yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] androholic:
Just so everyone is aware, it appears that despite Mr. Highway creating access to this thread from bot the Att & Tmo general sections, they have become two separate threads. If you post in one, your post is not viewable in the other. Since the majority of the activity seems to be happening in the Att thread, I propose that users just stick to that thread for now, until Mr.Highway comes up with an adequate solution as I'm sure he will. I'm sorry for any inconvenience this may be causing, but the recent change in the forums have posed some problems for the moderators to sort out. I will make a post when the problem is corrected.
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] kssxs:
Guys,

check out this thread, starting at post #:113:

http://xdaforums.com/show....php?t=1791126

Not the exact confirmation we were wanting that EFS backup and restore works, as per the thread:

http://xdaforums.com/show....php?t=1791291

But a good start anyway. Now if we can get someone to actually confirm every step that they had their IMEI, then confirmed it lost, and then confirmed it restored ok...

(I'm going to cross-post this)
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] thacounty:
Someone went through these steps and they didn't work. It was a few pages back.
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] drothenberger:
The script should work fine from Linux. I haven't tested it myself, though. Just make sure adb is in your path.
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] David Dee:
Yes but that was restoring a different imei from a separate working phone onto the damaged phone. There could be a fail safe in place to ensure imei is not different from the original upon restore.

In this case, imei was not zero when phone was borked, so not sure if the same problem was encountered to those we have looked at.
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] kssxs:
I believe that was an issue of that person not having a backup created as was explained in the backup thread, and that's why it didn't work.

We need a dedicated team of techs in the same room on the same page ;) .
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] Superguy:
Thanks for trying at least.:good:
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] DudeWatsThat:
Successfully flashed a rom without loosing IMEI. I have compiled a simpler method for backing up efs.sbn for those who wish to back it up and don't want to go the long method as stated in this thread thanks to xMopx and tprouty it involves just using terminal emulator here are the commands:

su

dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk0p11 of=/sdcard/efs.sbn

and to restore the efs.sbn

su

dd if=/sdcard/efs.sbn of=/dev/block/mmcblk0p11

reboot

Do a nandroid backup also.

As stated by thacounty:

Try to restore IMEI if doesn't work restore from your nandroid backup and then try to restore IMEI.
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] thacounty:
You got it. That was exactly what I was looking for haha.

Just make sure you backup more than the EFS.
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] DudeWatsThat:
What else should I backup,isn't the efs.sbn where the IMEI is located? I think that simpler method should go in the OP. Plus some guys testing has shown that restoring the efs.sbn restored his IMEI will this method become the solution people are looking for?
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] thacounty:
You should back up all the block partitions. The script at the beginning of the thread will back it up. We have had someone try to back up EFS partition and it did not fix their phone. The person that has been linked here was using a Verizon phone when they fixed it. It could be the same problem, but it probably isn't.

Make sure you make a backup using the script and cygwin. Don't just trust the EFS, people have backed up and confirmed it does not fix. The EFS only contains the IMEI for sure on the GSM international version.
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] DudeWatsThat:
Great I thought that method did the samething as the the one on this thread,I feel real dumb right now haha. OP feel free to delete my useless compilations as they do not make the process any simpler.
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] MMontanez347:
ive been reading around and going through the spreadsheet and it seems noone with their IMEVI 05 has lost their IMEI when flashing, one user said that his IMEVI went from 02 to 05 when he updated to the lastest firmware (official from samsung).

should we all update to the latest firmware as a safety measure? maybe that update fixes IMEI issues with the phone. i wouldnt mind updating...i just dont want to lose root and idk if we can root on that latest firmware =/
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] DudeWatsThat:
I rooted on the latest firmware using the no trip flash counter method I was in 05 before doing it. Just flashed a rom today havent had any issues with IMEI.
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] Narcistic:
Only person to "confirm" it didn't work was someone transferring backups from a working phone to the non working one. I two different phones. I that's not a confirmation that it doesn't work. If it was a backup from same phone before loss imei then that would have... This only confirms you can't use someone's backups to restore your phone
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] androholic:
This makes complete sense, and at the very least it it deserves an attempt. It's just as good as anything else we have at this point in my opinion.
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] androholic:
I saw earlier in the thread that someone had emailed phandroid asking them to do a write up, but they weren't interested. I think our best bet is Android Central. They have development forums as well as being a big name Android News Site. Phil, the editor, is a great guy who is an amateur hacker himself and very open as a rom flashing, do it yourself kinda guy. Also, Jerry, their software engineer pro, is very active in the forums & also writes some of their articles. I think he would jump all over this and maybe even provide some insight. I watch them every week & they seem like very down to earth blue collar guys who may be very helpful to us. I don't have the time tonight, but if someone were to send them an email that's very informative, and maybe a little flattery wouldn't hurt either, I'd say they're our best bet on getting a little attention.

Does anyone have a moment & some initiative tonight? If not I may get to it tomorrow?
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] thacounty:
There was a guy in one of the threads that backed upand when he restored it didn't work. Either way he's better off the more he backs up.
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] wavrunrx:
well i gave in and have started flashing.

the next 4 lines have been my phones status before flashing new roms.

stock and rooted

k747 kernel

flashed new modem CWM_I747UCLG1 (from CLEM) (( IMEISV 02 to 05))

made nandroid

------

imei still intact at this point

------

(now im jumping into the rom game)

rebooted to CWM

Wiped data/factory in CWM recovery

Flashed ROM AOKP_Jellybean-d2att-ota-eng.task650-ktoonsez-7.24.2012.zip

Flashed Gapps

Flashed Kernel KT747-Kernel-AOSP-JB-7-25

Cleared cache

Cleared dalvik

Fixed Permissions

rebooted & setup google account & boom...

------

imei still intact

------
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] zmore:
Hah. I'm juuuuusssst about ready to throw caution to the wind too. CM10's looking good after most of the early big issues were fixed... but I think can hold off for another week. maybe. :)
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] David Dee:
I hear both of you. I just installed twrp, and downloaded cm 10 and JB Gapps. I have decided to sleep on it, but can't hold out much longer...
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] thacounty:
I gave up last night and started feeding my addiction again. AOKP jellybean is sick. I figure I'm within my 30 days, if it goes bad I'm not completely out, plus I'm backed up so I could provide an answer or two.
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] wavrunrx:
i figure, i still have 20 days with att brick and mortar for return/exchanges to f*** up my phone if its going to happen, so might as well see how it handles everything.

just bought 2 years of squaretrade extended warranty too

wewt ! :good:
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] MMontanez347:
is there any T-MO firmware or radio that updates the SV 02 to 05? i know at&t and sprint i think have SV 05 but im wondering is their any for tmobile? i want to start flashing again as im tired of all this fear but i think id be safer if my SV was atleast 05.
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] xstayxposix:
Posted this in the other thread, but I will post here as well. Here is all my progress so far. I am using TWRP to see if I get the missing IMEI with it. So far no.

Flashed UCALG1 rooted stock image via Odin. Installed TWRP via dd-ADB. Performed back up. Factory reset and flashed ICS AOKP and Google Apps. IMEI intact. Installed Titanium Backup for BusyBox. Rebooted to TWRP and then restored my rooted stock back up. IMEI still intact. TWRP once again, factory reset and flashed JB AOKP and Google Apps. Still intact. Installed Titanium Backup for BusyBox. Flashed fully stock UCALG1 via Odin. Still intact. Rerooted with UCALG1 via no trip Odin and pushed TWRP via ADB again. Made backup then factory reset and flashed CM10 and Google Apps. Still intact. Factory reset and restored stock rooted backup. Still intact. Did a factory reset and flashed kyanROM 1.16. Still intact. Did a factory reset and installed JB AOKP again along with Google Apps. IMEI is still intact after all of this.
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] jjlean:
twrp May be the reason you are still good:cool:
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] unleashed12:
Indeed, i know which recovery ill be flashing next time i get that aosp/cm10 flashing itch. :good:
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] Narcistic:
Or since this is a very very rare issue its just not going to happen to him.... Too few examples of this happening
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] androholic:
I'll be interested to see if the issue arises with twrp now that more ppl are using it. I've flashed a few times all with twrp also. I want to believe it's more then coincidence that no one has lost their IMEI using it. Cwm is the ONLY constant, so I'm glad to see so many others using twrp now as well.
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] lordmorphous:
IMEI SV 5 is a constant for now too isn't it?
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] thacounty:
One person did have an issue with TWRP on the spreadsheet right? Or did he flash TWRP after losing IMEI?

SV5 is the only constant that I know of right now. - But I'm not sure if it's the modem or the bootloader. I flashed the modem, but I can't flash the bootloader since I don't have a bone stock nandroid anymore.
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] lordmorphous:
I just checked and don't see any lost IMEI with TWRP on the spreadsheet.
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] thacounty:
Either I'm smoking crack or it was removed. Guess I better flash to TWRP today.
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] es7241:
Are you guys able to flash cm or AOKP roms with TWRP?
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] stevessvt:
Virtually every person, for the most part, who has lost their IMEI did have CM 9/10 on their phone at some point, though.
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] jasvncnt1:
http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1793224&highlight=twrp&page=5

Think some have.
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] fabzbear:
does that twrp work for all versions of the sgs3?
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] DudeWatsThat:
Go to their site a check compatible devices.
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] swa2k4:
I just got notes from Samsung on my repair that lost imei last week.it's already getting delivered tomorrow! Great company 2 day shipping each way included.

7/25/2012 4:02 PM-Kathy Moffett: The unit has left the technician. SOLUTION: Replaced Unit

*07/25/2012//17:02:58//Telephone//ASC*

REPLACEMENT IMEI IS ***********

*07/24/2012//10:00:21//Telephone//ASC*

7/24/2012 8:58 AM-Cristin Finney: The unit has been received. Pack Condition: Fair Packaging (Orig. Box & Cushion)

Looks like they had to replace it. No repair even. I'm feeling like it could be a hardware specific issue on some units.
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] Andrew_han:
I'm going to just stop worrying and flash some roms before my thirty days is over, that way if its a hardware problem i can get a fixed unit
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] swa2k4:
Yeah we have a one year warranty just make sure you all use triangle away and send back fully stock! :)
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] fabzbear:
I did, they just had for the at&t and Verizon. I asked because I read somewhere people were using it in there Sprint version.
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] androholic:
I don't know how long Tmo's warranty is, but I think they cover you with some sort of extended warranty when you carry insurance through them? I know I've called them with issues with my phone like gps, random reboots, etc, after having a phone 2+ months & they have always overnighted me a replacement and ask that I ship back my current phone. I've done this at least 3 times in the last year alone. Is anyone familiar with exactly what Tmo's coverage is, or do they pretty much always replace the phone if it's a hardware/software defect, because that's what it seems to me? I love tmo!
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] David Dee:
Flashed CM 10 with TWRP, no problems at all.
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] androholic:
Never mind my past post, because apparently my question was answered literally two lines past where I stopped reading, lol, sorry!
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] stevessvt:
Standard warranty, Im pretty sure for all carriers and manufactures, is one year from date of purchase of a new phone. I believe this is extended by one year if you get the insurance through the carrier.
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] David Dee:
I also know certain American Express cards add an additional year onto the warranty.
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] Product F(RED):
Yup, used that once on a laptop repair.
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] Narcistic:
Replacing unit does not mean it's hardware related. I having worked in technical support/repair and replacements. You almost ALWAYS get a replacement device if it being fixed by sending it away. Even if it's a known software issue.
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] swa2k4:
This is a direct to manufacturer warranty.I didn't send to T-Mobile and pay $20 for the warranty exchange. That was a second option. But contacting Samsung direct free and fast both ways shipping. One year from purchase date.just go register your phone at Samsung.com
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] MyronJ906:
Haha, just wanted to share the fact that I decided to play it extra safe. No one has reported a loss with SV 05, and no one has reported a loss with TWRP. So, I updated to SV05 and am using TWRP (which is my preferred recovery anyway after using it on the One X. I LOVE IT!)

Now, I hadn't lost my IMEI after various flashes before, so it still seems unlikely that I will. (Especially since I will most likely only use AOSP based ROMs anyway. I rarely deal with stock ROMs).

But in addition to that and following my typical flashing process which has worked so far, I feel very safe. :)

and in the event that my IMEI does vanish, you guys get TWRP and SV 05 both knocked out from being safehavens. It would be nice if everyone was using a similar setup. But of course that can't be expected.

I wiped and flashed CM10 and inverted gapps around 3 times today, leaving from AOKP. Updated my modem to SV 05 last night.

Just thought I'd share the current precautions I'm taking.
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] stevessvt:
So how so you update to 05? And if I have to Odin back to completely stock, does it revert to 02?
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] androholic:
I've always just exchanged through Tmo, simply because of the convenience of having a new device the following day. I believe the charge I always paid was $15, but that may have changed, and none the less it was always the best option for me. The manufacturer might he cheaper, but I tend to be a little impatient.
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] jasvncnt1:
I dont know difference between 02 and 05..Im on 05 and i did flash the new kernel. Now i never checked if it went from 02 to 05. But i flashed back to stock kernel and Im at 02
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] Superguy:
Is 05 a hardware revision or a software version?
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] stevessvt:
Oh, I just remembered this is on the AT&T boards, I dont think TMo has anything new out yet.
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] xstayxposix:
It's a software version. It is the IMEISV right under your IMEI in about phone.
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] fireboypr:
User tried to restore borked imei with his own backup and didnt work.

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?p=29364209
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] deeznutz1977:
Nope it s like a ghost town .. any updates to the imei issue Btw i still have my no imei phone
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] zonly1:
Finally remembered something that I screwed up on that may have wiped my IMEI. I originally came from a SGSII and was using darkside ROM's. Being a creature of habit when I went from stock rooted to Redrum's ROM, I did a full nandroid, wiped my cache, my dalvik cache and out of other habit ran the Darkside Super Wipe! I'm not positive that this did it, but it was just something that I remembered after reading someone else's post. If I can remember, I still had data until I updated to CM9, so maybe that in conjunction with the super wipe did my IMEI in?
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] stevessvt:
Right? Sprint has spit out 3 updates now, AT&T at least one that I know of. VZW hasn't yet I don't think, but that's a given.
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] thacounty:
Did you restore all blocks that you backed up from your other (good IMEI) phone to the old (bad IMEI) phone?

---------- Post added at 02:53 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:52 PM ----------

I would almost put money that is what happened to your IMEI. We need to look at that script to see what all it wipes.
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] deeznutz1977:
my hard drive passed (r.i.p) i have none of the links or commands to do it can you post it . ill do now i have time. my girl hates when i mess with the phone lolz edit got it installing the sh!t now
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] Product F(RED):
ODIN should be safe. Again, I own an i9300 and can also have my IMEI corrupted, but the difference is I'm able to do an EFS backup. ODIN, being a Samsung tool, I feel won't wipe the EFS as long as you don't yank the cable mid-flash or something.
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] androholic:
I think Ive read a couple ppl having the issue while pushing cwm, but I dont know how many ppl are thinking they are suffering from this issue and are actually noobs with no knowledge causing serious user errors. If you read my post about TWRP, I personally think thats the safest route over cwm & Im gonna be testing that as soon as I have a moment. I have it installed & its working well, and it more user friendly then cwm honestly.
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] androholic:
To me the only constant variable for ppl having the imei issue is CWM, yet noone using TWRP have had the problem. Though for the sake of statistics, not near as many ppl are using TWRP, but as I stated in my possible solution post, it seems to wipe the partitions differently which is why I belioeve it to be safer.
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] Kevinl86:
I just upgraded from diet ics to CM10. I'm using the latest CWM obtainable from rom manger. I wiped data/factory reset, cache, and dalvik. I then installed the rom and CWM in fact doesn't wipe internal SD. As a matter of fact I have two skyrockets with cwm touch and I've never had it wipe the internals as much flashing as I do.
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] Paging Dr B:
Oh noes, The terrorists broke my IMEI!!!

I just read this thread and wow some of you guys need to grow a pair and relax. "Zomg I'm not going to blink or my phone is going to become dead and stuff". This isn't happening to everyone, just a small few. Right now we don't know if it's CWM or if it's just dudes who flashed a rom for another carrier. I'm also guilty of clicking on ATT instead of T-Mo, but I stopped before downloading anything. It happens to the best of us. For any of you who did get screwed can you please post exactly what ROM you flashed, and how you flashed it (CWM, ODIN, TWRP). I think that'll help squash some of the panic that we're seeing here. I mean there's thousands of guys in this section of the forum who have flashed multiple times, yet a few have a problem and people go ape****.
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] jethro650:
Could this be related to a bad batch of hardware. Like the emmc on the Desire Z. There was a certain serial number and it was prone to frying. Not all of them did but it was thought that was the weak link. Just some out loud thinking here. I've read through a lot of post/threads about this and there doesn't seem to be much correlation other than clockwork recovery,but, lots of people are using that with no problems myself included. Although every time I flash something that's the first thing I check, sad but true.
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] sabre31:
I just lost my pair and am worried on flashing any roms now. I used to flash roms big time on all my previous android phones and I have a lot of different phones before never an issue. Here is hoping the root cause is found soon.
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] mobilehavoc:
You are entitled to take whatever risks you want but don't make fun of people who don't want to mess up their phones. Being cautious isn't a bad thing.
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] androholic:
The thread I linked is very organized & ppl are naming all steps, and it is a known problem. Please don't troll my thread bro, I didn't tell anyone their going to brick their phone, but it is worth everyone flashing roms to at least look at & form an opinion. I'm flashing with no problems now from twrp recovery, but I just want ppl to be informed. I'm polite & respectful to others on & offline & I just ask ppl to be the same. Thank you, and just be aware that it could happen, but your correct also in the fact that if your hacking your phone your taking a risk anyway, and you can't really whine about it if you end up with a paperweight :-)
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] Ecliptical:
Anyone run into this problem when flashing a rom through rom manager?
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] s1mpd1ddy:
Been out of the country with my new gs3, aching to flash some roms, ,, now having a second thought haha. Gonna wait
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] Product F(RED):
All ROM Manager does is reboot your phone into recovery and automatically select the ZIP for you to flash instead of you manually navigating the recovery menu. In other words, it's just a front-end for your recovery, and therefore you'll still be susceptible.