Database Develop

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] Please Help!! (TWRP BACKUP)

Please help me! I was on Sense 5 rooted with twrp installed. Decided id try out the new CM 10.1 for the HTC ONE. So i backed up my system, data and everything else and proceeded to install CM. Decided it wasnt for me, went to TWRP, went to restore and there are no files there? What happened? I can see I only have 6GB storage available so the file is there somewhere!! How do i flash the backup? i read about a twrp utility or that the file structure is off?
Thanks for your help!!

UPDATE: When I go into a file manager, the backup from today is there.. it is in TWRP> BACKUPS> HT34JXXXXXX> (2013-05-14 @ 8:06 AM)
and inside that folder are the usual backup files. BUT IT STILL WONT SHOW UP IN TWRP WHEN I PRESS "RESTORE"

Anyone? I'm dieing here!!!

Reflash recovery, and see if now work.
I've restored yesterday my backup and no prob with TWRP.
And search your file in sdcard/0
If it will not work, reflash rom.

Don't know if this happened but I had a galaxy s3 before I got the htc one and I understood that cyanogenmod is a 4.2.2 type of rom and we have a 4.1.2 rom. A lot of peeps in the galaxy's forum would have trouble going back to touchwiz roms because the say flashing a 4.2.2type of rom partitions the memory files differently so then the 4.1.1 stock or custom roms. You may have to somehow unroot the phone and "push" the phone back to stock using your computer. People had to do that before with the s3. Hope that helps maybe. I have to go to work now. Good luck

Should I try to flash clockwork mod? Just go into the play store, download and flash from within the app? I don't understand I made a full nandroid it is in my phone and on my computer.. Why can't twrp recognize it?

Okaay said:
Should I try to flash clockwork mod? Just go into the play store, download and flash from within the app? I don't understand I made a full nandroid it is in my phone and on my computer.. Why can't twrp recognize it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
CWM can't restore TWRP backup.
If you backupped your rom with TWRP, this will restore it.
Did you try to see in sdcard/0?

Guich said:
CWM can't restore TWRP backup.
If you backupped your rom with TWRP, this will restore it.
Did you try to see in sdcard/0?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is in the stock cm10 file manager. This is the exact backup I'd like to restore but when I go into the recovery and press on restore, nothing shows please keep responding!!!!

For team win recover the files need to be in /sdcard/0 the number zero or it won't be recognized. Move the directory structure to /sdcard/0. Also copy the directory with the backup to your computer in case.
Can we see the whole directory structure of where these files are located? like /recovery/2012305/ or where ever it happens to be?

nullkill said:
For team win recover the files need to be in /sdcard/0 the number zero or it won't be recognized. Move the directory structure to /sdcard/0. Also copy the directory with the backup to your computer in case.
Can we see the whole directory structure of where these files are located? like /recovery/2012305/ or where ever it happens to be?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah man, I'll post the pics. Here they are looks as though it is in 0/
I just backed up the cm ROM just to see what would happen and now when I go to restore, the cm10 backup is the only one there and I can't locate it in file manager anywhere
Sent from my HTC One using xda app-developers app

Okaay said:
Yeah man, I'll post the pics. Here they are looks as though it is in 0/
I just backed up the cm ROM just to see what would happen and now when I go to restore, the cm10 backup is the only one there and I can't locate it in file manager anywhere
Sent from my HTC One using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Search the SD card for boot.emmc.win you should get two results one from the original backup and one from the new one. You need to get both the backups together. Also copy your original backup to your computer so you have a copy of it in case you need to wipe or something.

nullkill said:
Search the SD card for boot.emmc.win you should get two results one from the original backup and one from the new one. You need to get both the backups together. Also copy your original backup to your computer so you have a copy of it in case you need to wipe or something.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is what I see... Someone please help, the backup I wanna restore is already I'm TWRP folder on the internal storage but no files show up when I try the "restore" option in the recovery
Sent from my HTC One using xda app-developers app

Okaay said:
This is what I see... Someone please help, the backup I wanna restore is already I'm TWRP folder on the internal storage but no files show up when I try the "restore" option in the recovery
Sent from my HTC One using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK so did you copy your backup to your computer yet???? Well if not now would really really be the time to do that. Looks like there is a issue with how CM is doing the SD card and TWRP. So first copy the backup off of your phone. Should I say it again? COPY THE BACKUP OFF YOUR PHONE. Now go get the correct RUU for your phone. Run that sucker and restore the phone to stock. You will need to relock your bootloader. Once that is done put TWRP back on your phone and copy your backup to the phone.

Ran into this myself. Because of 4.2.2's support for multiple users, it segments the internal storage into pieces(i.e. 0 for first user, 1 for second user, 2, 3, so on). I didn't realize this and had to start from scratch.
Copy your TWRP backup(and anything else you don't want to lose) to your computer and delete the 0 file. Re-add your files to the internal storage(be sure to keep a copy on your computer). Then reboot into bootloader, fastboot erase cache, reflash, and reboot into recovery. Don't let the CM10.1 ROM start up, otherwise you'll be doing it again.
Alternatively, use the All-In-One toolkit to adb sideload a non-CM10.1 ROM onto your phone, delete the 0 folder(after transferring to your computer what you don't want to lose, of course), reboot recovery, and attempt to restore.

Thanks guys, got it working
Sent from my HTC One using xda app-developers app

This is the same problems people with the GNex came across moving back from 4.2.2 to 4.1.2 last year - you have to remember the internal memory changed and manually move fles to the non-0 folders! You guys should read up more before jumping head long into a new Android version!
Glad it's sorted now though

nullkill said:
For team win recover the files need to be in /sdcard/0 the number zero or it won't be recognized. Move the directory structure to /sdcard/0. Also copy the directory with the backup to your computer in case.
Can we see the whole directory structure of where these files are located? like /recovery/2012305/ or where ever it happens to be?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OOPs--sorry this must be an HTC specific problem--sorry for poking my Samsung nose in...
Maybe I am not understanding the thread but--
In my Galaxy Note2 all my TWRP backups, and I have about 5, are all in ext.sd. card and I have used it to restore on several occasions--could be a device specific situation, but in Note2 it's fine to have them in ext.sd card.

[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.

[Q] Questions regarding compressed recovery img and data on note 4

Hey Everyone,
I am new to XDA forums,(have used it for troubleshooting in the past but just registered today)
I am also new to android and linux, personally i don't use my phone for anything other than calls or games(i mostly do pc's), however my wife does a lot, she has written her own code, does mods, etc...., and we are both stumped. I am asking this on her behalf, due to a terminal illness she has lost the ability to do several things. On April 30th the lollipop update was pushed to her Note 4 (T-mobile US branded) and it wiped out all of her app data as well as her entire SD card. My question is in 2 parts one regarding the TWRP backup for this phone, and another regarding recovering the SD data from this phone(please let me know if i need to break this out into multiple sections of the site).
We have a TWRP backup that was compressed and loaded onto her cloud storage on 4/27/15, and we are unable to figure out how to get TWRP to recognize it without giving an error about the binary code or just not working period. Here is what we have tried(On advice not just from other XDA posts but various android forums as well)
Using TWRP(7zip for unpacking and repacking)
1. Downloaded the TWRP back up into windows
2. Renamed all files of the back up to be .tar, with the exception of boot which was converted to .img
3. Added Meta-Inf file from what was suppose to be stock ROM( she was not running a custom on this phone)
4. Re-archived everything back into Zip and sideloaded.
result : Error in binary code
Using Odin
1. Converted recovery (file only from backup) to md5 using Cygwin
2. Flashed using Odin
Result: Gained back a few programs but no app data or text histories
We have also tried varying versions of this, i.e. converting extra files or renaming extra files and receive the same issue. I am wondering if it is just an issue with the cloud stored compressed backup(or more likely i dont know what im doing)?
Second question comes from above, I was able to recovery all of the data from the SD card(everything was stored here, app data, recovery files, imgs, everything). When recovering the data it split everything up so all the sub peices of each recovery file are spread out is there a way to combine the individual file parts that were recovered from the SD card into functional android files again?
As i mentioned before i have never really dealt with this type of thing before but i want to try and fix this for her as between the 2 issues she has lost 5 years of data.
Thank you so much for your responses.

Hi, what you need to do is put the backup back into the exact same form it was before, an uncompressed, unzipped folder, then put it into the exact directory where TWRP puts backups when it makes them, and then in TWRP choose the option to restore. If you put the backup in the correct directory, TWRP will see it and allow you to choose it to restore it. Basically you just wanna put the backup back where it was before and then restore it in TWRP.
I wasn't sure if you had done this or not. If you have the backup folder with all the contents in their original form, it should work. I've even moved a backup from one phone onto another phone, exact same model of course, and then restored that backup onto the new phone!
I've never converted a backup into another form to be flashed another way, like Odin or as a zip in TWRP. Although I guess it could be possible it seems like it could be pretty messy.

Also if the TWRP backup was for a kit at build it will not restore on the lollipop baseband. You will need to Odin back to the kitkat NK4 build them you should be able to take the data.
Sent from my SM-N910T using XDA Free mobile app

ShrekOpher said:
Also if the TWRP backup was for a kit at build it will not restore on the lollipop baseband. You will need to Odin back to the kitkat NK4 build them you should be able to take the data.
Sent from my SM-N910T using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
YrrchSebor said:
Hi, what you need to do is put the backup back into the exact same form it was before, an uncompressed, unzipped folder, then put it into the exact directory where TWRP puts backups when it makes them, and then in TWRP choose the option to restore. If you put the backup in the correct directory, TWRP will see it and allow you to choose it to restore it. Basically you just wanna put the backup back where it was before and then restore it in TWRP.
I wasn't sure if you had done this or not. If you have the backup folder with all the contents in their original form, it should work. I've even moved a backup from one phone onto another phone, exact same model of course, and then restored that backup onto the new phone!
I've never converted a backup into another form to be flashed another way, like Odin or as a zip in TWRP. Although I guess it could be possible it seems like it could be pretty messy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you both for the suggestions i will give them a try shortly and i will provide an update on how things go.

Yeah, if you put the backup folder in the right directory, which is either internal or external sdxard/TWRP/BACKUPS/serial #/, you could restore just the data at least and it ought to be mostly ok. You ,might need to clear data in an app here or there if they force close.... or if it's too much then yeah, Odin back to KitKat and restore the desired components of the backup.

YrrchSebor said:
Yeah, if you put the backup folder in the right directory, which is either internal or external sdxard/TWRP/BACKUPS/serial #/, you could restore just the data at least and it ought to be mostly ok. You ,might need to clear data in an app here or there if they force close.... or if it's too much then yeah, Odin back to KitKat and restore the desired components of the backup.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for this, i double checked we had it in the right directory, but it still failed. At first it said something about a missing md5, but i tried again and i was able to get the log for the failure though. (attached below)

Hmm, I looked at the logs trying to make sure you chose to Restore in TWRP and not Install. If so it's possible the backup could have gotten altered or corrupted in the transferring back and forth. If you get it intact as it was, it SHOULD work, but I'm but sure what else to do at the moment. I hope you get it working

Sorry for the delay
Hey Everyone,
Sorry for the delay its been a long week, bad thing after bad thing kept happening. I was able to try your suggestions and i put together some additional information in hope this might help us try and figure it out.
*I must figure out how to recover, texts, contacts, call locks. My default texting app was google messenger.
So I figured I would start with the phone
I am using a Samsung SM-910T on 4.4.4 (build *ANK4) It was pretty Vanilla -> rooted, but running the stock ROM
1. The phone was set to do a full internal backup nightly using the online nandroid backup (by H3r3T1L)
2. Backups were set to be in TWRP backup format and to save to an external SD card, then to compress before being uploaded to google drive
3. Backups were set to delete from SD card after the upload was finished.
What happened
1. When stock 5.0.1 firmware OTA came out i was trying to dismiss the notification but apparently hit "accept" by mistake, causing the system to crash.
2. While restoring the phone, i attempted to download the most recent backup from the google drive and flash the zip to restore my data.
3. This Zip would not install, and i noticed all of the backups uploaded had the same anomally-a few of the files were 0 bytes
4. I downgraded the phone to ANK4 based on the above recommendation but it has made no difference.
5. I still get updated binary error and each time i flash the zip, my OS gets wiped.
6. I have tried instructions to just unzip and flash , to put zips in twrp backup folder, to build new file with meta-inf, etc. and nothing seems to work.
When the SD card got deleted I was able to retrieve some data from the deleted SD card, but don't know where the text messages are located or how to combine them back into a usable format. Or at the very least be able to extract the SMS/MMS history.
I hope this extra information helps. In any way im am desperate to try and fix this for my wife.

I believe you can use Titanium Backup to extract files from a TWRP image. If you can't extract anything from the backup it's either corrupted, in the wrong place, or in the wrong form - that is due to the compression decompression not being compatible (all zip programs are not equal). Best of luck.
BTW, you must restore TWRP files not install them.
Sent from my SM-N910T using XDA Free mobile app

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
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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