yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Nexus 5 Android Development] Shanks:
Anybody on sprint sees any impediments

Improvements by on lte by flashing these modems?

---------- Post added at 11:07 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:06 PM ----------
[Nexus 5 Android Development] rage_civic:
hi guys

ive just updated my brand new nexus 5 with 4.4.2 and i lost conectivity and the phone has no IMEI

Is there any chance to restore EFS without previous backup( i dont have any)

I never thought that official update could cause such a pain in the a$$.

any help would be appreciated
[Nexus 5 Android Development] samersh72:
via ota or fastboot command?

if ,manually make sure you flashed all images

wipe data and cache within recovery
[Nexus 5 Android Development] rage_civic:
i ve tried with stock rom and also a couple of custom roms but no luck at all

with fastboot and with twrp.
[Nexus 5 Android Development] autoprime:
and this is why we backup efs before something goes wrong.

flash new modem. if modem flash doesnt fix it... not sure. without efs backup made prior to this issue... you cant fix efs.
[Nexus 5 Android Development] rage_civic:
neither with flashing modem any luck...

as i said before the device is brand new and it has operate, more or less, 10 minutes

i didnt know that it was mandatory to make an efs backup even if you want to make a simply update from

google server.
[Nexus 5 Android Development] Chris123NT:
Which value are you changing in build.prop to accomplish this?

You may need to delete your telephony.db and let it re-generate with the new settings for it to take effect.
[Nexus 5 Android Development] spankymo:
if you're sure that it's the android update that messed your phone up, then maybe you can bring it back to where you bought it and ask for a replacement.

Sent from my Nexus 5
[Nexus 5 Android Development] 87Octane:
I tried flashing the zip in the OP in CWM and it appeared to work fine. However, it never actually created a backup? I searched my SDcard and /data/media but backup is nowhere to be found. Am I missing something?
[Nexus 5 Android Development] jd1639:
It won't create a backup unless you tell it to before flashing the zip
[Nexus 5 Android Development] TomTcom:
Is this the file you flashed?

Nexus_5_Backup_EFS.zip

I have cwm and I didn't do anything other than flash and it was located in data/media/efs_backup

Try it again?
[Nexus 5 Android Development] 87Octane:
Yes I definitely flashed Nexus_5_Backup_EFS.zip. Just tried again and recovery shows "mounting..(a few lines down) Flashable EFS . zip located in /sdcard/EFS... Finished" Everything looks like it went through fine, but no zip is being created?
[Nexus 5 Android Development] TomTcom:
Which cwm? I'm on 6.0.4.5 I think is the newest official.

Aside from that you could try remounting your data directory in your recovery just in case.
[Nexus 5 Android Development] floepie:
Could anyone verify which modem came immediately before the most recent version. I have been getting such bad cell standby percentages on the battery usage chart that I don't recall having before the update. If I look at the date at each modem, it's a bit difficult to determine. Thanks...
[Nexus 5 Android Development] 87Octane:
Tried re-mounting, re-flashed and success. zip created in /data/media.
[Nexus 5 Android Development] TomTcom:
Excellent.
[Nexus 5 Android Development] Demonic240:
I tried replacing telephony.lteOnCDMADevice=1

with

telephony.lteOnGsmDevice=1

ro.telephony.default_network=11

ro.ril.def.preferred.network=11
[Nexus 5 Android Development] ClaireH:
what happens if you dont back up the efs?
[Nexus 5 Android Development] coolek33:
U won't be having a backup of this partition that's all :p if it will be messed up (lost imei, no internal memory) U won't restore it. It's good to have it just in case. Do the backup once and store it somewhere else then your device.
[Nexus 5 Android Development] zxyz:
Do 4.4 modems only work on 4.4 Roms? I'm on a 4.4.2 ROM and every modem but .23 doesn't work.

Sent from my Nexus 5
[Nexus 5 Android Development] jcsww:
All modems work on all ROM's.
[Nexus 5 Android Development] zxyz:
I thought so. Any idea what my issue is? I'm just flashing the zips in twrp. Carrier problem? I get NO signal
[Nexus 5 Android Development] jcsww:
I don't use TWRP so I can't say. I have flashed .15 and up through CWM 6.0.4.5 without issues though. Are you running stock, CM, or some other non-stock ROM? What kernel are you running? In some cases, the .17 specifically for me, i had to go into the Settings/More/Mobile Networks/Network Operators and manually select my network at times. You might want to give that a try first.
[Nexus 5 Android Development] aavvaallooss:
I can confirm no problems with TWRP lastest version on stock ROM
[Nexus 5 Android Development] jwhyte:
Check SD card efs backup. Zip should be there with the img files as well.
[Nexus 5 Android Development] zxyz:
PA ROM and Franco kernel. I'll try what you suggest in the mobile settings. I may have fixed my signal drop issue with .23 though. My carrier doesn't have LTE and it was selected under 'preferred network type"

Sent from my Nexus 5
[Nexus 5 Android Development] spankymo:
try changing the network type to either 3g or 2g since your carrier doesn't have an lte network.
[Nexus 5 Android Development] jcsww:
You can change what your phone scans for but you need to get it connected to the network first. Try manually selecting the network if you don't have signal. If you get it connected, go to the dialer and press: *#*#4696#*#* and then press Phone Information. Where you should see LTE/GSM, you can change that to whatever your provider does support. For example, the providers I use both have WCDMA for HPSA. Which provider is your service with?
[Nexus 5 Android Development] zxyz:
Wind Mobile in Canada =].

Sent from my Nexus 5
[Nexus 5 Android Development] jcsww:
In that case, WCDMA preferred. They use the same bands at T-Mobile USA, which is who I use when I am south of the border.
[Nexus 5 Android Development] floepie:
Does anyone have a copy of the D821 KRT01B (4.4) (x.x.x.15) modem? It states that the D820 and D821 modems are identical for the (x.x.x.17) modem, but there's nothing about the other modems. Thanks...
[Nexus 5 Android Development] jcsww:
There may not be one. If there was, I'm sure it would have been posted somewhere. Each 820 radio and each 821 radio can be flashed on either version. The hardware is exactly the same, the radio software is what determines what bands it picks up. The 821 radio does not check CDMA for service and does not look at the same bands for service for LTE and other services. Check and see what bands your carrier uses to determine which radio would work best for your needs.
[Nexus 5 Android Development] floepie:
OK thanks, but this seems likely to be untrue. If the latest basebands for both models are identical as seen by their identical checksums, and the radio hardware is identical between both models, how do you square their unique abilities to select for their respective regionally appropriate LTE bands?

I would say that either the hardware differs between the models, and/or the radios differ between the models.

Sent from my Nexus 5
[Nexus 5 Android Development] jcsww:
Software within the radio firmware tells it what bands to check. I have flashed the 821 on my 820 to see if my LTE coverage was better or worse due to Rogers Canada offering extra LTE service on band 7. It was about the same in some areas and worse and in others. Flashing back was just as easy. I am still hoping at some point we will see more customized versions of the radio so I can get both band 4 and 7 for LTE in one radio.
[Nexus 5 Android Development] floepie:
Yeah, but the latest baseband versions for both models are the exact same file, bit for bit. So, what you are saying can't possibly be correct, if by firmware you are referring to the baseband or modem images.

Sent from my Nexus 5
[Nexus 5 Android Development] jcsww:
My terminology for this may not be exact but let me try to explain it differently using the information in the first post.

The bands, frequencies, or whatever you call them are determined by your SIM. My carrier in Canada, Rogers uses LTE bands 4 and 7 for its LTE service. Because of that, regardless of which radio I use, I will get LTE service if I am within range of the LTE network. LTE band 4 for Rogers is the wider spread deployment. I have flashed both versions of the .17 as well as the 820 .15 and 820 .23. Obviously the check sums are going to be different if the radio version is different from one another. The 820 .15, .17, and .23 have different check sums but they all work. As I tried to explain before, the bands available by the flash depend on whether you flash the 820 or the 821. If you flash .23 of the 820 and you need LTE service (determined by your SIM) on LTE band 7, you will not get LTE. The same applies to flashing the 821 .17 if you need LTE on band 4. You will not get LTE on band 4 on the 821 flash. Basically what each flash for either the 820 or the 821 determines is what bands are available to use. Those bands need to line up with what your carrier uses to determine if you get service or not.

I hope that helps clarify. If not, perhaps someone else can explain it better than I can.​
[Nexus 5 Android Development] floepie:
As for terminology, you're usage (and mine) of the terms software, firmware, modem, baseband, and radio image are all interchangeable. They're all one and the same. We already know that that this baseband, at least for the latest firmware (.23) that was released for both models (820 and 821) is exactly identical, bit for bit. Was that the case for prior version? I don't know, but that is immaterial.

So, if we have model 820 and 821 running the exact same baseband with the exact same instruction set, but only model 820 is able to communicate over all used LTE bands in the US and not in Europe and that model 821 is able to communicate on all use LTE bands in Europe and not in the US, there must be fundamental hardware differences between the models. Simply put, the hardware should be different between the two models. Therefore, the latest baseband supports ALL known worldwide LTE bands. It's just that only a subset of the bands are actually used in each of the models due to hardware limitations. For instance, if I take my 821 (world version) to the US, flash it with a modem destined for a model 820 (US version) and stick a US-based SIM in the phone, I still wouldn't be able to receive all the US LTE bands. If what you are saying above is true, then I would be able to acquire all US LTE bands with my 821 phone, given I had a US SIM and an 820 version of the modem, but I don't think that's true.
[Nexus 5 Android Development] autoprime:
antennas are different. problem solved.
[Nexus 5 Android Development] floepie:
Right. And, this is what I was attempting to show. It was claimed that there were no hardware differences between the models and that it is the software or modem in combination with a SIM that drives LTE band selection, when that's not the case, as shown by .23 identical firmware images.

Regarding versions prior to .23, where the modems could very well have differed between the models, model-specific firmware was indeed required in order to acquire all LTE bands, but that doesn't preclude any hardware differences.
[Nexus 5 Android Development] jcsww:
That's where my point about my 920 working with the LTE band 7 was aimed. I also travel to the UK but have yet to visit there with a Nexus 5. When I do though, I usually use Vodafone or T-Mobile. However, here in Canada, we use a combination of the bands for the US and the EU for service. LTE band coverage for the Toronto area is just that. When within the Toronto area, the band 7 was providing my Nexus 7 LTE service when I was using the 821 radio. Once leaving the city, that coverage disappears but the LTE band 4 coverage stretches as far out to surrounding cities in the Greater Toronto Area. Using a Bell SIM in Cobourg, Ontario (about an hour out of Toronto to the east, Rogers has no LTE coverage at all. On Bell, there is only LTE coverage on band 4. With the 821 radio flashed in my 820, I get no LTE coverage in Cobourg with the Bell SIM but I do get LTE coverage in Cobourg on band 4 when using the 820 radios with a Bell SIM. Based on that, I would say the radio is capable of either or and solely depends on what version is flashed. Until I get it over to the UK, I can't test it on a carrier that solely uses bands that the 821 picks up only. If the version flashed didn't matter, then I should still receive LTE coverage in Cobourg with the Bell SIM on 821 and I should still get LTE outside of Toronto as far as Newcastle with the 821 flashed with a Rogers SIM as their band 4 coverage reaches out that far.

If there happens to be anyone with an 821 up in North America or an 820 overseas, I would definitely be interested in hearing about your experiences with the different radios on your devices using both the 820 and 821 versions.

Edit:

I'm not too sure how to ezplain my tinker then.
[Nexus 5 Android Development] autoprime:
what tinker exactly
[Nexus 5 Android Development] floepie:
OK, two things. Which software you have on your phone would matter if the firmware differed between models. The only beef I had and have with your assertions in this thread, and you have repeated it several times, is that the hardware is identical. You can't simply turn an 820 into an 821 with the right modem firmware and and the right SIM card. I've attempted to show you that by virtue of modem version .23 which is identical between both models. This doesn't mean that both phones are identical and can pull any of the LTE bands they want based upon which SIM is inserted. If the hardware were identical and you have version .23 of the firmware, then you could simply go back and forth between the US and Europe, swap SIMs each time, and expect to receive all LTE bands in each region. That just is NOT the case.

Secondly, I very much doubt you could ever acquire band 7 with an 820. It's just impossible, and that would contradict any and all other reports of fundamental hardware bandwidth-specific differences between the models.

---------- Post added at 09:18 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:15 PM ----------

You can explain your "tinker" very easily. Before version .23 of the modem, it could have very well been the case that the two modem versions differed between the two models. Only in that case, would firmware specific modem version be required to acquire the appropriate bands. But that fact does NOT mean that the hardware is identical.
[Nexus 5 Android Development] jcsww:
I'm guessing I've botched something up then when I was jumbling everything around the last time. I'll definitely give things a try again when I am out of town again in a couple of weeks. Thank you for the clarification though.
[Nexus 5 Android Development] nexzor:
first sorry, didn´t realy read the 3-4 last longposts so if my post is obsolate pleas ignore it.

back in the beginning of december some one posted to pictures, one from D820 one from D821 mainboard and the only differences were some pins which were shortened differently in the two models.

i hope this can help you to clarrify things. maybe one will find the mentioned post
[Nexus 5 Android Development] anuseb89:
I dont know how many ppl have actually read this thread..this kind of information is very much imp..it should be in sticky i think..

Thanks for this wonderful guide..
[Nexus 5 Android Development] RamonVNL:
I will receive my Nexus 5 tomorrow and this is going to be one of the first things i'll do, but i thought only Samsung devices needed a /EFS backup? Just curious.
[Nexus 5 Android Development] combatdeity:
I'm just wondering, I have a vauge recollection of the nexus 4 modem files effecting the camera auto focus.

Is it possible for the modem file to effect the camera here?

If so, has anyone on a non 'up-to-date' modem noticed any differences?
[Nexus 5 Android Development] :
Hi,

How it would be possible that the modem affects, in any way, the camera focus :eek: :confused:.

I really don't understand how there could be a relationship between both or I missed something?

The modem only affects your data, signal reception, etc..., nothing related to the camera...

:)
[Nexus 5 Android Development] combatdeity:
That is what I originally thought, but I remember remaining on an older modem did cause auto focus issues on the nexus 4.

Link to thread
[Nexus 5 Android Development] jtflora:
Does EFS restore work for encrypted N5?

Hello

Thanks for this great post and for reading my post.

I just rooted my N5 , and took backup of EFS partition (saved it to pc), Now my google apps account requires device encryption .. I wanted to know will this anyway affect or cause any errors (if restoring) EFS backup i have created (took backup immediately after installing TWRP)...
[Nexus 5 Android Development] Demonic240:
Has anybody found a fix for the radio dropping cell and data when switching from LTE?
[Nexus 5 Android Development] Andi9:
Hi

I bought my nexus 5 last week from German play store. It is stock 821.

It have the .23 baseband.

Have I now limitation of the North American version or is this a new version for European users?

Thanks

Andi
[Nexus 5 Android Development] shawnaye:
Ermm what? D821 is for the rest of the world.

Modem wise you can use any modem, be it 820 or 821.

I just download every single one and see which works best.

So far nothing doesn't work for my phone.
[Nexus 5 Android Development] illnez:
.23 has the same checkssum. .17 is default modem for 4.4.0. the versions for 820 and 821 differ, however both can be used for both hardware versions. unfortunatelly all older modems are for the 820 and there is no equivalent for 821, .17 was the first one for 821.

tl/dr: you can use them all :) .15 and .23 has been reported to perform well in germany (specially t-mobile).

i'm using .23 with congstar (t-mobile) and the modem is fine.
[Nexus 5 Android Development] lyrois:
I'm using the 15 on my 821 in Germany with Vodafone. Seems to perform slightly better on 2G than the stock 23 that came with it.
[Nexus 5 Android Development] corcgaigh:
So download everyone linked and save to a safe place. I tried flashing the 1 linked in the twrp section and I get a failed flash notification. Sorry but I know nothing about this sort of thing. I'm on sprint BTW if that makes a difference. Thanks in advance
[Nexus 5 Android Development] phantomEVO:
could you explain me why should i change my modem?
[Nexus 5 Android Development] nexusmaniac:
New modems can give you more speed, more battery savings, better signal, better reliability and bug fixes :) most of the time a new radio is better
[Nexus 5 Android Development] bartolinio:
I'm not so sure about that ;)

I after applying the new radio I was disappointed, after a few days I went back to the old radio, at my location and network conditions, performs much better
[Nexus 5 Android Development] phantomEVO:
i have

hammerhead d821(H)

rev_11

bootloader hhz11k

baseband m8974a-1.0.25.0.23

so, does a better modem exist for my phone?
[Nexus 5 Android Development] aavvaallooss:
No yet, You have latest one until next OTA
[Nexus 5 Android Development] Lownita:
Any ideas why my bootloader says "hammerhead d821(E)" instead of (H)? It came with 4.4.2 preinstalled and is from latest batch 312K.
[Nexus 5 Android Development] gidgiddonihah:
After struggling with dropped signal on the new (4.4.1 .23 radio) for several weeks I went ahead and did it via fastboot. We shall see if the .15 radio fixes my problems. Instructions weren't listed in the OP and I couldn't find it in the thread so I thought I should list it for first timers who are searching the thread trying to find it:

0.

Backup EFS in either CWM or TWRP by flashing provided ZIP

1. Boot into the bootloader

2. Copy the .img file you downloaded into the SDK's platform-tools folder

3. Hold shift and right click on the platform-tools folder

4. Click on "Open Command Prompt Here"

5. Type "fastboot devices". This should return a bunch of numbers and letters followed by the word "fastboot" - if its blank don't proceed until you fix drivers!

6. Type "fastboot flash radio <radiofilename>.img"

7. Type "fastboot reboot"

7.5. Cry when you're phone won't boot because you followed instructions from a stranger on XDA. :crying:

7.9. Just kidding!

8. The phone should reboot with your new radio. Enjoy! :victory:

Thanks for providing this great resource, one of my favorite threads on XDA. I plan on going through all of these to see what one works best for me. You guys here are awesome! :good:
[Nexus 5 Android Development] combatdeity:
Just an update, I've tried both modems, 17 and 23, and taken the same photo.

Photos are much blurrier on .17 so just a heads up.
[Nexus 5 Android Development] ChazzMatt:
I fail to see how modem has anything to do with camera autofocus? The link you posted was talking about changing ROMs and autofocus didn't work. So there's other issues involved in that thread.

They were trying to HACK stuff to get LTE to work on the Nexus 4 and CM ROM. They were not just updating modems.
[Nexus 5 Android Development] CheesyNutz:
im new to the n5 and was looking to improve my signal a bit im on tmobile. i can flash any of the modems ? to test and if none improve the signal i can flash back to the stock modem .... i currently have the D820 from the factory
[Nexus 5 Android Development] gidgiddonihah:
All modems are compatible across both versions. Google made things easy and made each radio contain everything for both devices.
[Nexus 5 Android Development] harrisonp:
What's the usefulness of installing / having these?
[Nexus 5 Android Development] nexusmaniac:
You mean having a radio?
[Nexus 5 Android Development] harrisonp:
I'm not sure how flashing a new modem would affect my device, positively or negatively. I'm sure having a backup of this is good. All the mods I've done so far have been great for my phone -- from wifi tethering, to kernel installation, to the dalvik/bionic optimization patch. All this is completely over my head and I was looking for some sort of newbie explanation.
[Nexus 5 Android Development] nexusmaniac:
A modem is a radio, it's included on any phone with a mobile connection so it's already on your phone, you can change your modern to an older one which can provide better signal or better battery but newer ones age normally better, the latest radio atm is .23, go to about phone and see what your baseband version is
[Nexus 5 Android Development] brom25:
Personally, the best radio is .15 followed by .17

The .23 has the weakest signal in my area
[Nexus 5 Android Development] grifis78:
Is there some hybrid radio or some porting from lg g2?

Inviato dal mio Nexus 5 utilizzando Tapatalk
[Nexus 5 Android Development] Mechashiva:
I've also been working on editing an NV item, to no avail. DFS, QPST, etc, can connect in diagnostic mode to these tools but I can't write to NV items. Have you had any luck?
[Nexus 5 Android Development] leblvin:
I'm sorry, I finally gave up on fixing this. The NV items are locked and you would need a way to phisically alter them (JTAG). At that time, the tools weren't out yet. If they are out now, just look for JTAG services for Nexus 5 around your area, someone can fix it for 30-40$. Or just send it back to Google saying it stopped working. Everyone I know who did that had no issue with their warranty.

Just make sure you relock your phone and reset the tamper flag. If you use WugFresh's Root Toolkit (which I Highly recommend), just follow his instructions for unroot, relock, back to stock. Then ask for an RMA, and wait!
[Nexus 5 Android Development] Mechashiva:
Thanks leblvin. I'll check around for those services in my area.

I'm no expert so maybe I'm missing something obvious, but it seems that if you could accidentally mess up NV items while flashing ROMs, kernels, modems, etc, then it must be possible to edit these things without physically altering them (via JTAG, eg).

The EFS backup tool from OP could restore these NV items if I screwed them up accidentally. Also, and I wouldn't have the first idea of how, I wonder if there isn't a way to edit items in the EFS backup files, then restore those in recovery?