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I just wanted to share a story of woe and redemption so that it doesn't happen to you.
As background, I had sim unlocked my phone using helroz's method a while back, and my phone has been working fine from team whiskey's early days till now. Recently, I was flashing my phone as most of us do. I noted that after flashing the dead horse kernel, my market was not working properly, so I decided to odin back to JFD. From there, I flashed Bionix, but afterward, noted that I wasn't getting any cell reception. After some investigation and several odins, I looked at my software info and found that my baseband was unknown. I flashed back to JFD however, and it worked fine. In fact, this was the only rom where the cell worked. The phone otherwise was functioning flawlessly, including wifi.
Further investigation showed that this has happened to others, and anecdotally, people have fixed it by odining over and over or doing some magic with their sim card. I did just that but to no avail. After some thinking, it occurred to me that maybe my /efs data was bad, so I took a look. Hitting *#06# showed the generic samsung IMEI while in JFD (it did not work in other versions as the baseband was not working), not my normal IMEI. That's odd. I still had the backup from trying to sim unlock it months ago. I tried to overwrite the /efs folder w/ my own, but I could not write it due to 'not enough space.'
Further investigation showed that indeed, my efs partition had been borked, and so I could not write data to it (I could copy however). The only way to fix this is by flashing/odin'ing a new partition. This only works if you have a backup, which I didn't. Basically, I had a fancy media player at this point.
I went ahead and looked on craigslist and found a vibrant w/ a broken screen, figuring I could swap out the guts. I immediately backed up the /efs folder and partition of the broken phone, just in case. On a whim, I tried to flash the efs partition from the broken phone to my phone. Lo and behold, the baseband came back. I was now able to write to that partition, so overwrote the /efs folder w/ my backup from before. My IMEI came back afterwards, and so now, I have 2 functioning vibrants. I'm not sure what data is stored in /dev/block/stl3, but I do know I was able to fix my phone using another phone's data. They both work w/ my sim, though I am unsure if they can connect simultaneously using different sims or if they are somehow cloned, but the IMEIs are different for sure.
The moral of the story is that this phone is nigh unbrickable and even when it doesn't boot, you can always try the jig. The only part of the phone you can't fix w/ a routine odin it seems, is the efs partition, so I would encourage everyone to make a backup and keep it safe. This is not done standard as an initiation into rooting and roms and such, but it should be. Normally, odin'ing a rom does not write to this area, but even w/o screwing with this, frequent flashing and odins can apparently corrupt it, leaving you high and dry. With this backup and odin, you could probably fix your phone from any jam.
Here are the relevant threads on how to do this:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=882039
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=859914
Keep those backups safe!
Thank you for sharing ur experience, I recently noticed that my data speeds have gone down after unlocking my vibrant using the method you mentioned above.Damn, I get edge speeds when I am on a HSPA network. Dunno whats the problem,called up simple mobile,am not data throttled.Sigh..
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
man this is scary, but your phone still works at JFD right?
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
It didn't for a while. Now, both phones are fully functional. I had a copy of the /efs folder of my old phone, but not an image of the partition. The problem is, when the partition gets screwed, you can't write to it, making the /efs useless.
That's why I'm trying to get people to make the backup. It takes a few minutes, but can be a lifesaver. I do believe you can flash a foreign stl3 partition and overwrite the /efs like I did, but unless you had a friend, no one would share it w/ you as it contains their imei info. Better to just back up your own. And if you lose your /efs, game over.
How exactly do you back up a partition?
Very cool of you to post this up. Is there any reason to back up your efs partition if you have no reason to unlock?
<---backing it up anyway.
It's not the unlocking. It seems that over time, some people (such as myself) screwed up the efs partition by just flashing/odin'ing various roms. It shouldn't happen, but it does. Consider that no roms write to the stl3 layer, yet mine was working one day, then one odin later, it didn't. I'm sure the number of people this happens to is quite small, but when it happens, it happens. It's like a 6 mb backup which isn't that big of a deal.
It's better to be safe than sorry.
I did an experiment on my Galaxy Tab, that I move the /efs folder to memory card.
Soon I found the reception goes way worse (at least 10dBm less) and the serial number changed to 00000000, then I immediately copied (restore) the folder and everything was back to normal.
I tried to examine the files with hex editor but I found nothing spectular.
vnamee said:
It's not the unlocking. It seems that over time, some people (such as myself) screwed up the efs partition by just flashing/odin'ing various roms. It shouldn't happen, but it does. Consider that no roms write to the stl3 layer, yet mine was working one day, then one odin later, it didn't. I'm sure the number of people this happens to is quite small, but when it happens, it happens. It's like a 6 mb backup which isn't that big of a deal.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's really weird. I've never really looked into the occurrence because I always assumed it was isolated only to those that did some weird hacking in an attempt to unlock, or to those that were developing and found themselves doing some nasty, nasty things.
I just created efs_dev-block-st13.img and efs-backup.tar.gz so hopefully I'm all safe and sound now.
Thanks again! Once I get beyond GPS stuff I find myself clueless.
draikz said:
How exactly do you back up a partition?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You need to read the two links in the OP and download adb. You also need root and busybox.
all you need is to root your phone, such as w/ superoneclick which will put busybox on there. Then all you need is adb.exe.
Open up a command prompt where adb.exe is located. You can adb su or just go adb shell and then su.
The only commands you need are:
cat /dev/block/stl3 > /sdcard/stl3.bin (backs up sector management layer of partition)
cat /dev/block/bml3 > /sdcard/bml3.bin (backs up block management layer of partition)
tar zcvf /sdcard/efs-backup.tar.gz /efs (tars /efs folder)
cp stl3.bin efs.rfs (just makes copy of stl3.bin to new name efs.rfs)
tar -cf efs.tar efs.rfs (makes an odin flashable tar of partition)
I kept a copy of stl3.bin, bml3.bin, efs-backup.tar, and efs.tar.
vnamee said:
all you need is to root your phone, such as w/ superoneclick which will put busybox on there. Then all you need is adb.exe.
Open up a command prompt where adb.exe is located. You can adb su or just go adb shell and then su.
The only commands you need are:
cat /dev/block/stl3 > /sdcard/stl3.bin (backs up sector management layer of partition)
cat /dev/block/bml3 > /sdcard/bml3.bin (backs up block management layer of partition)
tar zcvf /sdcard/efs-backup.tar.gz /efs (tars /efs folder)
cp stl3.bin efs.rfs (just makes copy of stl3.bin to new name efs.rfs)
tar -cf efs.tar efs.rfs (makes an odin flashable tar of partition)
I kept a copy of stl3.bin, bml3.bin, efs-backup.tar, and efs.tar.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've got backups of stl3.bin, bml3.bin and efs-backup.tar.gz
When I try to make the partition an odin flashable tar it tells me: "No such file or directory".
You have to cd into the directory, or else it should be:
cp /sdcard/stl3.bin /sdcard/efs.rfs (just makes copy of stl3.bin to new name efs.rfs)
tar -cf /sdcard/efs.tar /sdcard/efs.rfs (makes an odin flashable tar of partition)
This is kind of old news, but nevertheless important.
Months ago in the Q&A section there were two threads about the importance of the EFS, and how a corrupted nv_data.bin and EFS can cause many problems including losing the ability to use a different carriers sim, yet nobody paid attention to those threads, but I thought the info was vital.
Would using ROM Manager and backing up your current rom, also backup the /efs?
vnamee said:
You have to cd into the directory, or else it should be:
cp /sdcard/stl3.bin /sdcard/efs.rfs (just makes copy of stl3.bin to new name efs.rfs)
tar -cf /sdcard/efs.tar /sdcard/efs.rfs (makes an odin flashable tar of partition)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I did. I'll do it again and post up exactly what I type and put in. Maybe it's just operator error.
Here ya go.
It might have been operator error because that time I watched efs.tar get written to /sdcard
It should be efs.rfs, not efs/rfs. It's a file, not a directory.
SamsungVibrant said:
Would using ROM Manager and backing up your current rom, also backup the /efs?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nandroid does not back up the /efs partition, at least not that I can tell. All those files in the backup folder are of the various partitions, and efs partition is not part of it.
The reason I made this thread to begin with is because when I had this problem, I looked high and low, and found scant info. In the future, if someone else has this problem, this will come up in a search and won't have some lame magical fix that may or may not work.
vnamee said:
It should be efs.rfs, not efs/rfs. It's a file, not a directory.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Pinky slip!!! For whatever reason, it took 3 tries but I finally got it to backup. Thanks for the help! I would never think to back this stuff up. Everyone does Nandroid's like crazy, which is good, but losing this stuff is losing your phone!
Excellent write-up vnamee thank you..........
I followed a guide to root my phone and install cyanogen. All well and good. Now, my touchscreen has a problem and I need to return the phone for warranty repair. I must restore the original ROM before sending it in. As part of the process, I created files called part7backup.bin, part18backup.bin, and part21backup.bin. What do I do with these, and how can I restore? I also have some contacts that didn't survive the backup (stupid backup program made 5 duplicates of some and didn't backup others) so that's another reason for restoring these original files.
gromky said:
I followed a guide to root my phone and install cyanogen. All well and good. Now, my touchscreen has a problem and I need to return the phone for warranty repair. I must restore the original ROM before sending it in. As part of the process, I created files called part7backup.bin, part18backup.bin, and part21backup.bin. What do I do with these, and how can I restore? I also have some contacts that didn't survive the backup (stupid backup program made 5 duplicates of some and didn't backup others) so that's another reason for restoring these original files.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When I've send in my DZ for repair I should keep my battery and SD-card at home and not send hem in with the phone. If i'm not mistaken the files your mentioning are on de SD-card
From de DZ-wiki
"6. Backup and cleanup
During the process gfree created backups of the partitions that it changed on your sdcard in /sdcard/
The files are called /sdcard/part7backup-<time>.bin, part18backup-<time>.bin (if you installed hboot) and part21backup-<time>.bin. It is highly recommended that you copy these files to a save location on your PC and keep them!
You can delete the files in /data/local/tmp they are not needed anymore."
You only need the part7backup, parts18 and 21 are the hboot and recovery, which get restored to stock if/when you flash a PC10IMG.
You need to be on a stock rom (with version 1.3x or lower) and radio (version 26.03.xx.xx or lower)
I have a guide for returning to stock and unrooting here
-Nipqer
/data/local/tmp/gfree -r /sdcard/part7backup-xxxxxxx.bin is the command, then.
So, what exactly is on part7? It restores the phone's internal memory? What happens if I just restore part7 and then reboot?
Part7 is where the S-ON/OFF flag is kept, along with Simlock and Supercid.
Partition 7 on the phone is write protected, (even with S-OFF) so you need to use gfree to powercycle the emmc and defeat the write protection, and for that you need a compatible rom and radio.
-Nipqer
Oh, so there's no chance of restoring the phone from these backups, then? Darn.
If you mean restore your apps and data, nope. this just does the emmc write protection.
-Nipqer
So I was able to do a full adb backup when I was on 4.1.2 before I updated to 4.2.2.. I wanted to do another full adb backup again on 4.2.2 before putting a recovery or custom rom on my device so it would be easy to restore back to my completely stock experience (with root) if I choose. But for some reason after letting it run all the way through (I let it run overnight since it takes so long) the backup is nowhere to be found which leads me to believe it failed somewhere along the way, but no errors are reported. Has anybody had this issue or have any advice on what may be going on? I've tried doing:
Adb backup -all
Adb backup -all C:\Users\Wyth\Desktop
Adb backup -all G:\ (external HDD)
Adb backup -all G:\xtzbackup (in case adb backup had some sort of bug saving to the root of the drive)
If anybody has any help or alternative solutions to creating a full system backup I'd appreciate it! Thanks in advance!
If you are going to supply a path and file name, don't forget the -f switch
dph3055 said:
If you are going to supply a path and file name, don't forget the -f switch
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, that was absolutely the issue. I guess I did that the first time around but forgot the second. I ended up making the backup and then unlocking the bootloader. Unfortunately I forgot that it would completely wipe the internal storage rather than just a factory reset, so I lost my titanium backups. Tried to do the adb restore, and every time after the first app it would just reboot the device. After trying it many times I ended up using the adb extractor tool to create a tar from the backup. Apparently however the backup was no good because when extracting the tar after getting to a certain part every time it came up with unexpected end of archive. But I at least got most of the titanium backup folder out. Tried copying that to internal storage and it was permission denied. Copied it to external sd, and then on the tablet transferred it to internal storage. Then every time I restored any of the data, when I rebooted the tablet it would go into bootloops. After many ftf flashes and time wasted copying things back and forth all over the place I finally am basically just resigning to starting over. Boot into CWM and made a backup, and find that it makes the clockwork mod backup folder in data/media rather than the proper place in data/media/0 or even data/media/legacy. The option to backup to external sdcard also doesn't work, as it refuses to mount sdcard or external-sdcard. Needless to say the last 24 hours or so has been massive headaches. Is there a newer version of CWM for the tablet than 6.0.3.2? It seems pretty buggy and hard to believe that it is what everyone has been using as the button combination to reboot to recovery doesn't even work.
Btw, I'm trying to do this on the stock sony 4.2.2 firmware for sgp312.
Using kernel and recovery from here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2433466
with ftf from here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2424550
I'm a complete beginner when it comes to rooting, flashing and so on. I've been using my Nexus 4 since the day it came out, and have always had it completely stock, never even rooted it or anything. I'm normally not too bad at stuff like this, but I've been googling how to do all of this and been reading some guides on here, and I'm just getting more and more confused.
My goal is to go from Stock Android 5.1.1 to the newest Cyanogenmod nightly, and to keep all my data. Now, how do i go about this?
I'm already stuck at the first step (or at least I think, that's the first step): Creating a backup of my current Stock phone. Apparently I need to create a NANDROID backup first, but I can't do it with a locked bootloader? And if i unlock the bootloader, my data will be wiped? This alone seems completely illogical to me, because how am I going to backup my device then? Is there no simple step by step guide for Nexus devices, that includes EVERYTHING, from backup to the final flashing of the ROM?
This is a good guide http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2018179
I've seen it and it doesn't answer my question. How do I unlock the bootloader to create a backup, without wiping my device?
jb91 said:
I've seen it and it doesn't answer my question. How do I unlock the bootloader to create a backup, without wiping my device?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can't unlock the bootloader without wiping the device. The only backup you will be able to make without an unlocked bootloader is copying your sdcard to your pc and use an app like helium to backup your apps and data. Just remember to copy that backup to your pc as well, otherwise it will be wiped.
theminikiller said:
You can't unlock the bootloader without wiping the device. The only backup you will be able to make without an unlocked bootloader is copying your sdcard to your pc and use an app like helium to backup your apps and data. Just remember to copy that backup to your pc as well, otherwise it will be wiped.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. Do you know this "Nexus Root Toolkit" program? I was able to create a backup file containing all apps with it, as well as extract a file with my contacts data from my Nexus 4. I'm guessing this should also include my SMS / WhatsApp messages and so on?
jb91 said:
Thanks. Do you know this "Nexus Root Toolkit" program? I was able to create a backup file containing all apps with it, as well as extract a file with my contacts data from my Nexus 4. I'm guessing this should also include my SMS / WhatsApp messages and so on?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately I don't know much about that. You could skim through some of the thread or search to find out if someone else has asked that question and if not ask it there. That would probably be the easiest way to find out.
This is extremely confusing, I have no idea how people can say it is simple to put a custom ROM on a Nexus device. I am absolutely lost trying to back up everything. Is a NANDROID backup just a full backup of the phone? Am I not completely screwed if I can't create this? I have some random app files, extracted from a Root Toolkit, and a contacts file. I don't think that's enough to save my device in case anything goes wrong during flashing?
One of the sticky threads here mentions this right at the beginning:
Before you do anything EVER, you'll always have to backup your stuff, even if you don't feel like it, or your dog died (in which case I'm truly sorry), but, no matter what you're about to do, always have a recent backup sitting around.
There are many ways and things you can and will probably have to backup.
1. Backup your entire phone, by creating a Nandroid Backup.
As you saw in the 'Custom Recovery" picture above, you have a "Backup and Restore" option.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But it doesn't make any sense. "Before I do anything", I can't even create the NANDROID backup to begin with, because the bootloader is not unlocked by default, and unlocking it will wipe everything on the device. So I don't get how the first step to put a ROM on a phone is to create a NANDROID backup, because from my understanding, it is not possible to do. Also, my Nexus 4 did not come with a "custom recovery" installed and I have no idea how to put this on there (do i do this before or after the NANDROID backup?). I'm really starting to wonder how anyone actually understands these guides.
jb91 said:
This is extremely confusing, I have no idea how people can say it is simple to put a custom ROM on a Nexus device. I am absolutely lost trying to back up everything. Is a NANDROID backup just a full backup of the phone? Am I not completely screwed if I can't create this? I have some random app files, extracted from a Root Toolkit, and a contacts file. I don't think that's enough to save my device in case anything goes wrong during flashing?
One of the sticky threads here mentions this right at the beginning:
But it doesn't make any sense. "Before I do anything", I can't even create the NANDROID backup to begin with, because the bootloader is not unlocked by default, and unlocking it will wipe everything on the device. So I don't get how the first step to put a ROM on a phone is to create a NANDROID backup, because from my understanding, it is not possible to do. Also, my Nexus 4 did not come with a "custom recovery" installed and I have no idea how to put this on there (do i do this before or after the NANDROID backup?). I'm really starting to wonder how anyone actually understands these guides.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Following the link to the guide, I see this:
*****
Unlocking the Bootloader:
***NOTE***
This will perform a factory reset on your device. You will lose all applications. Even the data on your SD Card! I'd recommend making a Backup to your computer BEFORE performing this. There is a method for backing your data up, detailed HERE.
For the time being, there is a method available that will allow you to unlock your device (and root it) without losing your data.
For instructions, click HERE. Please note: this is a hack and isn't the "conventional" and "accepted" way of unlocking your bootloader on a nexus device. The wipe requirement is there for your safety, really, and I'm certain this will be patched in the upcoming releases.
*****
But you can always use adb directly from your pc to backup your entire device. How? adb --help
adb backup [-f <file>] [-apk|-noapk] [-obb|-noobb] [-shared|-noshared] [-all] [-system|-nosystem] [<packages...>]
- write an archive of the device's data to <file>.
If no -f option is supplied then the data is written
to "backup.ab" in the current directory.
(-apk|-noapk enable/disable backup of the .apks themselves
in the archive; the default is noapk.)
(-obb|-noobb enable/disable backup of any installed apk expansion
(aka .obb) files associated with each application; the default
is noobb.)
(-shared|-noshared enable/disable backup of the device's
shared storage / SD card contents; the default is noshared.)
(-all means to back up all installed applications)
(-system|-nosystem toggles whether -all automatically includes
system applications; the default is to include system apps)
(<packages...> is the list of applications to be backed up. If
the -all or -shared flags are passed, then the package
list is optional. Applications explicitly given on the
command line will be included even if -nosystem would
ordinarily cause them to be omitted.)
greg17477 said:
But you can always use adb directly from your pc to backup your entire device. How? adb --help
adb backup [-f <file>] [-apk|-noapk] [-obb|-noobb] [-shared|-noshared] [-all] [-system|-nosystem] [<packages...>]
- write an archive of the device's data to <file>.
If no -f option is supplied then the data is written
to "backup.ab" in the current directory.
(-apk|-noapk enable/disable backup of the .apks themselves
in the archive; the default is noapk.)
(-obb|-noobb enable/disable backup of any installed apk expansion
(aka .obb) files associated with each application; the default
is noobb.)
(-shared|-noshared enable/disable backup of the device's
shared storage / SD card contents; the default is noshared.)
(-all means to back up all installed applications)
(-system|-nosystem toggles whether -all automatically includes
system applications; the default is to include system apps)
(<packages...> is the list of applications to be backed up. If
the -all or -shared flags are passed, then the package
list is optional. Applications explicitly given on the
command line will be included even if -nosystem would
ordinarily cause them to be omitted.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is ADB this "Android Studio" that I had to install in the first step of this guide (Android SDK)? If so, I opened it but I have no clue how to get anywhere where i could enter code like this. This is what it looks like: http://i.imgur.com/zhujSKR.png
jb91 said:
Is ADB this "Android Studio" that I had to install in the first step of this guide (Android SDK)? If so, I opened it but I have no clue how to get anywhere where i could enter code like this. This is what it looks like: http://i.imgur.com/zhujSKR.png
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, i can not help you , if you do not know the basic of basics Lots to read up for you.
cheers
Well ok, lets try it another way: i don't understand how to create a full backup, but i did backup some single apps to my PC using Nexus Root Toolkit (they're .ab files), for which i want to keep my data. I also manually backed up my mp3s and pictures / videos. Would i be fine just starting with the actual process (unlocking bootloader, install custom recovery and so on)?
After all, i should have the possibility to revert anything back for these apps at least, and the official Nexus 4 Stock Android files are available at Google. So, there's no real risk, even without a FULL backup of everything, correct?
Can anyone advise regarding ADB Backup of encrypted Moto X Style (Pure), Android 5.1.1 ?
Running "adb backup -all" connected to encrypted phone, results in a backup.ab file that is much smaller than expected, maybe a tenth of what I expect to see.
For comparison:
Kyocera Hydro Wave, Android 5.1: ~250MB to ~650MB file (backup.ab)
MXPE 2015, Android 5.1.1: ~25MB file (backup.ab)
I read somewhere that when phone is encrypted with Lollipop built-in FDE, the ADB Backup will only back up base Android system files, it does not back up apps, user data, or anything else. The reason given is that when FDE is used, the base system files remain unencrypted while everything else on internal storage is encrypted, and ADB won't backup the encrypted content. I'm not sure this is true, because the dialog that pops up on phone when ADB "adb backup -all" command is issued asks for a password to be set for the backup file - why would this be needed for a backup that contained only unencrypted system files?
One proposed solution I read is to decrypt phone to do a full ADB backup. That does not appear to be an option with MXEP, except by doing a full factory reset. Besides, even if it is possible to decrypt, do ADB backup, then re-encrypt, without a factory reset, that would add major time-consuming steps to doing an ADB backup.
Hoping to use ADB for full backup, my phone is not rooted so Titanium Backup or other root backup tools are not an option. (Don't want to root at this point, waiting on OTA update to add T-Mobile LTE Band 12 support.)
Also don't want to unencrypt at this point.
Any info would be appreciated.
TIA...