB 2.3.4 or 2.3.5 that I can flash in Heimdall? The main Heimdall thread is filled with dead Multiupload links.
Further info: I lost my IMEI. I actually have it backed up as a plain copied folder and a *.tar.gz, but it won't stick across reboots. And, flashing the JVZ firmware from the Heimdall thread throws errors for multi-CSC, I think because I don't have /efs and /dev/block/stl3 there, because it won't stick.
I flash JVZ, no IMEI. I restore nv_data.bin, I get IMEI and bars. I reboot, I'm back to no IMEI. So I want to try going back to an earlier GB, and hopefully not multi-CSC, and see how that works. I don't have Odin; heimdall on Mac and Linux.
Any help would be appreciated.

groksteady said:
So I want to try going back to an earlier GB, and hopefully not multi-CSC, and see how that works. I don't have Odin; heimdall on Mac and Linux. Any help would be appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Look here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1102881

salamat...
for the learning experience. I did figure out how to break down Odin instructions/files for flashing with Heimdall, so I did learn something. I still have the same problem, though -- no /efs. I tried exporting it in adb, but it's not working. And the simple /efs folder backup is not sticking, even if i chown it to 1001:1001.
Bah. I might go to the Samsung center, or barring that, some local market stall.

groksteady said:
salamat...
for the learning experience. I did figure out how to break down Odin instructions/files for flashing with Heimdall, so I did learn something. I still have the same problem, though -- no /efs. I tried exporting it in adb, but it's not working. And the simple /efs folder backup is not sticking, even if i chown it to 1001:1001.
Bah. I might go to the Samsung center, or barring that, some local market stall.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if you lost your efs ,. try to flash a very early stock rom or try this http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=26827676&postcount=4512"

xsenman said:
if you lost your efs ,. try to flash a very early stock rom or try this http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=26827676&postcount=4512"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks ... I did try that. I could get my IMEI back and a signal, but I'd lose it on reboot. This must have originated when flashing one of the early JB alphas. By accident noticed that I had the working 'fake' IMEI. I went back to 2.3.6 and couldn't get a signal, but I could flash back up to ICS, and magically my real IMEI was there. I backed up the /efs folder six ways to Sunday, but not /dev/block/stl3 or /dev/block/mmcblk0p1.
So after a few more flashes of JB alphas/nightlies, I found myself looping and going back to GB. No IMEI. Not the fake one or even all zeroes , just unknown. So I tried that method that you linked, and similar ones, but I'd always lose it again on reboot.
Also, I couldn't flash up to ICS because it would always Status 7 error. I don't have it handy now, but the error msg was something like, 'assert failed' and a problem with /tmp/updater.sh. I tried the THS 16 nightly and the last couple of the CM9 nightlies.
I gave up. Samsung Service Center here actually told me it was a problem with my memory board and would cost $150. A guy at a little phone+camera shop said he could do it. After some terrible bilingual exchange (I can speak a little Khmer, but not about Android or Linux), we settled on him trying to fix it. We'll see in a few hours. My fingers are crossed that it works. And that when I get it back, root folder isn't sending data out to China or Russia*.
* Please don't misinterpret this as ill will towards Chinese or Russian people. Just sayin', some of the best hackers -- and APTs -- come from there. Ranking among the US and Israel, too, right?

Efs folders can be fixed by using and Octopus Box or any other Box, by phone techs in a few minutes..so nothing to worry about, only how much they will chrage you for it

xsenman said:
Efs folders can be fixed by using and Octopus Box or any other Box, by phone techs in a few minutes..so nothing to worry about, only how much they will chrage you for it
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Octopus Box, that's the second thing I learned today -- cheers!
US$20. He knocked $5 off the starting price. Should've haggled more, but I "spent" more than that already trying to fix it myself, with the only benefit of learning to use Heimdall better. And this. And that when I get it back, I should back up /dev/block/stl3 or /dev/block/mmcblk0p1 too.
For now, though, it's kinda nice to be on my backup phone -- Nokia 101!

man. i must have been so out of my mind trying to fix this. I just realized how nonsenscal and jumbled the thread title is. and you can't fix that. bah.

groksteady said:
man. i must have been so out of my mind trying to fix this. I just realized how nonsenscal and jumbled the thread title is. and you can't fix that. bah.
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you can edit that by editing your first post

xsenman said:
you can edit that by editing your first post
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I never even saw that "Go advanced" button. Pareh, I'm gonna use all my day's thanks on you...

[SOLVED] Restore IMEI with absolute NO backup?

Edit: Solved by going back to Stock GB. Thanks everyone!
I've got a friend who got a new Captivate from the US. And he flashed CM10 right after getting it, without making a backup of the efs folder. Now, the efs partition is completely empty, and of course it says "Unknown baseband, unknown imei", etc".
I've looked around, but all the imei restore methods seem to require at least one efs file. However in this case we have none. So, is there any way to restore the efs/imei? Maybe mounting it to the pc and running a file restoration software (might sound desperate, but we are).
Also, I have another captivate (this one is mine) with the efs. Would it be possible to modify my backup to use his original imei and then restore it in his phone?
Any ideas are welcome. Thanks in advance.

Installing CM should automatically backup /efs to the sdcard. Look for a folder called "backup." Also, flashing to stock can sometimes resolve these issues without tampering with /efs

I can't give you a 100% guarantee, but the two phones that I've had to recover IMEI's for both regained the efs folder contents when I flashed to stock GB from an ICS or JB rom.

Waiting 5mins inbetween postings sux.
The easiest way I could find to restore my IMEI was to re-flash back to a stock (in my case it was a rogers rom) then go forth from there. Like it was mentioned above, CM9/10 save the efs and restore it after flash. I lost my IMEI while flashing Helly and was frustrated at reading the "fixes". It was just easier to format, reflash stock then go back to CM10 (Which I'm running now and it's great).

Thanks for the replies.
Apparently, he tried to flash CM9, and in the process he thinks the internal memory (/sdcard/) was somehow wiped and now he can't find that folder. I told him to use recuva or something like that to try and get them back, let's see how that goes.
But in case he can't recover that folder, is there any other way? Maybe mounting efs partition on the memory and using recuva then?
He really has bad luck...

Well, there really is NO backup. I can't find the efs backup on the sdcard. Even tried with Recuva and there's nothing there.
What's funny about it is that there's no files in the efs partition, yet the df command says it's full. Any ideas?
As a last resource thing, I was thinking about using the efs from MY captivate and see what happens. Thoughts?
I really apreciate any comment!! Thanks in advance.

moikop said:
Well, there really is NO backup. I can't find the efs backup on the sdcard. Even tried with Recuva and there's nothing there.
What's funny about it is that there's no files in the efs partition, yet the df command says it's full. Any ideas?
As a last resource thing, I was thinking about using the efs from MY captivate and see what happens. Thoughts?
I really apreciate any comment!! Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1300843 Go there and get one of the One-Clicks that will take you to stock GB. As several other people have said that is your best bet for getting the efs folder back.

m1batt1 said:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1300843 Go there and get one of the One-Clicks that will take you to stock GB. As several other people have said that is your best bet for getting the efs folder back.
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I can't believe my eyes, it worked! Thank you very much!! :laugh:

moikop said:
I can't believe my eyes, it worked! Thank you very much!! :laugh:
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Click to collapse
Now before you go anywhere else back up your efs folder!
Sent from my SGH-I897 using xda app-developers app

could anyone help with this, i bade a backup of the efs, and imei folder,I can find it no prob. just dont know how to restore it. cant get into diag mode to try a qpst restore either

SPEED_RACER_5.0 said:
could anyone help with this, i bade a backup of the efs, and imei folder,I can find it no prob. just dont know how to restore it. cant get into diag mode to try a qpst restore either
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just do a search on xda, there are losts of threads than can help you work through this.

I was able to restore my IMEI using this method:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1264021
I did it via the terminal emulator on the phone.
I didn't have a good backup of my original /efs folder, either.

it just happened, that my solution for restoring imei on sgs3 i9300 came by installing Android Revolution HD rom. Maybe it happened because it's based on stock. You should try, maybe it will help. :good:

stevegrin said:
I was able to restore my IMEI using this method:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1264021
I did it via the terminal emulator on the phone.
I didn't have a good backup of my original /efs folder, either.
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Click to collapse
I just used the method you linked and it worked like a charm. Thanks!

Cant restore imei
I updated me galaxy s5 g990f and lost network etc due to no imei even *#06# shows null imei.. I had phone direct from o2 brand new..ive tried nv read write..qpst tools..qdxm tools and when reboots still no imei flashed firmware before recent update and same thing..any one know how to solve this as o2 ridicukus tell me not covered by insurance or warranty..i looked at rooting but the apps for imei just fool websites not a network..i know can have fixed online but id rather attempt myself to get imei bk or edit system so I can put the imei on..its a galaxt s5 g900f on marshmellow 6.0.1 with snapdragon processor/qualcom..thanks