yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Galaxy S III General] myeviltwin:
My two cents folks.

I have note 2, flashed nougat without EFS backup from stock ROM and obviously I had no network after it. After 3 4 days of trolling xda forums this is how I fixed it. I repeat, I had no EFS backup here, mentioning the steps in details so that newbies like me know what did I do to get it fixed. To make things clear, I am not an expert, these are my own findings after trolling pages so well yes you are trying this at your own risk :)

Get your stock ROM from Sammobile, just search for your device and region and download the one for your phone

Install Root Explorer, its a paid app, pay the developer if you can, download from play store or download ES file explorer (give it root access from the left menu option, (if not rooted already, please go to step 4, then come back here)

give either of the apps root access (by opening the app and granting permission when asked from Su popup)

go to your root folder, it should be starting with / only

Open EFS folder, if you have files in it, copy the full folder and save it in your ext sd.

Used Odin 3.12.3 to install the stock ROM (Put the phone in download mode [Vol Down+Home+Power], put the ROM tar in AP)

Once done, Root your phone

Download Superuser latest zip and save it your external sd storage

Install TWRP/CWM latest recovery via ODIN (Put the phone in download mode [Vol Down+Home+Power], put the tar in AP)

Reboot into recovery (Vol Up+Home+Power), and install the Superuser zip from your ext storage

Reboot phone, should have Superuser in app drawer, open it and follow the steps it says.

Now I am not sure if this next step is really needed but I did do it after reading one of the threads, it worked for few folks thats why mentioning it

Install Root Explorer, its a paid app, pay the developer if you can and download from play store or download ES file explorer (give it root access from the left menu option)

give either of the apps root access (by opening the app and granting permission when asked from Su popup)

go to your root folder, it should be starting with / only

Delete the EFS folder, you would get a failed message, ignore.

Reboot

Copy the EFS folder which you saved in your ext sd and replace the one in root (/) with this copy

Go to your dialer *#06#, check if IMEI restored, if not proceed to next step.

This is what worked for me

Note down your IMEI from your phone, it must be on a sticker behind the battery. Go this thread http://xdaforums.com/galaxy-note-2/help/repair-wrong-null-imei-serial-solved-t3384056 and this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5eZ8kFEOfQ, follow the instructions, do note You need to be in your stock rom as I understand, the ussd codes will not work in custom roms.

Hope you recover from your IMEI network issues with these steps, best of luck. Do read the forum pages on your own, its mind boggling the amount of info that is out there.
[Galaxy S III General] LukasDovydas20:
IMEI Problem and Serial number problem

So i formatted everything on my i9300 with TWRP recovery then i installed a firmware from SamMobile with ODIN when i installed the firmware it says "Emergency calls only" and i see my IMEI is invalid it says 004999010640000 and my serial number is invalid it says 000000000

I tried to fix my IMEI and didn't worked

How do i fix my IMEI?

anybody help? Thanks
[Galaxy S III General] nabildanial:
Thanks a lot for this info! I've spent a lot of time fixing this problem, done everything I could find but to no avail, but this one take the cake. My SIM is up and running in no time! Thank you so much for this info!!!
[Galaxy S III General] myeviltwin:
Happy that I was to help:good:
[Galaxy S III General] dealline:
Final IMEI cert: FAIL

I have an S7 Edge with Final IMEI cert: FAIL. Can someone help me with a patch and suggest a fix for this? How can I erase the modedmst1 and modemst2?
[Galaxy S III General] JJEgan:
Read thread

Restore your backed up EFS folder.

Patches hacking IMEI posts are banned on XDA.
[Galaxy S III General] Legion_:
Fix: no IMEI only at custom ROMs

For all the people out there with no IMEI (unknown baseband) ONLY at i9300 custom-ROMs:

I fixed the problem installing a multi-CSC stock ROM! Afterwards the custom-ROM was working just fine. See details below:

Problem:

so you've got "No Sim card / unknown baseband / no IMEI" as soon as you install a custom-ROM at your i9300? But a stock ROM is working fine? Here is what I did.

Solution:

1. download SamFirm. Ignore the deprecated-message at the thread. With that you can download a multi-CSC ROM just fine.

2. start SamFirm, enter your model number (i.e. GT-I9300). Double-check with "your device" in Android settings.

3. for "Region" see here. Just pick the short form of your country you live in. As I live in Germany, I had to use "DTM" (used that one, because it had the most current version).

4. check "Binary nature" and press download. Pick a download-folder. It should start downloading.

5. start your i9300 in download-mode (Volume Down + Home Button + Power Button). Connect the phone with your PC.

6. start Odin (I used latest v3.13.1) and pick all the downloaded files into the right category. Filename beginning with AP goes to AP, beginning with BL goes to BL, beginning with MODEM goes to CP, beginning with CSC goes to CSC. See also screenshot.

[IMG="install Multi-CSC with Odin"]https://i.imgur.com/3Iv4QbW.png[/IMG]

7. press start and let the stock ROM install. Afterwards you will have the original condition upon delivery of the phone.

8. now use this guide, if you want to install LineageOS 14.1.

9. Important: DO make EFS-backup while in TWRP recovery. Copy it afterwards to a safe place. You will need it later.

10. After you installed your custom-ROM, restore your EFS-backup in TWRP. I did this immediately after I installed lineageos + opengapps in TWRP.

11. Voilà! All done, and problem gone! :cool:

I hope I can help a few people with this, because I went nuts because of this! :cool::fingers-crossed:

Greetings...

Legion
[Galaxy S III General] Bazzazi:
Hi

my phone is galaxy A115F...i installed gsi rom on it but it hard bricked and i had to flash it in EDL mode... my phone booted up into system but IMEI was null and didn't fixed even with flashing stock rom or factory reset....

also it cannot be rooted because of Prenormal state...

I luckily could enter diag mode by *#0808# and choosing one of the available options...

I could successfully fix null IMEI using This software (Qualcomm_Smartphone_Write_IMEI_Tool_v1.01.zip), but when i want to call , i get no network error.

(also i can't use mobile data)

(Screenshot for *#0011# is attached in this message)

Z3x is not support imei fix for A115F

Please tell me how to solve this error...Thanks !!!
[Galaxy S III General] wangdaning:
Always always always back up the efs. Seems that is the area samsung have decided to stick it to the user. I9300 is my first smart phone, so I can't speak of other manufacturers, but this is an abomination. Firmware that kills a vital partition? Who is this meant to help? They refuse to help people because they flashed firmware, rooted their phone. Samsung needs to be taken down a few pegs, they are acting like apple. Multiple devices with multiple flaws, but, never admit it:eek::eek:

Not in the same place as the other posters, but this phone is not all it's cracked up to be.

Please everyone who has an SIII just dd out a copy of your efs. If I look at mine now it is all funny, compared with the one I pulled, Running Wanam's rom,
[Galaxy S III General] JJEgan:
The question is why is the EFS getting damaged .

What are noobs doing wrong to damage EFS and it is 99% noobs that are posting EFS problems .

If experienced users can flash multiple roms with no EFS problem then what's the missing link .

jje
[Galaxy S III General] Golly31:
Noobs? No my friend ..they just flashed the stock mg4 rom or an mg4 based custom rom ...and after that they just got in to trouble when they tried to flash an older rom that contained an older modem ..that's all ....
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
No there are a lot of posts that are unrelated to this. Where efs actually becomes damaged. This thread is not just about mg roms
[Galaxy S III General] kangerX:
its the ROMs are using newer base . most haven't backed it up and when they flash something newer efs is screwed . No other manufacturer has this data in such unprotected state as Samsung. it just skips my logic

---------- Post added at 04:45 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:43 PM ----------

:good: :beer: : marijuana:
[Galaxy S III General] Golly31:
Until the mg modems I didn't have any problems flashing stock , leaks or custom roms ..any soft brick of the phone would've been solved with flashing the stock rom or wirh restoring the backup ..
[Galaxy S III General] JJEgan:
Try reading the post fool this is EFS not mg4 problem .

It pre-dates MG4 by twelve or more months .

---------- Post added at 12:36 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:35 PM ----------

No its an old old problem pre-dates MG4 etc by over twelve months .

jje

---------- Post added at 12:41 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:36 PM ----------

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2303807

and many more from then on
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
Maybe so, however there have been imei threads since the s3 was released.
[Galaxy S III General] marionite:
I flashed a stock ROM via Odin and still no IMEI. What to do? :(
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
Details. Context
[Galaxy S III General] kangerX:
right. didn't notice . personally I faced it recently. ever since I have been trying to study nv_data.bin , there are no documentation about it tough :weird:
[Galaxy S III General] JJEgan:
No offence meant in my post i just think that their may be something going on that we are unaware off .

Bit like the multiple posts dead phone after overnight charge turned out to be SDS .

jje
[Galaxy S III General] marionite:
Sorry. I'm an S4 user so I'm just doing this for my friend who owns an S3. I rooted his stock ROM, installed custom recovery, and installed Wanamlite 7.1. I'm not aware that IMEI needs to be backed up because I have never done that. I own a Galaxy W and Galaxy S4 and I had never done that that's why I'm having this problem now. I already tried flashing stock ROM and same generic IMEI :(
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
I also need to know what ROM you were on before rooting and what ROM you're on now....

Backup EFS on S4 too...
[Galaxy S III General] marionite:
I'm on MC3 now and I think ME7 was the ROM before. Just stock ROM. Thanks for the tip bro
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
OK, well unfortunately, it doesn't appear like any of it is related to an MG4 or MG5 ROM, so more often than not the phone needs to be sent for repair...

Double check the /sdcard for any efs backups which may be in .img or .tar or .tar.gz format as some roms backup automatically when flashing...

You can try flashing one of teh MG basebands (not roms) from post 1 just incase something was MG based and you weren't aware... worth a shot.
[Galaxy S III General] marionite:
Thanks bro. Will try

Edit: I flashed the backup of the original ROM. Now the baseband and IMEI is unknown.
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
Try the basebands next - failing that, repair.

Not sure what country you are in but if not wanting to send to Samsung for repair, mobile phone repair shops can fix for a small amount of money. In the UK perhaps £20..
[Galaxy S III General] marionite:
Ok what seems to be the problem? What should I tell the repair shops? I'm from the Philippines
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
have you tried the baseband in post 1 yet?

If so and no change, tell them IMEI is unknown.
[Galaxy S III General] marionite:
Its fixed! Thanks!
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
Ok so what this means is somewhere along the line the EFS format changed. Perhaps you unknowingly flashed the MG4 or MG5 ROM. What this means is you can flash any ROM BUT, you must from now on, use MG2 or MG4 baseband.

In future, more will become available to you, but for now - just these 2.
[Galaxy S III General] rraaka:
hi guys,

bit confused.....

The Note 2 also has undergone simillar format change of its efs partition after flashing the latest 412 official updates. but when you use CM based roms ( open-source) you dont experience any imei problems.

Is it different for s3 ?

coming from mc2 , i flashed indies 43.9 and i believe my efs has been modified. if i wanted to flash a CM 10.2 rom would i have imei, signal problems ? do i need to keep the emergency kit ready for those roms too ?

thanks a lot for your patience :o
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
Not sure about the Note 2, but for the S3, it's flashing the MG4 or MG5 ROMs that alter EFS. It is altered permanently (With exception to backup restore).

If you flashed an MG4 or 5 ROM, you will only have the correct IMEI using the MG2 or MG4 basebands, whether you're on a Stock based ROM or AOSP.
[Galaxy S III General] marionite:
Yes. Thanks man. I just installed Wanamlite 7.1 which is JB 4.2.2 and then I just flashed the MG baseband and it got fixed. Cheers!
[Galaxy S III General] jonpenn101:
Just a quick update. After calling Samsung, then calling Orange, then calling Samsung again, Samsung sent me Pre-paid package to send my phone back to them. I am currently waiting for the return of my life as I use my phone for everything. Lesson people: BACK UP YOUR EFS please!!! I'll let you know what happens next as soon as I can.

:(
[Galaxy S III General] darkshaft:
Keep us updated please cause I did the same mistake without backing up now am using another country's stock rom and thinking about sending it too, good luck.
[Galaxy S III General] DSA:
Also requested sticky status for this

Its obvious that this is an issue for some of the users on here, and this kind of info needs to be visible
[Galaxy S III General] wengyu78:
i try ,,,it work,,, basically i use stock room with MG4 baseband ...

thinking change back to stock for claim warrenty,,,,still stuck in between
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
Its in the sticky roll-up thread. Its getting people to read that that is the problem. Other than big colourful letters in my signature, I've got no other way :(
[Galaxy S III General] alaska_ryder:
efs restored

Last week I had a problem with my s3 and found out that my efs file was corrupted. I followed some thread for an s2 efs fix and it actually worked. All I had to do was delete the corrupted efs file using root explorer, reboot, then copy and paste one of my automatically backed up efs file to the newly created efs file made upon reboot and everything is working as if nothing happened. A huge relief, not very familiar with odin or efs pro, which I spent two days trying to figure out (nv_data.bin this and that didn't work).
[Galaxy S III General] kangerX:
^ yep also when efs pro can't defect back ups , simple copy paste does the trick

sent from the state where marijuana is NOT illegal
[Galaxy S III General] shahmirzadi11:
help please

:silly: so I've been going crazy.

After hours of searching through XDA I am still stuck for a soution. I have searched, read, and am very confused.

My situation is as follows.

I installed UltimaROM on my phone but forgot to backup my EFS (my bad I know and lesson learnt)

It messed up the EFS an mismatched my IMEI number

As a result I lost my network etc so I took it to a local Samsung Service Centre and they actually re-wrote the IMEI number for me and it now matches up again, however....

My phone still has no signal. I am back on UltimaROM with the XXEMG4 baseband version but it still won't work.

I'm really lost, please can someone help!! :confused::crying::crying::crying:
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
So if your lesson was learned the first time, you backed up your EFS the second time?
[Galaxy S III General] jonpenn101:
Ok Guys if any of you have been following what happened with me, I have received my S3 back from Samsung who have repaired the fault (after i returned it to stock and Triangle Awayed the flash counter) They also advised that they have put the most up to date software on my phone (Baseband I9300BVEMF1?)

It's all working ...... Need to root and install something flashy, which would you suggest is the very best way to back up my EFS?
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
EMF1 is a June Baseband.

Take as many different EFS backups as you can. Flashing my MG2 / MG4 baseband takes a direct, uncompressed backup which can be manually dropped in place using a file manager with root permissions. I would also recommend takign a backup using Philz recovery - Custom Backup. And then a 3rd backup using an Android App.
[Galaxy S III General] shahmirzadi11:
I have no backup of an EFS. As my phone has no signal I didn't think backing up the EFS would be relevant at this point. Clearly from your reply I am wrong in this?

Just to clarify, my IMEI is still correct at this moment in time so if I still need to make an EFS backup to fix the problem then I can?

Am I experiencing problems just because my EFS is now corrupt then? I'm at a loss.
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
Sorry I think I miss understood. So it never worked again, after IMEI fixed by shop? If this is teh case, best thing to do is take it back to them and tell them.
[Galaxy S III General] kangerX:
Most simplest would be just copy efs to somewhere safe but as said above have multiple back up even in cloud :D

sent from the state where marijuana is NOT illegal !
[Galaxy S III General] jonpenn101:
Cheers for this guy i've just done a Ktool backup which is now on my work PC the SD Card on phone and on my Dropbox and i will have it on my Laptop at home when i switch it on. Gonna flash Philz recovery next and get a backup from there also and i suppose a manual back up is a spanking good idea too. Then it's the arduous task of finding a ROM i like.

:D

Jon
[Galaxy S III General] shahmirzadi11:
Oh okay, yes it never worked again. I had to leave in a rush as they took so long so didn't get a chance to check properly. I just checked the IMEI and it was back to normal and off I went thinking it wouln be okay. (My local service centre is hafl an hour from my home/work)

Looks like I'm going to have to take another drive. Absolute pain in the arse.
[Galaxy S III General] lmerega:
Ok, I read all the thread and tried quite everything, I still have no Network.

My story is simple: I DID NOT backup /efs folder (*I'm an idiot, I'm an idiot, I'm an idiot, I'm an idiot, I'm an idiot, I'm an idiot, I'm an idiot).

I installed a Custome Rom (Foxhound).

After that, I could not connect to the network anymore.

It's frustrating, I reflashed every kind of ROM, now I am on stock MG4, but no network signal and IMEI = 0049****

My /efs folder is readable and apparently it is ok...

I tried with other modems... no luckat all.

Any advice b4 getting it back to Samsung?
[Galaxy S III General] shahmirzadi11:
try installing Omega Rom's latest version - Omega v47 Jelly Bean 4.1.2 - it seems to have worked for a few people. Perhaps because of the later version of the modem etc.

Worth a try as it should only take a few minutes (after the DL anyway).

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1663656
[Galaxy S III General] Rox598:
i've been reading on here none stop for a day before doing anything with the SIII and just want more info cause i can't seem to get this to stick info to stick in my head :/

my phone came with 4.1.2 so the only efs backup i can have will be off that so i require ROM's that use the MG4/2 baseband otherwise i run into problems yes? if so how can i tell if said ROMs use that baseband? at this rate i'll probably stick with stock :/ maybe even flash that 4.2.2 leak but i don't even know if it's safe to flash that!
[Galaxy S III General] wyouflf:
thanks, i look for it:D
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
There are probably close to 100 4.1.2 releases that are not MG4 or MG5. You need to be more explicit. Only roms from July 2013 (MG) change efs.
[Galaxy S III General] Rox598:
What about ones that have been updated? suppose as long as i have the efs backed up i can just resotre it via ktool and it'll be fine yeah?
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
If you take a backup of EFS pre MG4, that can be restored hopefully and you should then be able to use an older baseband, once you upgrade to MG4
[Galaxy S III General] Rox598:
But my phone already is on the MG4 (as far as i can tell) the MG4 came with the 4.1.2 update didn't it? cause if so then thats all i have the backup of that file i can get unfortunately.

all i really want to do is install PA and maybe go back to stock if they roll out a proper 4.3 but i'd rather not have an expensive small PDA
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
How are you checking this?

I don't understand the question. MG4 IS a 4.1.2 update (ROM) that came with an MG4 baseband, but it is no where near the first 4.1.2 update. It is not THE 4.1.2 update.

Like I previously said, there have been about 100 updates globally that are 4.1.2 released BEFORE MG4. We've been receiving updates to 4.1.2 since 2012

MG4 (or M / G / 4) = 2013 / July / revision 4......... is a 4.1.2 release

LL4 (or L / L / 4) = 2012 / December / revision 4....... is also a 4.1.2 release

For the UK unbranded alone we have 4x 4.1.2 updates BEFORE MG4.

LL4 2012 dec 4

LLA 2012 dec 10

MB1 2013 feb 1

MB5 2013 feb 5

MG4 2013 jul 4

So you see, having 4.1.2 does NOT mean you have MG4 Smasung ROM

If you flashed / upgraded to the MG4 ROM, your EFS has changed, meaning you can only use the MG2 or MG4 Baseband at this time. newer basebands will work when relsased. You can flash ANY rom, so long as you stay on an MG2 or MG4 baseband (July 2013) or newer. If you want to go fully back to stock, obviously you cannot go to a ROM older than MG4 because the baseband packaged with it wont work.

If you have never flashed or upgraded to an MG4 ROM, then all of this is academic.
[Galaxy S III General] Rox598:
Oh i wasn't aware there was more than 1 type of 4.1.2 version i figured since mine was already on that update it would be the MG4. so how do i check if it is indeed MG4? i've never updated or flashed a thing on it it's only out of the box like a week ago.

Think i'm starting to get it so if mine does indeed use MG4 i can flash any ROM as long as i backup the efs and flash that baseband file from the OP then restore the efs? a lot of work for just a standard flash

EDIT: Also I do apologise for being annoying but i like understanding all this stuff before i jump in :(
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
Settings > about phone

Should give ROM version and baseband version

If you're not on MG4 yet, backup EFS now. You can flash any ROM and any baseband. If you Flash MG4 ROM after backup, you can restore backup and continue to use any baseband

If you are on MG4, you can flash any ROM but MUST use MG* baseband (no efs restore required/ possible)

Its better to ask questions first.
[Galaxy S III General] Rox598:
I'll give it a check now see what it says. how can i tell if the ROM's i flash are MG4 and will change the file?
[Galaxy S III General] danarama:
If they're custom ROMs should say in the thread title.
[Galaxy S III General] Rox598:
AH brilliant I think I understand now. I don't suppose you know if that 4.2.2 leak would do that swell do you? i'm gonna go back and thank all your posts now, thanks again for the help and sorry for being a pain! :)