hi all, as people are posting tutorial to downgrade from pie to oreo with the help of restoring boot and efs folder uploaded by them,, is it safe to restore from someone's else twrp backup i mean efs folder??
as per my knowledge efs is backup of imei right?
so restoring from someone's else efs won't affect mine imei?
No help here?
??????????????????????????????/
i don't think so people are helpful here or either not expert as nobody is replying lol
No idea. Sorry
taran181 said:
hi all, as people are posting tutorial to downgrade from pie to oreo with the help of restoring boot and efs folder uploaded by them,, is it safe to restore from someone's else twrp backup i mean efs folder??
as per my knowledge efs is backup of imei right?
so restoring from someone's else efs won't affect mine imei?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
4-6 months back there was thread why we should not restore efs of someone & proper tutorial for people who messed up their mac address with some kernel.
Now this tutorial on downgrading pie to oreo. I have no idea. Someone's efs would mess your IMEI, wifi mac, Bluetooth mac, thats what i think. But there are tutorial how to edit imei using some Qualcomm tool.
Ask @CosmicDan. He's the expert.
Just flash Oreo on fastboot, with full wipe. Why doesn't that work?
I was having an issue since using custom rom with december fw btw.
and I was mistaken flashing november fw back to solve some calling issue, so I ended up with no signal which should be came from I didn't restore dev's efs backup.
So I start from flashing full clean stock november and ended with bootloop on it, which is something I still curious what cause it.
At that times, I'm on locked bootloader and can't even enter edl to reflash the rom and can't unlock bootloader since the rom still not booting to enable oem unlocking option.
I don't remember what I have done to it, but at times my phone can boot with no signal, 0 imei on sim1 and null on sim2.
So I start to rewrite the imei then everything is back to normal.
Downgraded using the method of restoring boot and efs... Nothing changed for me, imei is the same as in the box of my mi a1. ? Maybe people did something before doing the downgrade that messed up something.
CosmicDan said:
Just flash Oreo on fastboot, with full wipe. Why doesn't that work?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
@CosmicDan no flashing just oreo doesn't help, phone gets stuck in bootloop, so people has posted tutorial about flashing their efs and boot etc through twrp to get out of bootloop.
Eg: https://forum.xda-developers.com/mi-a1/how-to/tutorial-downgrade-9-0-to-8-1-edl-imei-t3879624
fhsd22 said:
Downgraded using the method of restoring boot and efs... Nothing changed for me, imei is the same as in the box of my mi a1. ? Maybe people did something before doing the downgrade that messed up something.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
but my question why use someone's else efs while downgrading, as efs contains imei and modem backup ..
taran181 said:
@CosmicDan no flashing just oreo doesn't help, phone gets stuck in bootloop, so people has posted tutorial about flashing their efs and boot etc through twrp to get out of bootloop.
Eg: https://forum.xda-developers.com/mi-a1/how-to/tutorial-downgrade-9-0-to-8-1-edl-imei-t3879624
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well you can try it I guess, just backup the EFS partition and other stuff with my backup tool and you can always go back if worse comes to worst.
CosmicDan said:
Just flash Oreo on fastboot, with full wipe. Why doesn't that work?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Xiaomi put out a message on their forum that after the Pie update, the phone should not be rolled back. Its for all Android one models. When users flash an older roms, bootloops occur.
https://www.fonearena.com/blog/271177/xiaomi-pie-oreo-downgrading-disabled-android-one-devices.html
taran181 said:
but my question why use someone's else efs while downgrading, as efs contains imei and modem backup ..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But what he is saying is that he did downgrade EFS, but IMEI didn't change. This suggests that EFS isn't the original source of IMEI after all. Or maybe the bootloader can re-write IMEI and stuff on boot, who knows... Surely others have actually confirmed that EFS cross-flash = IMEI change, right? Not just assumed?
...point is, you can backup your EFS via EDL mode so there should be no risk. If you made a full EDL backup of your own device when you were still on Oreo then you would be golden, as EDL has full access to all partitions.
Related
XT 1806 here. Well, not long ago I posted about thinking I found a way... well... nothing. followed every single thread on hoy to restore basemand/imei to no avail.
So far what I know is that I was running fine, while trying to make cerberus a system app. The phone rebooted and bam. No more baseband.
Before that, I had done the trick of installing an oreo rom (Validus) and going back to stock. It worked and I got back Baseband on bootloader and then in the OS.
I have backups from my EFS from TWRP and PartitionsManager (modem, modemst1, modemst2 and persist) within the OS. Restoring those was no good. It worked before but not now.
I have bootloader C2.06. Before, I had C2.07. Installing the latest update from https://firmware.center/firmware/Motorola/Moto G5s Plus/Stock/ , being it SANDERS_NPSS26.116-61-5_cid50_subsidy-DEFAULT_regulatory-DEFAULT_CFC.xml did nothing to update the bootloader or writing the modem.
So far I have a theory and is that, the phone is not taking flashing to the bootloader and or the modem as it should. I am using a high quality USB cable. Changed cables, too. Also, I think something weird is happening with the bootloader or chip programming. It is the first time I face something as weird as this.
I also think it does not like when you start the phone and reboot it quickly. Forgot its Baseband.
Let's be detailed and share experiences to find a cause and then a solution. I have more than 30 hours spent trying to fix this and it is getting to a scary point.
I lost imei and signal....somehow I don't have my efs backup....tried every combo of ROM to get signals ie. something 2g/3g but nothing happens...
However my baseband is intact
Am on 1686 Indian varient
Q. Will moto z Oreo modem work?? Am planning to give it a try
mohitzr said:
I lost imei and signal....somehow I don't have my efs backup....tried every combo of ROM to get signals ie. something 2g/3g but nothing happens...
However my baseband is intact
Am on 1686 Indian varient
Q. Will moto z Oreo modem work?? Am planning to give it a try
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Any ideas on what happened when you lost the imei?
Please start in bootloader and see what it says in baseband.
barbaroja said:
XT 1806 here. Well, not long ago I posted about thinking I found a way... well... nothing. followed every single thread on hoy to restore basemand/imei to no avail.
So far what I know is that I was running fine, while trying to make cerberus a system app. The phone rebooted and bam. No more baseband.
Before that, I had done the trick of installing an oreo rom (Validus) and going back to stock. It worked and I got back Baseband on bootloader and then in the OS.
I have backups from my EFS from TWRP and PartitionsManager (modem, modemst1, modemst2 and persist) within the OS. Restoring those was no good. It worked before but not now.
I have bootloader C2.06. Before, I had C2.07. Installing the latest update from https://firmware.center/firmware/Motorola/Moto G5s Plus/Stock/ , being it SANDERS_NPSS26.116-61-5_cid50_subsidy-DEFAULT_regulatory-DEFAULT_CFC.xml did nothing to update the bootloader or writing the modem.
So far I have a theory and is that, the phone is not taking flashing to the bootloader and or the modem as it should. I am using a high quality USB cable. Changed cables, too. Also, I think something weird is happening with the bootloader or chip programming. It is the first time I face something as weird as this.
I also think it does not like when you start the phone and reboot it quickly. Forgot its Baseband.
Let's be detailed and share experiences to find a cause and then a solution. I have more than 30 hours spent trying to fix this and it is getting to a scary point.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can start with this
Code:
https://www.androidbrick.com/ultimate-guide-qualcomm-snapdragon-xiaomi-mi5-imei-and-baseband-repair-fix/
and it's sister article part 2. I wrote a how-to on using QFIL to back-up and restore qcn files, and my research started there. However, after seeing how many cannot follow basic instructions to use adb/fastboot and even sometimes twrp, I am not going to post it. Let's just say you can edit the proper baseband components, but it is not going to be download and click to install. You will need the following to get started:
Code:
1.[QPST] https://www.androidbrick.com/download/download-latest-qualcomm-flasher-qfil-qpst-2-7-460/
2.[Qualcomm drivers]https://gsmusbdrivers.com/download/android-qualcomm-usb-driver/
3.[hexeditor]http://www.mitec.cz/hex.html
4.[IMEI convertor]https://androidfilehost.com/?fid=962021903579482959
5.Motorola USB drivers [you probably already have these, if you have used adb/fastboot]
You will also need a knowledgeable donor who is willing and able to donate a working backed up qcn file, of the same make/model, and bootloader must be in same state as yours. Although this will have the IMEI , it can be edited to 0 out all but the first digit of the IMEI and thus be safe for posting without fear of someone cloning it. This method has been done with other qualcomm chipsets, and the ultimate goal would be to get the proper working qcn file disassembled and compared to the faulty ones to see exactly where the basebands are being corrupted by the Oreo roms.
barbaroja said:
Any ideas on what happened when you lost the imei?
Please start in bootloader and see what it says in baseband.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i get baseband
[email protected] said:
You can start with this
Code:
https://www.androidbrick.com/ultimate-guide-qualcomm-snapdragon-xiaomi-mi5-imei-and-baseband-repair-fix/
and it's sister article part 2. I wrote a how-to on using QFIL to back-up and restore qcn files, and my research started there. However, after seeing how many cannot follow basic instructions to use adb/fastboot and even sometimes twrp, I am not going to post it. Let's just say you can edit the proper baseband components, but it is not going to be download and click to install. You will need the following to get started:
Code:
1.[QPST] https://www.androidbrick.com/download/download-latest-qualcomm-flasher-qfil-qpst-2-7-460/
2.[Qualcomm drivers]https://gsmusbdrivers.com/download/android-qualcomm-usb-driver/
3.[hexeditor]http://www.mitec.cz/hex.html
4.[IMEI convertor]https://androidfilehost.com/?fid=962021903579482959
5.Motorola USB drivers [you probably already have these, if you have used adb/fastboot]
You will also need a knowledgeable donor who is willing and able to donate a working backed up qcn file, of the same make/model, and bootloader must be in same state as yours. Although this will have the IMEI , it can be edited to 0 out all but the first digit of the IMEI and thus be safe for posting without fear of someone cloning it. This method has been done with other qualcomm chipsets, and the ultimate goal would be to get the proper working qcn file disassembled and compared to the faulty ones to see exactly where the basebands are being corrupted by the Oreo roms.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for sharing. Very interesting, indeed.
In my particular case, it happened for no apparent reason. Quick reboots being a suspect here. It seems some got baseband and no imei, others no baseband at all... Any ideas on this?
dev here.
I've been looking into this problem for quite a while now.
Can anyone briefly summarise the problem? Like what all you flashed?
From my understanding:
efs = modemst1 & modemst2 = baseband cache = created on the fly
important baseband related partitions: modem, fsg, persist
Additionally I'm sharing potter retin (march) firmware files: (Download)
Try flashing this (on stock 7.0):
fastboot flash modem NON-HLOS.bin
fastboot erase modemst1
fastboot erase modemst2
fastboot flash fsg fsg.mbn
fastboot flash persist persist.img
rachitrawat said:
dev here.
I've been looking into this problem for quite a while now.
Can anyone briefly summarise the problem? Like what all you flashed?
From my understanding:
efs = modemst1 & modemst2 = baseband cache = created on the fly
important baseband related partitions: modem, fsg, persist
Additionally I'm sharing potter retin (march) firmware files: (Download)
Try flashing this (on stock 7.0):
fastboot flash modem NON-HLOS.bin
fastboot erase modemst1
fastboot erase modemst2
fastboot flash fsg fsg.mbn
fastboot flash persist persist.img
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you so much.
Can you tell me what is your model no.?
And build no ?
And is this backup is from stock rooted rom.?
Is your device bricked yet,or have you loose IMEI in past.?
akshu2697 said:
Thank you so much.
Can you tell me what is your model no.?
And build no ?
And is this backup is from stock rooted rom.?
Is your device bricked yet,or have you loose IMEI in past.?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This a dump of an untouched XT1686 92-8 firmware.
rachitrawat said:
This a dump of an untouched XT1686 92-8 firmware.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you provide me twrp flashable rom 92-8.?
Because I can't find it anywhere.
akshu2697 said:
Can you provide me twrp flashable rom 92-8.?
Because I can't find it anywhere.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There isn't one as there is no 92-8 firmware out there.
Sent from my Moto G5 Plus using XDA Labs
did it worked ? .. im having the same problem .. cant get my network signal and imei
akshu2697 said:
Thank you so much.
Can you tell me what is your model no.?
And build no ?
And is this backup is from stock rooted rom.?
Is your device bricked yet,or have you loose IMEI in past.?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
im having the same problem with my XT1686 indian version .. can we get it back with other efs backups ?
can we import backups from other mobiles and get the job done ?
Repiix said:
im having the same problem with my XT1686 indian version .. can we get it back with other efs backups ?
can we import backups from other mobiles and get the job done ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't tried it yet,
I will tell you if this work.
rachitrawat said:
dev here.
I've been looking into this problem for quite a while now.
Can anyone briefly summarise the problem? Like what all you flashed?
From my understanding:
efs = modemst1 & modemst2 = baseband cache = created on the fly
important baseband related partitions: modem, fsg, persist
Additionally I'm sharing potter retin (march) firmware files: (Download)
Try flashing this (on stock 7.0):
fastboot flash modem NON-HLOS.bin
fastboot erase modemst1
fastboot erase modemst2
fastboot flash fsg fsg.mbn
fastboot flash persist persist.img
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you help me how to flash this file..??
Because the non-hlos.bin is of 100 mb while in stock ROM it is of around 75 mb,
So can you describe the method to restore this.
1. my device is xt1686 retin and i lost my imei and volte after reverting back to twrp flashable stock nov security patch from pixel experience oreo rom ....
2. i recovered my imei using #castell93 guide ....
https://forum.xda-developers.com/g5-plus/help/restore-imei-0-moto-g5-xt1687-t3739808
3. then i flashed twrp flashable stock jan security patch but no volte yet....
4. then i got my volte back thanks to akshu2697 guide... and backed up my efs
https://forum.xda-developers.com/g5-plus/how-to/solved-volte-fix-lost-flashing-stock-rom-t3773524
5. for a while i used custom oreo roms... and today i flashed twrp flashable stock jan security patch again and i lost imei =0 .... i have my efs backup so i recovered my efs and got my imei and volte working again..
6. today i downloaded #rachitrawat's twrp system backup file and formatted every thing using twrp and restored the system file and reboot... now i am on stock march security patch and i didnot loose my imei and volte .....
I'm on an oreo rom(no volte). Will i be able to flash stock when the oreo rom is officially released? And hopefully get volte?
Arunxyz said:
1. my device is xt1686 retin and i lost my imei and volte after reverting back to twrp flashable stock nov security patch from pixel experience oreo rom ....
2. i recovered my imei using #castell93 guide ....
https://forum.xda-developers.com/g5-plus/help/restore-imei-0-moto-g5-xt1687-t3739808
3. then i flashed twrp flashable stock jan security patch but no volte yet....
4. then i got my volte back thanks to akshu2697 guide... and backed up my efs
https://forum.xda-developers.com/g5-plus/how-to/solved-volte-fix-lost-flashing-stock-rom-t3773524
5. for a while i used custom oreo roms... and today i flashed twrp flashable stock jan security patch again and i lost imei =0 .... i have my efs backup so i recovered my efs and got my imei and volte working again..
6. today i downloaded #rachitrawat's twrp system backup file and formatted every thing using twrp and restored the system file and reboot... now i am on stock march security patch and i didnot loose my imei and volte .....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Which system backup did you restore.???
There are two system backup zip in that folder.
And what if you again flash system with fastboot after restore that backup.????
Is IMEI still there.??
akshu2697 said:
Which system backup did you restore.???
There are two system backup zip in that folder.
And what if you again flash system with fastboot after restore that backup.????
Is IMEI still there.??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Extract twrp backup system img zip file and it contains system_img folder...
Copy that folder to twrp backup and then restore...
After restore you don't need to fastboot system..
I didn't try to flash fastboot system
Arunxyz said:
Extract twrp backup system img zip file and it contains system_img folder...
Copy that folder to twrp backup and then restore...
After restore you don't need to fastboot system..
I didn't try to flash fastboot system
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What if you fastboot flashing and again IMEI goes to 0,..??
Can you try.?
Either flashing system via fastboot or flashing stock ROM with twrp.
akshu2697 said:
Can you help me how to flash this file..??
Because the non-hlos.bin is of 100 mb while in stock ROM it is of around 75 mb,
So can you describe the method to restore this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Code:
fastboot flash modem NON-HLOS.bin
akshu2697 said:
Which system backup did you restore.???
There are two system backup zip in that folder.
And what if you again flash system with fastboot after restore that backup.????
Is IMEI still there.??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
system.img is a bit perfect backup of /system which will not break dm-verity.
akshu2697 said:
What if you fastboot flashing and again IMEI goes to 0,..??
Can you try.?
Either flashing system via fastboot or flashing stock ROM with twrp.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you can restore via twrp or fastboot flash
Edit: fastboot won't work. Need to compress into sparse chunks. Try motofastboot
Like many people who have lost IMEI after flashing Oreo ROM and reverting to stock, I too have run into the same issue. I've managed to get my IMEI back and now have a working EFS backup. I've also got my VoLTE fixed using the VoLTE fix thread.
The problem I'm running into now is that the OTA updates from motorola keep breaking my IMEI. So every time I install an OTA, my IMEI becomes 0 afterwards. I then have to install TWRP and restore my EFS+persist backup to get my IMEI back. But this essentially prevents me from installing the next OTA update.
Has anyone found a way to install the OTA update without losing IMEI? Any help would be much appreciated!
I've thought of possible solution but I'm not sure if it will work. If someone could tell me if this will work, that would be great!
1. Using Partition Backup app from playstore, backup Modem, Modemst1, Modemst2 and persist on working stock ROM
2. Do a fresh install of stock ROM via fastboot and install OTA
3. Use Magisk to patch boot image and flash the image from fastboot
4. Re install Partition Backup from playstore, grant root access and restore the partition backup to get IMEI back?
This way you can restore the stock boot image and install next OTA all without installing and decrypting your storage with twrp.
PLEASE
please share the EFS folder:good::good:
Another users EFS paritition won't help you and sharing is not allowed on XDA, this has been addressed multiple times since there are over a dozen threads about the the same damn thing.
THE REAL FIX:
Accept that you made a mistake cause you didn't keep a secure backup of your original firmware, and let it be a learning experience in the future. Some users are in worst situations following some of these half-cocked fixes.
Randumb_User said:
Another users EFS paritition won't help you and sharing is not allowed on XDA, this has been addressed multiple times since there are over a dozen threads about the the same damn thing.
THE REAL FIX:
Accept that you made a mistake cause you didn't keep a secure backup of your original firmware, and let it be a learning experience in the future. Some users are in worst situations following some of these half-cocked fixes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No....we did not make mistakes actually. Many things have been borked by Oreo development, I did nothing to lose my Imei other than flash 64bit Roms, keeping a secure backup of stock firmware would not restore your imei, if so, so would flashing via fastboot your original stock firmware.
Ok so I've been analyzing the app "Partition Backup" on the play store and it seems that you can also flash your backed up partition through fastboot. So if you back up those partitions, you can restore them through fastboot even without the app (As long as you backup the partition in the .img format). I haven't tried any of this yet so I'm not sure if it will work.
smartish123 said:
Ok so I've been analyzing the app "Partition Backup" on the play store and it seems that you can also flash your backed up partition through fastboot. So if you back up those partitions, you can restore them through fastboot even without the app (As long as you backup the partition in the .img format). I haven't tried any of this yet so I'm not sure if it will work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Best way to back up partitions is to use ADB
Code:
ls -al /dev/block/platform/soc/7824900.sdhci/by-name
which will give you a list of all partitions by name and their starting addresses. Then ADB shell and dd command, for instance for persist
Code:
dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk0p30 of=/external_sd/persist.img
This backs up that partition to your external sd card. To restore/write it
Code:
dd if=/external_sd/persist.img of=/dev/block/mmcblk0p30
Of course you would do this for each partition you want to back up.
[email protected] said:
Best way to back up partitions is to use ADB
Code:
ls -al /dev/block/platform/soc/7824900.sdhci/by-name
which will give you a list of all partitions by name and their starting addresses. Then ADB shell and dd command, for instance for persist
Code:
dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk0p30 of=/external_sd/persist.img
This backs up that partition to your external sd card. To restore/write it
Code:
dd if=/external_sd/persist.img of=/dev/block/mmcblk0p30
Of course you would do this for each partition you want to back up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you need to have root installed to run those commands through adb? What I'm planning on doing is to unroot my device and go to pure stock. I want to be able to restore my modem partitions when I install an OTA (which will probably break my IMEI).
UPDATE
I tried flashing the backed up image of modemst1 i got from the app through fastboot. It failed saying "flash permission denied"
Code:
(bootloader) slot-count: not found
(bootloader) slot-suffixes: not found
(bootloader) slot-suffixes: not found
(bootloader) has-slot:modemst1: not found
target reported max download size of 536870912 bytes
sending 'modemst1' (2048 KB)...
OKAY [ 0.076s]
writing 'modemst1'...
(bootloader) flash permission denied
FAILED (remote failure)
finished. total time: 0.101s
How to get back imie...??? Please help
madhu kumaraaa said:
How to get back imie...??? Please help
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try this thread
https://forum.xda-developers.com/g5-plus/help/restore-imei-0-moto-g5-xt1687-t3739808
Try this.
1-Pixel Experience workaround (Flash PE, don't turn on wifi, get to home screen, reboot to bootloader, run fastboot erase modemst1 and fastboot modemst2, let phone reboot, confirm network.)
2-Lock Bootloader (If the last OTA you got was 9x-8 you're in a tight spot til firmware is available. If it was -4, you're good.)
3-Flash Full Firmware (but not fastboot erase modemst1 and modemst1. Keep as-is)
4-Install and Flash OTA
I can make absolutely no promises it will work for you. But I was dealing with IMEI 0, and now my bootloader is locked, on Stock, OTA installed with IMEI. I've had the phone return IMEI 0 after OTA updates before this. I can't confirm LTE/voLTE connectivity, not much data in the first place cause I don't need it.
If it doesn't work. Try again but do this first. I dunno if it's redundant or not. I can't test further and I'm leaving this phone alone now.
--When I was messing with my phone while doing this. I ****ed up the first time and only did 1- and 3-. I ran the above steps after phone as on the home screen and not enabling wifi
For reference. I don't have an EFS backup and I never messed with persist.
Randumb_User said:
Try this.
1-Pixel Experience workaround (Flash PE, don't turn on wifi, get to home screen, reboot to bootloader, run fastboot erase modemst1 and fastboot modemst2, let phone reboot, confirm network.)
2-Lock Bootloader (If the last OTA you got was 9x-8 you're in a tight spot til firmware is available. If it was -4, you're good.)
3-Flash Full Firmware (but not fastboot erase modemst1 and modemst1. Keep as-is)
4-Install and Flash OTA
I can make absolutely no promises it will work for you. But I was dealing with IMEI 0, and now my bootloader is locked, on Stock, OTA installed with IMEI. I've had the phone return IMEI 0 after OTA updates before this. I can't confirm LTE/voLTE connectivity, not much data in the first place cause I don't need it.
If it doesn't work. Try again but do this first. I dunno if it's redundant or not. I can't test further and I'm leaving this phone alone now.
--When I was messing with my phone while doing this. I ****ed up the first time and only did 1- and 3-. I ran the above steps after phone as on the home screen and not enabling wifi
For reference. I don't have an EFS backup and I never messed with persist.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So just to clarify (I understand that this may not work for me):
After following the above steps, you were able to have a working IMEI and you were able to install an OTA update without having your IMEI go to 0 correct?
Also on step 4, when you say "Install and Flash OTA" do you mean you proceed to install the OTA normally (as in you click the install button in Stock and your phone reboots and installs it)?
smartish123 said:
So just to clarify (I understand that this may not work for me):
After following the above steps, you were able to have a working IMEI and you were able to install an OTA update without having your IMEI go to 0 correct?
Also on step 4, when you say "Install and Flash OTA" do you mean you proceed to install the OTA normally (as in you click the install button in Stock and your phone reboots and installs it)?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Correct and correct, I'm a ****show when it comes to explaining things.
I'm still not sure what's gonna happen after a factory reset. The reluctance is overwhelming.
Did anyone else have any luck?
If anyone manages to get thier IMEI at any point I'd suggest Unlocking/TWRP to make an EFS backup. First thing I did after rooting again. Then I got stuck on the logo, had to flash 93-4 and....IMEI 0. EFS backup worked proper and restored it just fine. I could wipe data in TWRP without losing IMEI.
Gonna avoid custom ROMs. Stick with Stock+ElementalX+Magisk.
What a fun device....
Here's some probable good news: https://www.xda-developers.com/google-require-oem-regular-security-patches/
Randumb_User said:
Did anyone else have any luck?
If anyone manages to get thier IMEI at any point I'd suggest Unlocking/TWRP to make an EFS backup. First thing I did after rooting again. Then I got stuck on the logo, had to flash 93-4 and....IMEI 0. EFS backup worked proper and restored it just fine. I could wipe data in TWRP without losing IMEI.
Gonna avoid custom ROMs. Stick with Stock+ElementalX+Magisk.
What a fun device....
Here's some probable good news: https://www.xda-developers.com/google-require-oem-regular-security-patches/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea as of now, no one has been able to figure out how to apply OTA without losing imei. However someone has managed to figure out how to apply an OTA using the firmware files without losing imei.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/g5-plus/help/restore-imei-0-moto-g5-xt1687-t3739808/post76468866
The only drawback with this method is that you need have the firmware zip of the OTA.
smartish123 said:
Yea as of now, no one has been able to figure out how to apply OTA without losing imei. However someone has managed to figure out how to apply an OTA using the firmware files without losing imei.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/g5-plus/help/restore-imei-0-moto-g5-xt1687-t3739808/post76468866
The only drawback with this method is that you need have the firmware zip of the OTA.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have used OTA to update to 93-8 and the other day 93-10 (For XT1687 retus) without losing IMEI, it's an anomaly to me. Prior to that I was dealing with the same OTA updates reverting back to IMEI 0. I'm not trying to gloat or anything, I've been hoping at least one person managed the same outcome. It's a really $h!t situation for a lot of people.
Randumb_User said:
I have used OTA to update to 93-8 and the other day 93-10 (For XT1687 retus) without losing IMEI, it's an anomaly to me. Prior to that I was dealing with the same OTA updates reverting back to IMEI 0. I'm not trying to gloat or anything, I've been hoping at least one person managed the same outcome. It's a really $h!t situation for a lot of people.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What sucks so much is how random things are with this device. For example, a month ago I fastbooted one of the firmwares and my imei was there(was 0 before flashing). After that flashing an Oreo rom, my imei was 0. Going back and repeating the process, flashing same firmware, imei 0 still?????. So damn random. If only we had a safe way to manually insert our imei. Let's just hope the problems do not multiply when we get 32bit official Oreo .
Cupcake 1.5 said:
What sucks so much is how random things are with this device. For example, a month ago I fastbooted one of the firmwares and my imei was there(was 0 before flashing). After that flashing an Oreo rom, my imei was 0. Going back and repeating the process, flashing same firmware, imei 0 still?????. So damn random. If only we had a safe way to manually insert our imei. Let's just hope the problems do not multiply when we get 32bit official Oreo .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've been doing a lot of thinking and I came up with this idea on how to install OTA safely without losing imei.
Essentially, the main goal is to be able to install the OTA and then restore a backup of your modemst1 and modemst2 partitions. You need to be able to do this without installing TWRP, since it will decrypt your data partition. The only way I can think of doing this is through backing up and restoring your modemst1 and modemst2 partitions through ADB, which unfortunately requires root. Using some logic, we can see that in order to do this you need to preserve root without installing it through TWRP. I'm proposing that if you can use magisk manager (the apk one) and use it create a patched boot.img (which can be obtained via any firmware zip) with root access , you can flash this patched boot.img in fastboot and obtain root access WITHOUT having to use TWRP. So whenever you install an OTA, you can restore the original boot.img through fastboot, install the OTA, restore patched boot.img, and use root access to restore modemst1 and modemst2 backups via ADB.
UPDATE
I came up with a better idea. It seems it is possible to boot into twrp without having to flash it on your phone via
fastboot boot twrp.img
If this works, you can restore an EFS backup everytime you install an OTA since your stock recovery remains intact.
I haven't tried any of this yet. It would be amazing if you guys could give me your opinions about this. I'd be happy to clarify any of this for you guys.
My G5 Plus was stolen and it's now someone's problem other than mine. Good luck to them. I've inherited a OnePlus X.
Farewell folks.
smartish123 said:
UPDATE
I came up with a better idea. It seems it is possible to boot into twrp without having to flash it on your phone via
fastboot boot twrp.img
If this works, you can restore an EFS backup everytime you install an OTA since your stock recovery remains intact.
I haven't tried any of this yet. It would be amazing if you guys could give me your opinions about this. I'd be happy to clarify any of this for you guys.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This doesn't work, I just tried it. You can of course restore EFS this way but the next OTA will not work, you get the "Error!" message.
fivefour said:
This doesn't work, I just tried it. You can of course restore EFS this way but the next OTA will not work, you get the "Error!" message.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Drat. This means that whatever efs we are using to recover our imei is tampered. I don't know how to fix that.
Hello everyone, i installed the leaked soak test with the "apply update from SD card" on stock recovery after locking my bootloader.
One week later, i unlocked it again and flashed TWRP for rooting with magisk.
Even with root tweaks i still face problems with soak 8.1, due to the lack of custom kernels.
So i decided to flash Stock N (1st April) with the TWRP Flashable zip from @Jleeblanch , how i avoid IMEI loss doing that? If i backup Oreo's EFS with TWRP, it will be compatible if i try to restore it after flashing, or it's not even necessary?
The TWRP flashable zip files by @Jleeblanch does not have the commands "fastboot erase modemst1" and "fastboot erase modemst2" so your IMEI will be fine. However Stock Oreo does mess up with IMEI.
Flash TWRP flashable Stock Nougat by Jleeblanch. You will not lose IMEI, but there will still be a problem of persist (i.e you will lost IMEI if you flash Stock ROM via fastboot). So to fix persist, follow this thread: [Guide] [XT16XX] [Solve] Moto G4/Plus IMEI=0 issue
Losing IMEI is a persist related problem (Soak Test 8.1, and all 64bit Pie ROMs are causing this). So if you fix persist, then you will never lose IMEI.
I recommend you to take backup of EFS before this process (i.e while having a bad persist and working EFS) and also after fixing persist (i.e while having a good persist and working EFS).
EFS backup by Lyuu's TWRP takes a backup of EFS, fsg and persist.
Since you upgraded to Soak test from a locked bootloader, I strongly oppose moving back to Stock Nougat. Even if you go back to Nougat, MAKE SURE THAT YOU NEVER DO ANY OTA UPDATE. Whenever Official Oreo comes out, either flash it by fastboot or by TWRP flashable zip file (Jleeblanch said that he will make one for Official Oreo too once it's released)
Heeth21 said:
The TWRP flashable zip files by @Jleeblanch does not have the commands "fastboot erase modemst1" and "fastboot erase modemst2" so your IMEI will be fine. However Stock Oreo does mess up with IMEI.
Flash TWRP flashable Stock Nougat by Jleeblanch. You will not lose IMEI, but there will still be a problem of persist (i.e you will lost IMEI if you flash Stock ROM via fastboot). So to fix persist, follow this thread: [Guide] [XT16XX] [Solve] Moto G4/Plus IMEI=0 issue
Losing IMEI is a persist related problem (Soak Test 8.1, and all 64bit Pie ROMs are causing this). So if you fix persist, then you will never lose IMEI.
I recommend you to take backup of EFS before this process (i.e while having a bad persist and working EFS) and also after fixing persist (i.e while having a good persist and working EFS).
EFS backup by Lyuu's TWRP takes a backup of EFS, fsg and persist.
Since you upgraded to Soak test from a locked bootloader, I strongly oppose moving back to Stock Nougat.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Rajat's 64bit TWRP doesn't have EFS Backup option here. I will try Lyuu's
Thanks for the help.
xSamukaBRx said:
Rajat's 64bit TWRP doesn't have EFS Backup option here. I will try Lyuu's
Thanks for the help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Read the second post again, I have edited it.
Heeth21 said:
Since you upgraded to Soak test from a locked bootloader, I strongly oppose moving back to Stock Nougat. Even if you go back to Nougat, MAKE SURE THAT YOU NEVER DO ANY OTA UPDATE. Whenever Official Oreo comes out, either flash it by fastboot or by TWRP flashable zip file (Jleeblanch said that he will make one for Official Oreo too once it's released)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I kinda fear it auto-updating, so i'll make sure to delete the "3c_ota" app from /priv-app
EDIT: Already know the risks of taking OTA with unlocked bootloader or after downgrade...
Heeth21 said:
Since you upgraded to Soak test from a locked bootloader, I strongly oppose moving back to Stock Nougat. Even if you go back to Nougat, MAKE SURE THAT YOU NEVER DO ANY OTA UPDATE. Whenever Official Oreo comes out, either flash it by fastboot or by TWRP flashable zip file (Jleeblanch said that he will make one for Official Oreo too once it's released)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What about Lineage-based 7.1.2 32 bits ROMs? Can i flash them without issue? Already flashed Stock N
with TWRP, and It worked fine. Just want to know.
Please don't tell me i need the fastboot Stock N, i can't flash that anymore i think. :crying:
xSamukaBRx said:
What about Lineage-based 7.1.2 32 bits ROMs? Can i flash them without issue? Already flashed Stock N
with TWRP, and It worked fine. Just want to know.
Please don't tell me i need the fastboot Stock N, i can't flash that anymore i think. :crying:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes you can flash Custom ROMs from TWRP, however, I don't think you should right now.
I got my device hard bricked randomly from Custom ROM. idk what caused it, maybe some changes which I did or something else. If a similar thing were to happen with you, there's no guarantee whether the current blankflash would work or not.
Heeth21 said:
Yes you can flash Custom ROMs from TWRP, however, I don't think you should right now.
I got my device hard bricked randomly from Custom ROM. idk what caused it, maybe some changes which I did or something else. If a similar thing were to happen with you, there's no guarantee whether the current blankflash would work or not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Even through i just want a pure lineage OS instead of a custom based on it (too many stuff comes with a risk, right?), i better not try...
So now that my phone is recovered I've discovered that its only reading up to 16gb of internal storage. I have a backup of my phone before it was bricked made in twrp and want to know if I can restore that as it was made of an october patch fw and now my phone runs a december patch. Also, will this backup be corrupted or incorrect in any way because I didn't allow system modifications before creating it?
Second, can anyone drop a foolproof rooting guide for Sm-G950FD that does not result in the official binary nightmare or any other bricking horsecrap?
Unbrick-me said:
So now that my phone is recovered I've discovered that its only reading up to 16gb of internal storage. I have a backup of my phone before it was bricked made in twrp and want to know if I can restore that as it was made of an october patch fw and now my phone runs a december patch. Also, will this backup be corrupted or incorrect in any way because I didn't allow system modifications before creating it?
Second, can anyone drop a foolproof rooting guide for Sm-G950FD that does not result in the official binary nightmare or any other bricking horsecrap?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If it's showing incorrect storage you will need to flash stock again, you need to use the CSC file not home-csc. The pit file to repartition the device is inside the CSC file. You will need to wipe data also. As for your backup did you backup all partitions or only data? I don't use twrp backups because for some reason after restoring I always run into issues. Hope this helps in some way :good:
Unbrick-me said:
So now that my phone is recovered I've discovered that its only reading up to 16gb of internal storage. I have a backup of my phone before it was bricked made in twrp and want to know if I can restore that as it was made of an october patch fw and now my phone runs a december patch. Also, will this backup be corrupted or incorrect in any way because I didn't allow system modifications before creating it?
Second, can anyone drop a foolproof rooting guide for Sm-G950FD that does not result in the official binary nightmare or any other bricking horsecrap?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Some say as simple as a factory reset can fix it but if not for sure what previous poster stated
callumbr1 said:
If it's showing incorrect storage you will need to flash stock again, you need to use the CSC file not home-csc. The pit file to repartition the device is inside the CSC file. You will need to wipe data also. As for your backup did you backup all partitions or only data? I don't use twrp backups because for some reason after restoring I always run into issues. Hope this helps in some way :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes I did backup all partitions, I backed up every option there was, which leads me to a new question. I've read up on TWRP's site https://twrp.me/faq/whattobackup.html that restoring the extra partitions carelessly could result in a brick. Is it safe to take these partitions out of the backup folder and restore everything else? I think it might end up causing issues or something since that would change the hash, hopefully I'm wrong about that tho.
Hello! I've rooted my phone today successfully without ending up in the official binary hell. I did this by following normal S8 rooting procedures but I allowed system modifications everytime TWRP booted and I flashed rmm state bypass mesa, no verity and the latest magisk. In that order. In addition, the required wiping of my device before rooting seemingly fixed my storage issue! Hooray!
Unbrick-me said:
Hello! I've rooted my phone today successfully without ending up in the official binary hell. I did this by following normal S8 rooting procedures but I allowed system modifications everytime TWRP booted and I flashed rmm state bypass mesa, no verity and the latest magisk. In that order. In addition, the required wiping of my device before rooting seemingly fixed my storage issue! Hooray!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello, that's great news glad it's all sorted for you! Happens often with the storage partition. As for the rmm, you should only have to flash the rmm zip once only then it should work every time.
HELP!!!!! I installed the latest Android 10 build (Developer V2). Then unlocked bootloader and installed TWRP and then Evolution X.
Now Widevine L1 is lost!!! Please help me with any damn method to get it back. Will do ANYTHING to get it back....
keshavjain235 said:
HELP!!!!! I installed the latest Android 10 build (Developer V2). Then unlocked bootloader and installed TWRP and then Evolution X.
Now Widevine L1 is lost!!! Please help me with any damn method to get it back. Will do ANYTHING to get it back....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you have the backup of persist partition when your phone was L1 ? If yes, then try restoring it.
Tianhe said:
Do you have the backup of persist partition when your phone was L1 ? If yes, then try restoring it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No I don't have. I have searched in various telegram groups to take persist backup on someone else (same device) and change serial number in it? Should I try that? There were people complaining that they were not able to install/update stock rom after doing this process. Please GUIDE, I am a beginner in these things....
keshavjain235 said:
No I don't have. I have searched in various telegram groups to take persist backup on someone else (same device) and change serial number in it? Should I try that? There were people complaining that they were not able to install/update stock rom after doing this process. Please GUIDE, I am a beginner in these things....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You could try that but I am not sure if that would restore the wiped DRM keys. In some phones (Moto G5 Plus?), backup of persist from other phones would do no good.
Also you can try flashing stock ROM through AFT and see if it helps you.
An please REMEMBER TO TAKE BACKUP before attempting any of the above methods.
Tianhe said:
You could try that but I am not sure if that would restore the wiped DRM keys. In some phones (Moto G5 Plus?), backup of persist from other phones would do no good.
Also you can try flashing stock ROM through AFT and see if it helps you.
An please REMEMBER TO TAKE BACKUP before attempting any of the above methods.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Already tried flashing stock rom via AFT, but Widevine stays at L3. I am not risking to flash persist of other device as it may lead to further issues. Please let me know if there is some more efficient way out of this issue. Thanks.
I heard flashing q firmware permanently causes issues with widevine l1. The only way to bring it back is to restore a previous persist backup or flash a qfil rom (not sure about the latter). If you don't have a backup, too bad chief.
farhanshaikh671 said:
I heard flashing q firmware permanently causes issues with widevine l1. The only way to bring it back is to restore a previous persist backup or flash a qfil rom (not sure about the latter). If you don't have a backup, too bad chief.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Partially correct. QB1 update caused widevine downgrade to L3 but QB2 restored it to L1. Of course, you have to be bootloader locked all the time. Too many theories going around to restore L1 on UBL but none proven, even persist backup method isn't 100%
how to install qb2 bro please help need widevine
Tianhe said:
Partially correct. QB1 update caused widevine downgrade to L3 but QB2 restored it to L1. Of course, you have to be bootloader locked all the time. Too many theories going around to restore L1 on UBL but none proven, even persist backup method isn't 100%
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
how to install qb2 and iam trying qfil
parvez1119eee said:
how to install qb2 and iam trying qfil
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
mine too lost L1 certification after flashing Havoc os latest build 3.5, also charging issue, charges very slow, apprx. 5-6 hrs for fullcharge my asus.
parvez1119eee said:
how to install qb2 bro please help need widevine
how to install qb2 and iam trying qfil
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
After installing QFIL rom did L1 comes back.