Hey, i messed up my efs files awhile back when froyo was first getting leaked onto I9000 and flashed to my samsung captivate. So i have the generic fake samsung EMEI code of 004999010640000 so that i can use the AT&T network. I never made any back up of efs files and i recently tried to restore my emei using the two methods in android development but still no luck getting my original IMEI. I need get a warranty exchange through samsung due to search button randomly engages on its own and am worried that samsung will see that the EMEI code is different and try to void my warranty since it would be evidence that i messed with the software. I have my original box so i know my original IMEI code so is there a way to manually enter my code or any other way to restore my EMEI. Or do u think samsung would even notice anything with the android software?
Fix IMEI
OP, ODIN3 One-Click Master Clear will get it all back 4 U. I just posted on another thread about this same issue. I went through hell trying anything I could find, was ready to go to AT&T for a swap out. I gave ODIN3 One-Click Master Clear a try and it did it for me. So give this a try, you'll kiss your phone after You done
Just flashed back to stock and turn in your phone. Don't think the warranty dept are gonna be that anal for the exchange.
If they have questions on the IMEI number, tell them all you did was the kies update to JH7.
You shouldn't have any problems. It's been done before
edit: Btw, make sure you have JH7 installed
People assume that the rep at at&t has any clue what they are looking at.
Put a sticky note that says "phone" on it before you pack it up so the AT&T people will know what it is.
lol ok ill be sure to do that when i exchange it. But ill be dealing with samsung warranty on this one. I tried AT&T when my imei got messed up the first time, and i needed an network unlock code to use my captivate that didnt exsist and they wouldnt exchange me phones cause i was past 30 day return by 2 weeks, assholes.
If i do the master clear with odin will all the at&t network settings be erased and have to input them manually? Hopefully i can find the settings online if thats the case. A smart phone with no network is an expensive paper weight, lol.
Are you not able to get on the ATT network with the generic IMEI number? I have the generic IMEI number running on my phone now with it ending 40000 and I'm having no trouble getting on the the ATT network.
Edit: I do have a backup of my efs with the correct IMEI number too, just lazy sometimes on restoring the original efs. Just make sure your product code is correct and you should be able to update through kies to get back to JH7.
So, just a heads up guys (and gals); it looks like ATT blocked my device (reported it stolen) and now I'm locked out of the wireless network.
I still need to call them to see if I can resolve this issue, but it happened after I flashed the latest nightly CM10 and was running it all weekend with no problems, wake up this morning and I can't text, get no data. Try making a call and it states; "This device has been blocked". After using Google, that message is one that happens when a device is reported stolen.
Since I've had this device for it's entire life, there is no chance someone else reported it stolen.
I'll keep this thread updated with what ATT does, if they re-enable my device, etc.
Somebody else had this happen to them on CM10, and it was because their IMEI became generic overnight. You can read about it in the Helly Bean thread.
korockinout13 said:
Somebody else had this happen to them on CM10, and it was because their IMEI became generic overnight. You can read about it in the Helly Bean thread.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Huh. How does it overwrite the IMEI on it's own?
I did have a backup of my IMEI from last october (the entire EFS folder) I used ES File explorer to copy it over... But forgot to fix permissions... SLAP forehead.
(Fixed Permissions)
Now I'm back on ATT, guess it wasn't there fault.
:cyclops:
So after reading the other thread, I have to wonder if changing /System to RO mode (via SGS Toolbox) will prevent the EFS folder from being overwritten again? Or am I going to run into this again? The problem seems pretty clear, the EFS folder for some reason has R/W privileges, when it should be RO.
The second part of the equation, is _what_ in JB is deleting that folder?
scythekain said:
So, just a heads up guys (and gals); it looks like ATT blocked my device (reported it stolen) and now I'm locked out of the wireless network.
I still need to call them to see if I can resolve this issue, but it happened after I flashed the latest nightly CM10 and was running it all weekend with no problems, wake up this morning and I can't text, get no data. Try making a call and it states; "This device has been blocked". After using Google, that message is one that happens when a device is reported stolen.
Since I've had this device for it's entire life, there is no chance someone else reported it stolen.
I'll keep this thread updated with what ATT does, if they re-enable my device, etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This same exact thing happened to me, but I'm on CM9 Stable... Still trying to figure out why my IMEI is the generic one...
I had this happen to me also,,and when I called att customer service they told me that the emei belonged to an iphone that was stolen,,in my case this actually happened three times,,I finally flashed back to stock to reset the emei and it seems to be holding,, I was running helly bean v24 and had been on the rom for a day or something ( well since that version came out ) in fact I have two captivate handsets and one was on v23 and they both switched the emei to the same one,,I have no idea what caused the emei to change but it sure caused some hair pulling on my part lol,, all seems well now
wilson735 said:
This same exact thing happened to me, but I'm on CM9 Stable... Still trying to figure out why my IMEI is the generic one...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here, but on CM 7.2.0 RC2. I'm not sure if the IMEI just now changed or if it was this way since I flashed CM and AT&T is now cracking down.
The above posts, kind of confirm what I'm sensing is ATT doing something that flashed a stolen IMEI onto rooted android devices.
1) What was the timing of your problem? - For me this happened yesterday morning, or Sunday night after 9 PM PST. I restored my IMEI about 9 AM, and the service restored itself around 13:32 8/20/2012 PST
2) It makes me wonder IS this the custom ROM that changed the IMEI to a stolen iPhone? Why would the ROM choose an iPHONE IMEI? I think this was pushed by ATT. Was it a mistake or was it intentional? Proof? CM 7.2, CM9, CM10 and HellyBean (which is based on CM10 with custom kernel, partitioning). ALL of them set the IMEI to the stolen iPhone THIS last weekend though?
For those of you still needing to restore your IMEI and you don't have a backup, use this thread;
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=881162
EDIT:
You can also flash back to stock via ODIN to restore your IMEI.
So it looks like the CM10 flash I did Saturday did muck up my IMEI. I was logging into the Google Play store to try and restore my apps from the web, and found out I have two captivates registered.
One with the correct IMEI, the other with this bogus IMEI:
IMEI: **********640000
Here's the whole story:
On Sunday, in the course of 5 hours: 3 times AT&T blocked my device, I called them and got in unblocked. In one of those times, the guy says that the system logs say that my sim card was in an iPhone 3gs that was reported stolen. They also credit me with $25 for each of the 1st 2 times I called.
Anyway, on the 3rd time I ask to speak to a floor supervisor. She is able to tell me that because my phone is reporting an IMEI of a stolen phone, she'll forward it to the Stolen Devices team/department, and that they would get back to me on Tuesday. She can unblock it again on the spot, but eventually it'll get read by the system and blocked again.
I confirm with her that the IMEI that my phone software is showing is the Generic one (004999010640000), and not my actual one that I read to her from underneath the battery.
I was reading through the forums all day on Monday and came to the following conclusions:
1) That Generic IMEI may be what a ROM is mistakenly putting in place, it must use this as a failsafe of some sort, so it can have an IMEI, any IMEI. In reality it should be reading the hardware's IMEI.
2) Our IMEI's did not necessarily get changed this weekend. Last time I flashed, it was when CM9 Stable was released, and that was a couple of weeks ago. So, we may have had this IMEI for weeks, if not months. I know I may have. 1 month ago, my phone got blocked. They said that someone reported it stolen. I called, got my $25 credit, and the service reinstated. I may have had that Generic IMEI at the time.
Last night a technician from the Stolen Devices team instructed me to remove my SIM card from the device for 24 hours so that the network can refresh the IMEI (his exact words, I don't know exactly how the network works, but...) and that this was necessary. Yes, I could ignore him and put by SIM card back into my Captivate, but eventually it would get blocked again. So leave it out of the Cappy, he said, use it in any other device, and after 24 hours you can slip it back in. He said that recently (in the past day or two), many users had been calling about the same problem.
Anyway, just to be on the safe side, I'll be following fohdeesha's instructions here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=30563493&postcount=1780
Flashing back to stock 2.3.5, and seeing if I can get the correct IMEI. If so, I'll backup that EFS folder in 10 different places, revert back to ICS or JB, and if the IMEI is messed up there, I'll restore my EFS backup.
wilson735 said:
Here's the whole story:
On Sunday, in the course of 5 hours: 3 times AT&T blocked my device, I called them and got in unblocked. In one of those times, the guy says that the system logs say that my sim card was in an iPhone 3gs that was reported stolen. They also credit me with $25 for each of the 1st 2 times I called.
Anyway, on the 3rd time I ask to speak to a floor supervisor. She is able to tell me that because my phone is reporting an IMEI of a stolen phone, she'll forward it to the Stolen Devices team/department, and that they would get back to me on Tuesday. She can unblock it again on the spot, but eventually it'll get read by the system and blocked again.
I confirm with her that the IMEI that my phone software is showing is the Generic one (004999010640000), and not my actual one that I read to her from underneath the battery.
I was reading through the forums all day on Monday and came to the following conclusions:
1) That Generic IMEI may be what a ROM is mistakenly putting in place, it must use this as a failsafe of some sort, so it can have an IMEI, any IMEI. In reality it should be reading the hardware's IMEI.
2) Our IMEI's did not necessarily get changed this weekend. Last time I flashed, it was when CM9 Stable was released, and that was a couple of weeks ago. So, we may have had this IMEI for weeks, if not months. I know I may have. 1 month ago, my phone got blocked. They said that someone reported it stolen. I called, got my $25 credit, and the service reinstated. I may have had that Generic IMEI at the time.
Last night a technician from the Stolen Devices team instructed me to remove my SIM card from the device for 24 hours so that the network can refresh the IMEI (his exact words, I don't know exactly how the network works, but...) and that this was necessary. Yes, I could ignore him and put by SIM card back into my Captivate, but eventually it would get blocked again. So leave it out of the Cappy, he said, use it in any other device, and after 24 hours you can slip it back in. He said that recently (in the past day or two), many users had been calling about the same problem.
Anyway, just to be on the safe side, I'll be following fohdeesha's instructions here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=30563493&postcount=1780
Flashing back to stock 2.3.5, and seeing if I can get the correct IMEI. If so, I'll backup that EFS folder in 10 different places, revert back to ICS or JB, and if the IMEI is messed up there, I'll restore my EFS backup.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good information. I've restored my EFS from a backup I made last october when I first rooted and flashed CM7.
Not sure what leaving the SIM out does? Does it correct the IMEI folder on it's own?
Sooo, I ended up having this situation for first time last night.
What I did was:
1) One click kk4 stock
2) Flash Devil's kernel to get CWM
3) Flash Helly Bean 8/13.
4) Flash ugjk4 modem.
Bam wrong IMEI.
Did the whole thing again, this time using ugjk3 modem - bad IMEI again.
Then I just copied back my efs folder, chown to radio:radio, chmod to 0700 and reboot - IMEI got fixed.
What is really shady is when is this happening? After the initial devil kernel flash? Or the initial helly bean flash when it does the partitions and reboots you back into recovery?
scythekain said:
Good information. I've restored my EFS from a backup I made last october when I first rooted and flashed CM7.
Not sure what leaving the SIM out does? Does it correct the IMEI folder on it's own?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Leaving the SIM card out cannot change, reset, or fix your imei, it can't effect it at all.
Leaving the sim card out simply blocks your phone from being able to "phone home" to att, and report the incorrect imei to att. Because when att sees this, that is when they block your device.
This is why I suggested in other posts that when you are flashing a new rom, leave your sim card out. This way if the rom flash does reset your imei, you can repair it and THEN put your sim card back in, without the phone automatically phoning home to att with the wrong imei right off the bat and getting your phone blocked
Ok I have a quick question. I copied my entire EFS folder and copied it into my external SD card. Do I need to do anything else to back it up? I have the correct IMEI and want to make sure it stays that way. I noticed one person mentioned the need to fix permissions. Is that all I need to do. Thanks.
I would make a copy and put it on ur computer as well.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using xda premium
Has this been figured out yet? Anyone have any idea why this is happening to some people and not others? What's the common factor here? After several initial failed flash attempts I went from one click froyo, to several cm9 nightlys, to hellybean 8/13 , to cm10 nightly 8/18, to cm10 nightly 8/22. So far I've had zero imei issues. My number still matches the back of the phone. Is this something att is sending out, an app, or one of the ROMs being flashed? I just checked and the permissions for my efs folder are set to rwx r-x r-x. It may help if everyone lists their history.
Sent from my SGH-I897 using xda app-developers app
rickneworleansla said:
Has this been figured out yet? Anyone have any idea why this is happening to some people and not others? What's the common factor here? After several initial failed flash attempts I went from one click froyo, to several cm9 nightlys, to hellybean 8/13 , to cm10 nightly 8/18, to cm10 nightly 8/22. So far I've had zero imei issues. My number still matches the back of the phone. Is this something att is sending out, an app, or one of the ROMs being flashed? I just checked and the permissions for my efs folder are set to rwx r-x r-x. It may help if everyone lists their history.
Sent from my SGH-I897 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1) I used one click root, to root my phone back in October, then backed up my EFS.
2) Odin CM7 CWM.
3) Flashed CM 7.1 stable, got fed up with the /datadata limitation pretty quickly. Tried Miui. (had same problem)
4) November, flashed last available nightly for CM 7.1 (till march of this year) this change the structure of /datadata to have about 400 Megs and to warn when it's getting full.
5) January, started flashing nightly kangs weekly.
6) Mid March, flashed CNA 4.0.3 - Horribly laggy.
7) Flashed AOKP, CM9 nightlies etc. Ended up sticking with CM9 nightlies.
8) 8.18 flashed CM9 nightly.
9) 8.18 flashed UXKH2 modem (awesome voice quality)
10) 8.20 no wireless data/signal - device blocked.
According to the Google Play store, the incorrect IMEI was registered on Monday. Which means something deleted it Sunday night Monday morning while I was sleeping.
(if you want to you can view your account history and registered devices here
https://www.google.com/dashboard/
IMEI
this recently happened to me over the weekend. I simply flashed back to stock KK4 and i had my IMEI number back to what its supposed to be. I never had to call AT&T to unblock it. once I got my IMEI back, I flashed a custom corn kernel and installed root. while I still had the original IMEI I downloaded an app called Galaxy S Unlock and in this app there is an option to back up only your efs folder and its contents. after making two back ups I decided to flash the latest Helly Bean from Der Teufel whilst leaving my SIM out. once all was said and done I still had my stock IMEI number with CM10 Helly Bean. the only number that I notice changed is the IMEI SV. it went from 00 at stock KK4 to 05 on cm10. I don't know what that number represents but it doesn't seem to affect me. good luck to anyone with this issue.
cheeesboiger said:
this recently happened to me over the weekend. I simply flashed back to stock KK4 and i had my IMEI number back to what its supposed to be. I never had to call AT&T to unblock it. once I got my IMEI back, I flashed a custom corn kernel and installed root. while I still had the original IMEI I downloaded an app called Galaxy S Unlock and in this app there is an option to back up only your efs folder and its contents. after making two back ups I decided to flash the latest Helly Bean from Der Teufel whilst leaving my SIM out. once all was said and done I still had my stock IMEI number with CM10 Helly Bean. the only number that I notice changed is the IMEI SV. it went from 00 at stock KK4 to 05 on cm10. I don't know what that number represents but it doesn't seem to affect me. good luck to anyone with this issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The "SV" is the Software version, it doesn't affect your IMEI (your device identifier).
http://imeimobile.blogspot.com/2009/11/structure-of-imei-and-imeisv.html
Your sim card has been blocked after put in the lose/stollen AT&T phone .
Your sim card has been blocked after put in the lose/stollen AT&T phone .
I recently bought a for parts Captivate off of Ebay, Description saying the unit would only power on and that the touchscreen wasn't working.
I looked at the photos and determined that it must be a hardware malfunction, I have some spare parts to try and see what I could do.
(since my previous cappy fried after a botched job re-applying the unbrickable mod that had worked once before)
I receive the phone, in near new condition, no battery and dented back cover, and I thought "okay, no problem" and got to work trying see what was wrong exactly
I was unable to determine what android revision since I would reboot after lockscreen, so I flashed it with various roms, including AOCP 2.2, Slim Bean and at&t GB's that had been rooted with odin and cwm for slim bean and aocp and cm10
So the following symptoms happen based on which android revision I use
2.1 stock
- phone reboots seconds after the phone has booted to the touchwiz lockscreen, touch screen has no response, I can't say it's 2.1 definitely but could be since every other rom works fine except any signal or data other than wifi
2.2, 2.3.X and all the way to 4.1.1
- SIM card detection - does not warn of missing sim or bothers to detect once inserted
- IMEI is unknown other than the one on the sticker, which is in one piece
- Baseband is unknown even if I flash a modem
I've replaced the sd card/sim card daughter board that also connects the loud speaker to the mainboard. Still nothing. at least the sd card and speaker work.
So... any ideas or should I use this phone like a Galaxy player minus the front camera?
Gizoid1337 said:
I recently bought a for parts Captivate off of Ebay, Description saying the unit would only power on and that the touchscreen wasn't working.
I looked at the photos and determined that it must be a hardware malfunction, I have some spare parts to try and see what I could do.
(since my previous cappy fried after a botched job re-applying the unbrickable mod that had worked once before)
I receive the phone, in near new condition, no battery and dented back cover, and I thought "okay, no problem" and got to work trying see what was wrong exactly
I was unable to determine what android revision since I would reboot after lockscreen, so I flashed it with various roms, including AOCP 2.2, Slim Bean and at&t GB's that had been rooted with odin and cwm for slim bean and aocp and cm10
So the following symptoms happen based on which android revision I use
2.1 stock
- phone reboots seconds after the phone has booted to the touchwiz lockscreen, touch screen has no response, I can't say it's 2.1 definitely but could be since every other rom works fine except any signal or data other than wifi
2.2, 2.3.X and all the way to 4.1.1
- SIM card detection - does not warn of missing sim or bothers to detect once inserted
- IMEI is unknown other than the one on the sticker, which is in one piece
- Baseband is unknown even if I flash a modem
I've replaced the sd card/sim card daughter board that also connects the loud speaker to the mainboard. Still nothing. at least the sd card and speaker work.
So... any ideas or should I use this phone like a Galaxy player minus the front camera?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There could be a lot of things wrong with it since you are at least the second owner and don't know the full extent of possible damage.
But lets assume all things are functional but calls and data. I do want to clarify though, other than the 2.1(?) flash your screen responds as normal? If so try getting a one-click version of 2.2 and flashing it back to stock. Then just for good measure download Kies, which is Samsungs official firmware update client. It should take you to 2.3(Gingerbread). Now is the time to go into your phone settings and check your IMEI. Make sure it matches what's under the battery. Hopefully reverting back to stock with official software will restore your IMEI.
I've personally never had my IMEI get screwed up during a flash but after reading countless posts, and responses regarding the issue it seems that a lot of time if you are missing your IMEI the baseband version will show unknown as well. As for not showing a missing SIM warning I am at a loss but those are the best steps I can tell you to take in an effort to recover your IMEI.
Also if the above steps get you back in business make sure you do a backup of your /efs folder before moving ahead with any other flashing of ROMs to avoid a possible repeat of the same issues.
I'll give kies a try after downgrading, thanks
Kies says connecting... and then after maybe 5 - 10 minutes later says could not gather info on GT-i9000.
Gizoid1337 said:
Kies says connecting... and then after maybe 5 - 10 minutes later says could not gather info on GT-i9000.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm well I'm going to say you have i9000 bootloaders installed on your cappy. So Kies is getting confused and can't find the right software for your phone...
You could try doing a Gingerbread one-click with bootloaders for the cappy but you run a serious risk of permanently bricking your phone when you start messing with bootloaders. Of course as it stands you don't have more than an mp3/video player.
My suggestion would be to go ahead and grab one of the stock one-clicks with I897 bootloaders. As long as you don't pull the plug during the 1-2 seconds it's flashing those, you'll be fine. Once you've flashed, if you still can't get it, you can try the /efs repair that's in the development section.
It sounds to me like the SIM card slot could be borked, though. If that's the case, I believe connexion2005 (Josh at mobiletechvideos) offers a service to repair that for a nominal fee. If getting it working as a phone isn't a big deal, then you can just ignore the SIM slot repair and get one of the Captivate Touch roms and make it a media player.
Hello, back and so far flashing with uckk4 with bootloaders, and uckf1 also with bootloaders, so far same issue, no signal,imei, or baseband
Gizoid1337 said:
Hello, back and so far flashing with uckk4 with bootloaders, and uckf1 also with bootloaders, so far same issue, no signal,imei, or baseband
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm gonna say you're definitely having some hardware issues at this point. Sounds like you have a media player.
Sent from my SGH-I897 using xda app-developers app
I also found that I have no gps when running on UCKB2.
Anybody know where a custom 2.1 rom could be found? having a bit of trouble finding 2.1 custom rom that's odin flashable
Because now /efs is now NOT mountable and empty, good thing I made a efs pro backup, But nv_data.bin is mostly blank in hex workshop. Is that how it supposed to be?
EDIT - nvm about 2.1 roms, anything to fix umountable /efs would be nice, also nice would be if I stopped messing with my phones
Gizoid1337 said:
Hello, back and so far flashing with uckk4 with bootloaders, and uckf1 also with bootloaders, so far same issue, no signal,imei, or baseband
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i had the same problem the other day what worked for me was leaving the sim card out while flashing the modem, reboot, then shut down and insert sim card.
I just got a used AT&T Vivid with what turns out are 2 anomalies that I failed to observe initially.
First I tried to put my ST sim card out my AT&T SGS, and get no service. No big shock initially since I have to change the APN info. Couldn't do that cause option is dimmed.Checked further, No IMEI, IMEI SV, or baseband. Took sim out and observed that I get NO sim error at startup, just "no service". Tried an AT&T sim from a friends Vivid, same result.
I was hoping that the sim card reader just might be bad, a cheap easy fix and apparently some what of a common issue. Haven't ordered one yet until I get more info on whether the no sim error and no IMEI etc are related and it's not a more serious hardware issue. I don't have a problem with repairing hardware if needed.I'm a noob here, but have a brain like a sponge, so any thoughts on how to proceed with diagnostics would be appreciated. Thanks in advance
No imei is really bad...
No one here can help you recover it without a proper backup... I have no idea how to back it up nor restore...
If you don't figure it out I'd have to suggest flashing to stock... prolly via ruu and go to an at&t store...
Sent from my Vivid 4G using Tapatalk 2
I don't think (but don't know 4 sure) that this phone is anything other than an out of the box stock configuration. I don't have service with AT&T so I don't know how much help they would be. I did check with them to make sure IMEI printed on the phone wasn't blacklisted and it's OK. All I have done was to do a factory reset to clear all the PO's stuff.
Does anybody have any more ideas? I am wondering if I don't need to replace the motherboard and or just the simcard/sd part. Changing the motherboard would mean a different IMEI right?
No imei means something went wrong with the bootloader. It's unlocked? Did you try to S-OFF?
I believe flashing a rom stock via RUU (that's it, flashing the PD.zip file) maybe can fix the problem.
At worst you must change the motherboard and yes, you will have a diferent imei.
I may be wrong, but I see no sign that anybody has done anything to change ROM or anything else on this phone. I'll try to do a S-off, and unlock it since I want to use it on ST anyway.
hello,
i've also same problem here
flashed with stock rom but no luck ,
bootloader locked and s-off
searched forum but no success story
i think i'll return it
Well I finally got a new SIM/SD card reader and installed it. No change.Tried ST, AT&T, and T-mobile sims
Still get no SIM error when booting with or without a SIM card, has an X on signal strength, and it doesn't even say "no service".
Same as to IMEI etc. info, nothing shows up.
Am I going to have to change mainboard? Or is it possible firmware/ROM changes could fix it?
javierarenas said:
No imei means something went wrong with the bootloader. It's unlocked? Did you try to S-OFF?
I believe flashing a rom stock via RUU (that's it, flashing the PD.zip file) maybe can fix the problem.
At worst you must change the motherboard and yes, you will have a diferent imei.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unlocked the bootloader tonight, no problem. Will try s-off tomorrow.
Where can I get a stock rom file?
I'll only ask this dumb ? once: Is the OS (JB,GB,ICS) different than the rom? I'm still running gingerbread 2.3.4, should I got to ICS or? Will that have any affect on the imei issue?
I might just be getting some experience with this phone if I have to do it all over with another mainboard.
OK, so I decided to play with this phone again after my SGS1 was freaking out yesterday. I finally found and used a phone dialer code do download the ICS update, and it downloaded (via wi-fi), installed and rebooted fine. In fact It apparently fixed my IMEI and SIM card problems because when it booted the first time with ICS it showed a big icon "no SIM installed" ya hoo!! checked IMEI in settings, all was good. Played around with settings/menus a bit to familiarize myself with the differences, then restarted...NO IMEI again, and no sim error without any SIM installed On the next 5-6 restarts it worked fine all but once, (total on time of around an hour) but now every restart (10+) it's back to same original issue: no IMEI shown and no SIM error. I still have no AT&T compatible SIM card to really test it but if it doesn't give me a SIM card error (no SIM card installed) it's a moot point.
It really puzzles me that it appeared to work at all if I have a bad mainboard. My daughter in-law has a Vivid with a bad screen she's going to give me to use for parts (mainboard) but I'm not sure if there's not still some hope of salvaging the current one.
Comment, thoughts etc... Please