Hello everyone,
As this is my first thread, and I have been reading previous assists based on IMEI fixing and couldn't find the answer I am looking for, I really hope that the XDA community can help me fix my Galaxy S4 I9500. I will try to explain the problem the best I can, and I will create a list of every solution I have tried in the 3 week phone fixing saga I have.
1. The problem :
My friend decided he does not need this phone anymore, everything was fine with it except the battery was swollen(but I bought a new one so it doesn't matter). The day before he gave it to me, he accidentaly dropped it in the toilet and it couldn't boot. I opened the phone, cleaned it with alchohol and the phone booted up normally. The thing I noticed was that in the status bar the network symbol was replaced with No signal symbol. I tried 3 SIM cards and none worked. I decided to downgrade to 4.4.2 KitKat version and this is where everything went even worse. I used Odin to downgrade a firmware downloaded from sammobile.com, but I didn't create an /efs backup because I have flashed an Alcatel Idol 2 before and there were no problems with the IMEI or so. It turns out that Samsung devices are different and I am left with NO EFS BACKUP. I know, I should have checked what to do before flashing the device, but what's done is done. The device is doing everything great, there are no problems with Wi-Fi or Bluetooth either, except I cant connect to a network because IMEI is null/null and the Baseband is unknown. The thing is, I am not sure if the IMEI is wiped completely because of a hardware problem, or it's software related because of the /efs folder, because I am not a developer, but a civil engineer...
2. Solutions I've tried so far :
- Flashed many different Android versions;
- Flashed a Lollypop with adonis.pit with Re-partition checked on Odin;
- Tried writing an IMEI and repairing the EFS with Octoplus box;
- Tried flashing an EFS backup from my friend's Galaxy S4 I9500 ( IT IS ILLEGAL IN MANY COUNTRIES, NOT IN MINE, BUT I WANTED TO TRY AND CHANGE THE IMEI LATER SO IT WOULD NOT BE A PROBLEM );
- Tried flashing with a IMEI_null_fix.tar.md5 file which i found on a forum and that didn't fix it either;
- Tried KIES to return the stock ROM but either it does not recognize my device, or it says that my device could not be initialized or so;
- Took the phone to service, but in my town the only service we have is not very professional and they didn't even know the IMEI null does not mean that I will have no wireless connection/bluetooth connection, so they didn't fix it either;
- Tried with EFS Pro, Terminal Emulator and programs similar to those, 3rd party and PlayStore ones;
- Maybe other things but I could not remember because I think I tried everything...
I don't know if the problem can be fixed, but deep inside me I hope that there is a solution, and I think this is the best place to search for help, because it is a great phone and I don't want to throw it away just like that.
Thanks in advance everyone, hope you can come up with a solution.
Related
Hello to all. I'm trying to fix my friend's s4 i9505 because it shows that it's Baseband is Unknown and IMEI is null/null.
He told me the baseband and imei changed when he upgraded to 4.3 using wifi.
I have tried to flash stock rom but unfortunately the phone is in 4.3 so no downgrade.
I have tried flashing different modem.bin but still no avail.
He did not back up his EFS folder before upgrading to 4.3 but I still looked at the folder anyway.
I noticed that inside the EFS folder, there is no nv_data.bin and md5 file which is I think needed for the IMEI.
Is there a free way of recovering these files?
Is this a hardware failure?
I tried the different methods on recovering IMEI in the forums but all of them involves those 2 files so I can't continue.
I have another friend who has a i9500, can I copy and use his nv_data files? (He is willing to do it BTW to help my friend)
FYI: WIFI, Bluetooth and other functions are OK. It's just the call an text function which do not work.
Currently in JB 4.3 XXUEMJ5
No more warranty on the phone.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you for taking the time to read our problem.
thetruth34 said:
Hello to all. I'm trying to fix my friend's s4 i9505 because it shows that it's Baseband is Unknown and IMEI is null/null.
He told me the baseband and imei changed when he upgraded to 4.3 using wifi.
I have tried to flash stock rom but unfortunately the phone is in 4.3 so no downgrade.
I have tried flashing different modem.bin but still no avail.
He did not back up his EFS folder before upgrading to 4.3 but I still looked at the folder anyway.
I noticed that inside the EFS folder, there is no nv_data.bin and md5 file which is I think needed for the IMEI.
Is there a free way of recovering these files?
Is this a hardware failure?
I tried the different methods on recovering IMEI in the forums but all of them involves those 2 files so I can't continue.
I have another friend who has a i9500, can I copy and use his nv_data files? (He is willing to do it BTW to help my friend)
FYI: WIFI, Bluetooth and other functions are OK. It's just the call an text function which do not work.
Currently in JB 4.3 XXUEMJ5
No more warranty on the phone.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you for taking the time to read our problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This phone isn't that old! I have only today contacted Samsung as there is nothing in my EFS folder, they are sending out a jiffy bag for me to send the phone to them to repair under warranty!
Be careful talking about swapping efs partitions from phone to phone as the mods in here get funny about it, I would try contacting Samsung to return it if you can? When did you get it?
I would suggest you do the same. I can't fix mine either.
thetruth34 said:
Hello to all. I'm trying to fix my friend's s4 i9505 because it shows that it's Baseband is Unknown and IMEI is null/null.
He told me the baseband and imei changed when he upgraded to 4.3 using wifi.
I have tried to flash stock rom but unfortunately the phone is in 4.3 so no downgrade.
I have tried flashing different modem.bin but still no avail.
He did not back up his EFS folder before upgrading to 4.3 but I still looked at the folder anyway.
I noticed that inside the EFS folder, there is no nv_data.bin and md5 file which is I think needed for the IMEI.
Is there a free way of recovering these files?
Is this a hardware failure?
I tried the different methods on recovering IMEI in the forums but all of them involves those 2 files so I can't continue.
I have another friend who has a i9500, can I copy and use his nv_data files? (He is willing to do it BTW to help my friend)
FYI: WIFI, Bluetooth and other functions are OK. It's just the call an text function which do not work.
Currently in JB 4.3 XXUEMJ5
No more warranty on the phone.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you for taking the time to read our problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
try to flash latest modem twice (MKF or MKE) twice. first flash un-tick "auto-reboot".
benbird7 said:
This phone isn't that old! I have only today contacted Samsung as there is nothing in my EFS folder, they are sending out a jiffy bag for me to send the phone to them to repair under warranty!
Be careful talking about swapping efs partitions from phone to phone as the mods in here get funny about it, I would try contacting Samsung to return it if you can? When did you get it?
I would suggest you do the same. I can't fix mine either.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Should I try this too? I've just seen on Samsung website that mobile phones are covered for 24 months. I've only had this 8 months.
It's weird I have imei number when I type *#06# but nothing in efs folder!
Sent from my GT-I9505 using xda app-developers app
Thanks for all the replies. I tried to check it with my local technicians and all of them told me that my main board needs to be replaced.
I didn't know that a software mishap can result to a hardware failure to the extent of changing the main board.
I have tried flashing the recommended modems above but unfortunately still does not work.
I have noticed that when I type *#1234# in the Phone app, It shows me the AP and CSC and that is all written in the screen. No word modem and no modem version.
When I try to flash a firmware or a modem it says it flashed successfully but when I check the phone, still no service.
Again, wifi, bluetooth and other phone functions are working.
Technicians told me it is a "no service" unit and "cannot be fixed by software" because I have a "broken baseband/modem".
Is there really no hope for this unit?
Again any help or info is welcome.
Thank you for reading friends.
Bump
What do you want anyone here to say if you've been told by someone qualified that it needs a motherboard replacement ? In some (many ?) countries, this would be fixable by 're-writing' the IMEI to the device (either by a Samsung service centre or other repairer), but if that's not possible for whatever reason in your country & the way they fix it is a motherboard replacement, you don't really have any other option, do you ?
Edit - Attempting to move EFS files between devices normally ends up in both being blacklisted. Not recommended.
Hello,
I have exactly the same problem, with the i9505 phone version, do i have to change the motherboard or it can be fixed the "soft way"?
I have read a fair bit over the last few days on this subject & tried various things to try & resolve, but to no avail.
Ok so its an international I9300, unlocked & was working perfectly ok.
We have Italian & uk sims, both tested fully working in other handsets including a 2nd S3 identical to this one.
I had philz touch recovery 6.04, googy kernel 1.79, using slimroms bean & kat at various releases, no issues swapping between roms or kernels, defaulting etc, all worked fine.
Until I installed the latest official rom from Samsung I9300XXUGMK6, to test.
It installed fine, all via odin, factory wiped, caches cleared etc all as per everyother time I have installed stock roms for testing purposes.
It worked ok with my UK sim, but the Italian sim didn't work roaming wise, so I thought ok its probably a minor glitch, lets do clearing of caches, factory wipe etc, no luck.
So thought ok lets just go back to slimroms & be done with it, again it appeared to work fine with the uk sim, but didn't roam with Italian, thought that's strange.
So did fresh clean installs again, swapped UK sim back to handset & found now this has an issue aswell.
The strange thing is, you can add apn, access net through network as it connects via hsdpa no problem (giffgaff, aka 02) & it shows the mobile number, network as 02 in the status page of "about phone" however also in that page under "Service Status" it shows Out Of Service, although it is within service as in connects to the network fine for data, but no calls can be made.
Now I know you will think its an EFS issue caused by the upgrade/downgrade using slimroms & your IMEI & Serials are wrong now, but they're not, they're actually perfectly as they were before, verified with the labels etc & slimroms uses the same EFS versions afaik, so this shouldn't be an issue (please do correct me if I'm wrong)
I have tried flashing different modems, reflashing stock roms, slimroms, wiping completely, formatting, cache clearing, rooting/removing, kernels, but it still says emergency calls only, no calls possible, but shows as connected as data works fine & signal bars show fine (which maybe just for sos use).
So I'm at a loss what to try next.
My last thing I would do is send into service point, but 1st wipe, clean stock rom, triangle away the markers so all official & hope no hidden knox shows any 0x1 status, as nothing shows Knox as installed tbh.
Any experienced advice would be much appreciated, TIA.
Return to full stock, restore efs backup and test before any app/data restore.
If still the same then hardware fault.
Questions go in the q&a forum, report your post and ask a moderator to move it.
That's the negative thing, no efs backup, slightly annoying, but I think it can be resolved somehow.
Is there no way to fix efs apart from restore?
That's the negative thing, no efs backup, slightly annoying, but I think it can be resolved somehow.
Is there no way to fix efs apart from restore?
To update, the damn handset was blacklisted for no reason, it sent it into samsung & they tested, then sent back with the report, I was shocked, it seems previous owner had sold to a cash convertors store & then some months later claimed it was lost or stolen to which it was blocked in UK.
So I sent it back to supplier for a full refund, was a fair while back since I bought & handsets are now £100 on ebay, but I got my full £275 back, result
no imei and no backup
Good at all ..
I have a serious problem in samsung s3 I9300 ...
IMEI is not the networks without resistro ....
the phone is not mine but a cologa, and broke the glass and who solved this problem decided to upgrade to android 4.3 without backing up, I now have this problem .. I have done all that is said on youtube XDA, I come here for help to try sesolver this situation ... not bacckup of efs ...
At this time has 4.2.1..kernel 3.0.31-1314436,, No decompilation JZ054K.I9300XXEMG4 ....
rom: GT-I9300XXEMG4_KOR_MULTI_FACTORY
I thank you all possible help ..
restore efs backup and flash last 4.3 stock room by odin
Hi everyone,
My S4 has lost its IMEI, and here is my situation.
I was using Prism v14 (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2537515), and it was totally fine. Last night, I tried to flash a new S6 port rom, this http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s4/i9500-develop/rom-aurora-s6-port-t3063408, and my fone lost its signal. The signal icon is still full, but it was only available at emergency calls. When i check, IMEI and Serial number were still there. I tried flashing the Prism v14 again, didnt fix it.
Then I took my fone to the care center and left it there for a few hours. When i come back, they told me that, they flashed it back to stock, and when i ceck, the IMEI was gone. They explained that, when I flashed the S6 port rom, the real IMEI was gone, it was only the fake IMEI from the rom that I saw (didnt know if this was true).
So now im asking for any possible help/solution. I was bad to forget backing up my EFS. So i wonder if I can use someone else's EFS to restore? If yes, it would be great if any one can share with me the EFS backup.
Thank you for reading and please excuse my bad English.
The EFS folder doesn't store the IMEI, despite having an IMEI folder, thus it won't help you. nv_data.bin also will not be found there, if my S4 is any indicator, but will be found in the hidden partitions.
You'll need to try flashing the baseband for your device again, and to do that you're going to have to download a copy of the ROM, which should be found on the forums here. Sometimes the baseband needs to be flashed twice for everything to properly work. I can only speculate why that is, but I believe it to be due to having two hidden partitions for the baseband. When the baseband is copied into the first partition it isn't copied into the second, resulting in a mismatch. Flashing the baseband a second time writes the baseband to the second partition, and everything functions correctly.
If flashing the modem again does not work, getting your IMEI back will require using methods that cannot be discussed here on XDA.
Hello!
I have a Galaxy Note 3 SM-N900 that I got from a friend. When my friend gave it to me he still had all his stuff on it so I did a factory reset on the phone. After I reset it the phone had a null IMEI and an unknown baseband. I'm pretty sure the problem is with the modem as I've flashed the stock firmware on the phone several times, I've tried almost all the custom roms on the phone, I've even flashed a whole boatload of different modems.
One of the times I was at school I pulled out my phone to change my music and I noticed it had signal. The phone had signal in different parts of the school and it also had a working IMEI and a baseband. I called 911 to test if the phone worked and the call went through as if the phone never had an issue to begin with. I haven't been able to get any signal on the phone since then. I don't know what else to do and I was hoping someone could help me here! Thanks in advance for those who try to help me!
IMEI Standard answer is to restore your backed up EFS folder as per the faqs and guides .
You may well have a lose connection/ sim within the phone if its intermittent on .
Sadly I don't have a backup of my EFS. I had reset my phone from the settings menu so I didn't think that would cause any problems. Is there anyway I can get a backup of an EFS for the sm-n900 or are there any other solutions?
Is there anyway I can get a backup of an EFS for the sm-n90
NO
You could try flashing a stock lollipop firmware .
Again, I've tried that multiple times already. My EFS folder should be fine if I got signal randomly. My sim contact isn't loose as when I got signal I didn't have a sim in the phone. I think the problem is my modem but if it is I don't even know which modem to use.
Modem for your location/ network .
How do I find the correct modem? I live in the US and my network is MetroPCS
Also, thank you for trying to help me. I honestly appreciate it.
Please help me anyone!
My samsung galaxy s5 g900t started having problem this morning. I;ve been using blisspop rom since 3 month ago and everything was fine. But now my phone wont even find a signal. The signal bar is empty. I though it might have been because of an app. therefore i deleted any unusual app, and nothing happened. Then i proceeded to factory reset and nothing happened, then i decided to change the rom, and nothing happened ( i changed to 6 different roms, all between LP and MM. I proceeded to flash the stock firmware via odin, it successfully flashed the stock firmware, However nothing happened. It has an empty signal bar with and x on the inside. So far I've tried with different sim cards and it happens the same. NOTHING. My phone has been using heavy duty covers since day 1. The last cover i bought was the Love Mei one. Which is Extremely heavy duty. (combination between aluminum and rubber).However im starting to think that i will have to buy a new part of the phone. I know about phones, and software related, however i dont know as much as a professional or amateur would about hardware (external)
Can someone please give me suggestions about what to do before proceeding to buy a new part? If i have to buy a new part, which one do i have to buy? the antenna? or what? I've posted the picture of the screenshot ( look at the signal bar) Forgive me if someone has posted the same issue, however the suggestions xda was telling me are far from being the same than my problem.
Do you still have an IMEI if you type *#06# ?
If not, I hope you backed up your EFS partition before flashing ROMs
*Detection* said:
Do you still have an IMEI if you type *#06# ?
If not, I hope you backed up your EFS partition before flashing ROMs
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No. I didnt. Okay i though it was a lost cause. Here is what happened, somehow my EFS folder got erased, and my imei and S/N were gone along with it. After you lost those 2 essential things every company turns their back on you. So, it is either you fix it by buying one of those boxes that fix imeis and networks related, or buy a new logical board on ebay; or just give up and proceed to buy a new phone. However, even though i saw that my imei was null, and my S/N was also gone, Having no backups of EFS, I was at the edge of giving up. Until i decided to do the following: I installed the firmware that came with the phone. which it was a 4.4.2 version. Then i upgraded it to 5.0. And..... Everything was back... however my IMEI is not the same that came with the phone. Which is kind of odd. How did i get a new IMEI by just goning back and for between upgrades? Who knows.... Anyway, now I have full bar as its supposed to be. And currently 4g. (There was another thing i did but i will refrain from telling, since it isnt that interesting)
Very strange, but good news it's working
I'd would strongly advise you to back up that EFS partition asap now just in case
*Detection* said:
Very strange, but good news it's working
I'd would strongly advise you to back up that EFS partition asap now just in case
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ueah. I never thought that would happen to me. Thats why i never did the backup. I did it as soon as i saw that i got signal, service, imei and sn back. Haha
No-one ever thinks it will happen to them, that's why I backed mine up before I even decided to flash anything custom at all