[Q] EFS folder confusion - Galaxy S Advance I9070 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hello all, I've searched the entire web (XDA included) and nobody could give me a simple answer to my little question, so here goes nothing.
I want to upgrade to JB from my current GB rom. I should mention that right now, my i9070 works like a charm, 3g, calls, etc. So before doing the upgrade i want a backup of my EFS partition. I've done EFS backups before (Galaxy Ace, S1, SL, S2) and everywhere I looked and asked, they told me to just copy the folder and be done with it.
Of course I've done what they say, but the thing is, the entire folder is only 8,92KB, and I doesnt' even have an nv_data.bin file, and it's cheksum (which IS there) is 0 bytes, so it's empty.
As I said, my phone is working fine, my IMEI is OK and corresponds with the one on the back, so I'm guessing i'm doing something wrong. On my S2 the nv-data.bin is 2MB in size, so this seems odd. I don't want to upgrade without being confident of the backups i've made of my EFS folder.
There is an "nv.log" file there which states the following:
Sun Jan 1 00:00:03 2012: NV data back-up begin.
Sun Jan 1 00:00:03 2012: nv_data.bin does not exist.
Sun Jan 1 00:00:03 2012: NV data backup stopped due to NV data size.
Sun Jan 1 00:00:03 2012: MD5 is turned on.
Sun Jan 1 00:00:03 2012: NV data back-up begin.
Sun Jan 1 00:00:03 2012: nv_data.bin does not exist.
Sun Jan 1 00:00:03 2012: NV data backup stopped due to NV data size.
Sun Jan 1 00:00:03 2012: MD5 is turned on.
Wed Jun 12 12:54:58 2013: NV data back-up begin.
Wed Jun 12 12:54:58 2013: nv_data.bin does not exist.
Wed Jun 12 12:54:58 2013: NV data backup stopped due to NV data size.​
So basically, I would like to know if this 8,92KB EFS folder size is normal, and I should be safe with that backup up, or if there is something wrong and should not try to upgrade the device until figuring out just what that is. As I said, the phone works great and have no problem using 3g or making calls.
By the way, the phone is rooted, and rooted apps work like they should, so I don't think that's a problem.
Anyway, any help is appreciated and if this has already been adressed, then I'm sorry and I should be ashamed of my interweb-search skills.
Thanks in advance.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2342100
tapatalked

I'd advice you to read some of the problems people are having with JB, to see if you can live with that.... mainly the problem with JB is that to make it work properly you have to install a custom kernel and some other tweaks. If you use it stock, performance is really bad, and battery life will also be decreased (even with custom kernel, you won't get the same battery life as GB, at least that is my experience)

Related

[Q] IEMI & CyanogenMod 7 problem

Hey folks. I'm having a hell of a time here - I noticed that after the (fresh) installation of cm7 and updating to the latest nightly, my imei changed to 004999010640000.
Now, I have two backups, and went ahead and copied nv_data.bin, from when I originally got the phone, to /efs and changed the permissions to 1001:1001. After a reboot, imei is still 004999010640000.
I went ahead and flashed back to JL2, at which point my iemi was showing correctly, so I flashed speedmod, flashed cm7-kernel, rebooted, installed the cm7 update, and now my iemi is back to 004999010640000.
It doesn't seem to have any negative effects, my phone works as it usually does, but it is driving me nuts why my iemi is buggered up under cm7, and why restoring the original doesn't fix it. Is this a cm7 issue?
TIA
CM7 copies the efs folder and reads it from somewhere else. That's why restoring it to original place didn't do anything. Don't know why it changed it.
Yeah I started poking around the initial flash zip and noticed that all efsbackup.sh does it copy the contents of /efs to /sdcard/backup/efs.
I figured that they were keeping /efs because of
Code:
/dev/block/mtdblock4 on /efs type yaffs2 (rw,relatime)
showing up when viewing mounts...
Still having the problem... im hoping someone here can offer up some suggestions.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
EFS backup post somewhere on the forum its a topic thats been well covered.
Due to flashing wiping efs .
One post is .
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=881162
jje
JJEgan said:
EFS backup post somewhere on the forum its a topic thats been well covered.
Due to flashing wiping efs .
One post is .
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=881162
jje
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the link, but it doesn't relate to my problem. The edits to nv_data.bin in that thread relate to changing the product code back to a proper AT&T product code on the captivate. I have a BMC i9000m, and an original (and proper) nv_data.bin from my stock phone when purchased.
The issue is when I copy my proper nv_data.bin to /efs, set proper permissions and reboot, it reverts back to a buggered IEMI according to settings -> status in CM7. I'm looking to find how how exactly CM7 handles /efs, and if it is CM7 specifically that is overwriting my nv_data.bin or if something else is at work.
Ah, finally figured it out. After seeing what nv.log was saying and thanks to zacharias over on the cm forums for tipping me off that just restoring nv_data might not work without everything else in /efs. I transferred my efs backup from windows to my ubuntu vm, set the permissions and made a tarball. Transferred that to my device, extracted the tarball, rebooted and poof, it worked. As this was a complete /efs backup and not just nv_data.bin, I'm guessing there was another file that the phone needed, despite what some of the guides say.
I still wish I knew what caused the phone to reject the nv_data.bin (as per nv.log)... I did delete the nv_data.bin.md5 because I read elsewhere that the phone would simply rebuild a new hash on boot, but it obviously didn't work. I wonder if it had something to do with that.
Oh well, it works now... thanks everyone!

HELP - CM10 upgrade and lost IMEI

Need some help here, hopefully without having to go back to JF6 (that is a little scary at this point). Was pretty happy with CM9 and updated through most nightlies. Just today I upgraded to CM10. All seemed to be working well except that I received a warning of invalid IMEI. I pushed through it and had the phone working on CM10 (with low memory /data isses - that could later be rectfied) then realized that the IMEI issue would mean AT&T would likely shut my phone down. The invalid IMEI is generic and has been flagged as invalid. I also ran into a few issues where I could not download from the Play Market App and think this was the reason.
I nandroid backed up CM10 and restored CM9 but still no dice. As I learned later it doesn't touch the efs folder which somehow the CM10 upgrade modified or had the effect to change it. Uuughh. many others were having the issue.
Anyway, I have verified that there are no /efs backups anywhere on my phone or SC or emmc cards. There are no backups within the efs folder. So, I am hosed. Any way to edit the nv_data.bin file a la this process for either CM9 or CM10?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=881162&highlight=restore+imei
This seems to be the only way I can see that would get me back with no IMEI EFS backup. But, going back to Android 2.1 Eclair or 2.3.5 Gingerbread would be a time killer and have to go through rerouting (?), upgrading, etc.
Any thoughts or direction?
tonyo123 said:
Need some help here, hopefully without having to go back to JF6 (that is a little scary at this point). Was pretty happy with CM9 and updated through most nightlies. Just tpday I upgraded to CM10. All seemed to be working well except that I received a warming of invalid IMEI. I pushed through it and had the phone working well then realized that this is an issue where AT&T will likely shut my phone down. The invalid IMEI is generic and has been flagged as invalid. I've also run into a few issues where I cannot download from the Play Market App although not sure if this is the reason.
I backed up jCM10 and restored (CEM NANDROID) CM9 but still no dice. As I learned it doesn;t tough the efs folder which somehow the CM10 upgrade modified or had the effect to change it - although I understadn the ROM is not supposed to do this but I see many having the issue.
Anyway, I have verified that there are no efs backups anywhere on my phone or SC or emmc cards. There are no backups within the efs folder. So, I am hosed. Any way to edit the nv_data.bin file a la this process for either CM9 or CM10:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=881162&highlight=restore+imei
This seems to be the only way I can see that would get me back with no IMEI EFS backup. But, going back to Android 2.1 Eclair would be a killer and have to go through rerouting (?), upgrading, etc.
Any thoughts or direction?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Go Stock with rooted KK4 and flash what ever rom you want after.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1358180
Okay
silvertag said:
Go Stock with rooted KK4 and flash what ever rom you want after.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1358180
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All right it was a long painful night and day. Found and downloaded Heimdall One Click .jar with UCKK4 GB. Ran it and it restored the correct IMEI. It was unrooted and stock.
Then what was previously easy became an adventure to root and and load a kernel with CWM. I must have bricked the phone 10 times havimg to redo the Heimdall to Gingerbread 2.3.5 numerous times including reloading samsung pc drivers. Eventually with Odin, I found the right sequence using Corn Kernel for UCKK4 703 injected with CWM (not 705 or 706 versions which kept failing) which allowed me to get CWM loaded onto the phone.
I still could not restore my CM9 nandroid backups as the /data restore kept failing having to redo things from scratch. So, then I copied the latest CM9 nightly .zip onto the internal SD then loaded it from the Corn-CWM restore. CM9 booted and things were better but phone nad none of the settings and things still not right. Then rebooted into CWM recovery and restored the last CM9 nandroid backup. Now things worked and everything was back to normal with the correct IMEI.
Man that was a long stressing and scary day...
Made multiple copied of EFS for the future.
Will hold off on CM10 until the /efs issue is resolved as well as the memory management is better understood (while on CM10 I immediately ran into /data out of memory problems (I know I needed to move things to SD but never got around to it once the IMEI issue came up).
So, all is back to CM9 and finally working fine
odin to stock, then you will get imei back, backup efs folder, and flash back to cm10.
I have the same problem, but i'm om Rogers and 5 days now and no problems yet. I have a backup of my efs folder can I just copy paste?
master2828 said:
I have the same problem, but i'm om Rogers and 5 days now and no problems yet. I have a backup of my efs folder can I just copy paste?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes just make sure you set the correct permissions on the files. BTW You won't have a problem on Rogers. Canadian providers have all their black listed (lost/stolen) imei separated. They don't share it so a black listed imei on Rogers will work on Bell or Telus and vice versa. Only thing is that your phone can no longer be tracked by imei in case of emergency since its not the correct information but E911 will still locate you via GPS if you ever place a call.
silvertag said:
Yes just make sure you set the correct permissions on the files. BTW You won't have a problem on Rogers. Canadian providers have all their black listed (lost/stolen) imei separated. They don't share it so a black listed imei on Rogers will work on Bell or Telus and vice versa. Only thing is that your phone can no longer be tracked by imei in case of emergency since its not the correct information but E911 will still locate you via GPS if you ever place a call.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cool, thanks, what are the correct permissions? if i run fix permissions from kernel will that do the trick?
master2828 said:
Cool, thanks, what are the correct permissions? if i run fix permissions from kernel will that do the trick?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That should do
EDIT: Checked my settings on nv_data.bin and its 777 (everything checked in RootExplorer)
silvertag said:
That should do
EDIT: Checked my settings on nv_data.bin and its 777 (everything checked in RootExplorer)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So where exactly do i put the efs folder? I looked on the root of my phone and i dont see a efs folder currently, i tried to put the backup i have there but it didnt work still go the error. i dont even know how i got the backup i have actually lol, i just copied my whole phone contents to my pc before i wiped just in case and there is an folder /backup/efs...lucky i guess
master2828 said:
So where exactly do i put the efs folder? I looked on the root of my phone and i dont see a efs folder currently, i tried to put the backup i have there but it didnt work still go the error. i dont even know how i got the backup i have actually lol, i just copied my whole phone contents to my pc before i wiped just in case and there is an folder /backup/efs...lucky i guess
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It sounds like you have the backup that is sometimes made in the /sdcard (or /mnt/sdcard) folder, which is the internal storage you see when it's connected to your machine.
To see the /efs folder (assuming it exists), you would need to use either shell commands from inside ADB, or a root file explorer. If it's not there, you should just be able to dump the contents of that backup folder to a directory called /efs and go from there.

[Q] Lost IMEI, etc the /efs folder and how to reuse and oldcopy

I am puzzled and confused about the /efs folder.
I have a P1000 which was running a January nightly build of CM10; this worked, including the telephone function, sort of...
I then upgraded to Android 4.2.2, CM10.1 from 21030728 - which works much better BUT it lost all the telephone capabilities (it shows Baseband version unknown). After much digging I think understood correctly that I must have ruined my /efs folder.
I do have previous /efs folder copies (not made with any particular tool) on my external SD card but even using something like Root Browser or Root File Manager to copy an old version (in which the telephone worked) to write over the existing /efs folder I do not regain access to the phone function.
My questions are these, if anyone can explain to me what is happening for I would like to understand:
1. I tried to delete the existing /efs folder (using Root Browser and Root File Manager) but it does not delete: why?
2. I am clearly doing something wrong when trying to copy an old version in order to write over the existing one (which does not work): what and why and how do I get around this to make it work?
3. How does Android protect the /efs folder and is there a way to get round this?
i have read far and wide but so much seems to be contradictory or inconsistent. Or is there a place where all is explained (and if so where?).
Thank you in advance.
Hello,
I had the same problem. I have restocked my Galaxy Tab but it did not work. I have tried to flash the modem with odin and it works! After reboot my Galaxy Tab i have Signal and the imei is restored. I have root my Galaxy Tab again and flash CM10.1 and it works prefect. I have now CM10.1 on my tab and i can use phone functions and the imei is restored. Have you tried to restock it and flash the modem with odin?
Good Luck!
Besides restocking or flashing a modem, you can try and restore your EFS backup with EFS Professional... Try to give it a shot.

Data randomly wiped out completely

Hi, I have been using the Xiaomi MI3C for about 8 months now. I started out with the stable rom, and then switched over to the developer ROM, because I wanted root functionality. I've kept my system updated through the many updates that are provided. Here are my system specs:
Model Number : MI 3C
Android Version : 4.4.4 KTU84P
MIUI version : MIUI 5.4.24 | Beta
CPU : Quad-core 2.3 GHz
RAM: 2.00 GB
Internal Memory : 8.94 GB available out of 16 GB Total - The number should actually be around 12 GB available(I "recovered" a lot of photos and files, so more data got used up)
Baseband version : MPSS.DI.3.0-1844c61
Kernel version : 3.4.0-g4c6d460-01417-g6ad3ce2
Build number : KTU84P
Actually I havent gotten the update to MIUI 5.5.1 but whatever :3
So. The actual problem is that I lost all my data. Like everything on the SD card was "wiped" clean. I put quotation marks in since the data is clearly there, since the space is still used up. I figure that if my SD card can hold 16 GB, and all my data was wiped off of it, then I should have at least somewhere close to 16 GB unused, right? I've tried to use all the top 10 apps on the google play store(I couldnt use the xiaomi store for some reason). None of them helped. I've just downloadede EaseUS's android recovery tool, but I havent gotten any useful results yet. EaseUS program is stuck at 75% ish, and hasnt found anything that I cant find with the other tools.
The annoying part is, that one of the tools I used found around 2000 pictures, but they were mostly random thumbnails from who knows where(random facebook images that I definitely didnt download, or ever see for that matter). I spent about 10 minutes working through those and nothing important was found.
The main concern for me at the moment is that I had some files hidden by Gallery Lock(the free version). They were some pretty important images and I never got the chance to back them up. This means that I lost some .glk extention files, and I'm not sure if most programs will check for them. Actually, I lost somewhere around 700-800 glk files.... :|
Something else that is pretty important is that when I get into Gallery Lock, It remembers that I have images saved there(I can get the exact count of how many images should be in there) as well as the names of each and every picture, but when I access the folder, none of the pictures have any thumbnails or data. I cant unhide them, and even all my gallery photos have been wiped.
Please help me, I can provide anymore information anyone needs if they have even the slightest idea for a solution. Thank-you all in advance.

Where and how to put known IMEI in S1 i9000? efs file corrupt, MTK doesn't work 4me

workaround found - downgrade to stock Froy 2.2.1 - IMEI back - still no idea how to use backed up efs file(s)
(c&p or s.th. else)
Still open: where to download and which version of TWRP for stock? did not find any:cyclops:
Btw.: it is my own smartphone (o-bill) and should be not a solution of all those telling stories of the mobile of a friend of a friend
It took me hours to find the wright files and I had 5x soft bricks with boot loops...
BETTER would have been a solution how to reinstall efs (write protected) if you don't have TWRP or if you copied efs file obviously wrong like me (just c&p to desktop); edit single file(s) or rename or what ever
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi forum,
I'm hesitated: IMEI was replaced
Backed up my efs file and installed really good roms (Omni 5.1.1., Lineage OS 11 (=4.4.4), CM12, and others)
Then I tried to exchange the small 512 MB RAM with a 32GB micro SD. Card was actually recognized as a 8GB one.
So I took it away to use it somewhere else and formatted it therefore.
Since then my IMEI has been replaced with the general one for developers - however, I need my S1 back fully.
This is the assumed root cause - maybe also it just happens sometimes if triying different roms...
Back to the facts:
I do know my IMEI
I have 5 copies of the efs file since 2013
when tried to restore from backup TWRP did do but showed failure with the efs file
Tried mobileuncle and others - failed because MTK engineer mode cannot be used (not supporten cause of other chip maybe) AND therefor
this quick win actions via dialer (#*#....) also do not work for me
root rights? Yes
SU? YES
Hex editor? YES
Must I really go back to stock (Froyo) with Odin and this stuff I forgot how to deal with it?
Or does anybody here has a proper solution how to fix this IMEI-RE-ENTRY-issue that is not too much time consuming and save? I searched for hours here and in other forums as well as in the internet...
I appreciate smart solutions and thank you all in advance
KC

Categories

Resources