Database Users

[Q] lost IMEI after flashing Temasek's CM12.1 v. 14.9

Hi,
I very much hope you can help me with this issue.
I wanted to flashTemasek's CM 12.1 v. 14.9 on a N9005 running stock Lollipop (N905XXUGBOE9_N9005DBTGBOF1). After much reading, I believed it would be best to first downgrade to stock 4.4.2 (N9005XXUENB4_N9005DBTENB1_DBT). I then flashed TWRP 2.8.7.0 hlte 4.4. Could this be the reason? I later read that for Kitkat 4.4.2 without updates I should have rather used the 4.3 version of TWRP. I did a backup of the system including efs. After that I flashed Temasek's CM 12.1 v.14.9 doing a clean install by following the steps outlined in the thread:
Clean Installation
1. Download the appropriate ROM using links provide in the second post.
2. Download the appropriate GApps following the links in the second post.
3. Back up any and all important data.
5. WIPE DALVIK/CACHE/DATA/FACTORY RESET.
6. WIPE SYSTEM.
7. Flash the ROM in recovery.
7.1. DO NOT FIX PERMISSIONS AFTER FLASHING, doing so will cause a bootloop.
8. Flash the GApps.
9. WIPE DALVIK/CACHE (for good measure).
10. Reboot Device.
Flashing went fine, but the phone did not recognize the SIM card. Initially believing that this might be an issue with the ROM, I downgraded to Temasek's CM 12.1 v. 14 only to find that I was having similar issues. I then tried to restore the backup I created earlier but basically only got a black screen and a ton of notifications that apps had stopped working. I then tried to flash back stock kitkat (N9005XXUENB7_N9005DBTENB2) hoping that this would work with my version of TWRP but have had no success. Before causing any further trouble, I was hoping that some kind soul would be capable of and willing to help me with this. How can I recover my efs from the backup created with TWRP? And how can I finally restore my phone and hopefully end up with the ROM I was trying to flash? Any help is very much appreciated!
Thank you!

django e said:
Hi,
I very much hope you can help me with this issue.
I wanted to flashTemasek's CM 12.1 v. 14.9 on a N9005 running stock Lollipop (N905XXUGBOE9_N9005DBTGBOF1). After much reading, I believed it would be best to first downgrade to stock 4.4.2 (N9005XXUENB4_N9005DBTENB1_DBT). I then flashed TWRP 2.8.7.0 hlte 4.4. Could this be the reason? I later read that for Kitkat 4.4.2 without updates I should have rather used the 4.3 version of TWRP. I did a backup of the system including efs. After that I flashed Temasek's CM 12.1 v.14.9 doing a clean install by following the steps outlined in the thread:
Clean Installation
1. Download the appropriate ROM using links provide in the second post.
2. Download the appropriate GApps following the links in the second post.
3. Back up any and all important data.
5. WIPE DALVIK/CACHE/DATA/FACTORY RESET.
6. WIPE SYSTEM.
7. Flash the ROM in recovery.
7.1. DO NOT FIX PERMISSIONS AFTER FLASHING, doing so will cause a bootloop.
8. Flash the GApps.
9. WIPE DALVIK/CACHE (for good measure).
10. Reboot Device.
Flashing went fine, but the phone did not recognize the SIM card. Initially believing that this might be an issue with the ROM, I downgraded to Temasek's CM 12.1 v. 14 only to find that I was having similar issues. I then tried to restore the backup I created earlier but basically only got a black screen and a ton of notifications that apps had stopped working. I then tried to flash back stock kitkat (N9005XXUENB7_N9005DBTENB2) hoping that this would work with my version of TWRP but have had no success. Before causing any further trouble, I was hoping that some kind soul would be capable of and willing to help me with this. How can I recover my efs from the backup created with TWRP? And how can I finally restore my phone and hopefully end up with the ROM I was trying to flash? Any help is very much appreciated!
Thank you!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Who said you need 4.4 to update to cm12.1? You need 5.0 bootloader. That's what you had.
Maybe use another version of twrp. I use 2.8.5? And it's fine.
In twrp go to back up and restore. Restore by navigating to location of your back up.

kenny1991 said:
Who said you need 4.4 to update to cm12.1? You need 5.0 bootloader. That's what you had.
Maybe use another version of twrp. I use 2.8.5? And it's fine.
In twrp go to back up and restore. Restore by navigating to location of your back up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks! I managed to restore the imei flashing stock lollipop. I initially downgraded because it seemed to me that all instructions were based on kitkat and not much information was available on lollipop. Just wanted to make sure I followed the instructions to the letter. Stupid me...
I tried to restore efs the way you describe it, but it didn't work out for me. Thankfully, things are back to normal now and I will flash cm12.1 directly from stock lollipop now.
Thanks for taking the time to help!

Any way to install stock KK or stock LP via a flash-able file through any recovery?

Hello guys.
This is my first thread on XDA and I am really excited about it.
My query is, can we flash any stock OS via a recovery.
For example I am a N900 user, installed stock KK via Odin, rooted and then installed CWM recovery. Then I installed Nandroid and created a full backup of my ROM(Stock KK with superuser and nothing else)
When I am using any other ROM like Pekaka 6 or Dr. Ketan's L23(with LP bootloader) and when I try to restore my backup via recovery or CWM it's not letting me to restore my backup.
And when I am using any KK based ROM like K14 or alba19986's Ultralite ROM then it's allowing me to restore my backup.

Vishal333 said:
Hello guys.
This is my first thread on XDA and I am really excited about it.
My query is, can we flash any stock OS via a recovery.
For example I am a N900 user, installed stock KK via Odin, rooted and then installed CWM recovery. Then I installed Nandroid and created a full backup of my ROM(Stock KK with superuser and nothing else)
When I am using any other ROM like Pekaka 6 or Dr. Ketan's L23(with LP bootloader) and when I try to restore my backup via recovery or CWM it's not letting me to restore my backup.
And when I am using any KK based ROM like K14 or alba19986's Ultralite ROM then it's allowing me to restore my backup.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You replied to your question yourself.
Different bootloaders allow different Android versions. For KK ROM you need KK bootloader, for LP ROM you need LP bootloader. And different modems, as well.
And more importantly, KK and LP need different sizes of the system partition, and to change the size of the system partition, you need a .pit file for that. If you want to play with .pit files, be prepared to read A LOT, because flashing a wrong .pit file (through Odin) may very well brick your device, and naturally, this is not a desired outcome.
And for switching between major Android versions, you need to read even more.
I'm about to pass out, so just read some threads here in the general Note 3 forum, they aren't hard to find.

Thank you so much, obelec for clearing my doubt in a beautiful way.
By the way what if I am on LP based ROMs and I am preforming full wipe, rebooting in download mode, installing KK bootloader and rebooting again in CWM then trying to restore the backup?
Thanks in advance.

Now what?

Hi guys, new to the Android rooting community and just wanted some help figuring out what's what.
Today I bought a Samsung Galaxy S4, unlocked, I9505. It's on Android 5.0.1 (I believe that's lollipop?). Now I just wondered now that I have rooted it, what do I do now? I've rooted and done nothing else other than check my root permission which I have. I wanted to install a clean, stock Google Play Edition rom and then remove the bloatware from it and use that as my phone. How am I doing that? Do I need to have rooted a specific Android version to install roms? I was reading around about a custom recovery, do I already have that installed from root or is that another thing that I need? :crying:
Any help would be appreciated as I am super new to this having come from iPhone jailbreaking.
Thanks!

You need a custom recovery to install just about any custom rom. Custom recoveries don't from rooting, you have to flash it manually. I recommend TWRP. Just google twrp s4. They also have an installation guide. After you flashed TWRP you can flash one of the GPE roms from the forum. There are 2. One is untouched and the other has slight modifications.

GDReaper said:
You need a custom recovery to install just about any custom rom. Custom recoveries don't from rooting, you have to flash it manually. I recommend TWRP. Just google twrp s4. They also have an installation guide. After you flashed TWRP you can flash one of the GPE roms from the forum. There are 2. One is untouched and the other has slight modifications.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the reply, at this moment I just need all the info I can get before I do anything! Is TWRP the best? I'm sure "which is the best recovery" is asked a lot, so I'll have a look around. Do they do different things or are the premise of them generally the same? And that's fantastic about GPE, so I won't need to upgrade any higher than 5.0.1?

Dannilad said:
Thanks for the reply, at this moment I just need all the info I can get before I do anything! Is TWRP the best? I'm sure "which is the best recovery" is asked a lot, so I'll have a look around. Do they do different things or are the premise of them generally the same? And that's fantastic about GPE, so I won't need to upgrade any higher than 5.0.1?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just tried installing the JFLTE-GPE latest version using TWRP and it's not worked, I'm stuck in TWRP :/ Any help?

Did you perform a full wipe of the system, data, and cache before flashing gpe?

audit13 said:
Did you perform a full wipe of the system, data, and cache before flashing gpe?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey, I just looked around and one video I watched did not specify that I needed to wipe System. Just tried wiping System, darvik cache, cache and data so I'll see what happens and let you know if it's worked fingers crossed
EDIT: No, it hasn't worked, I've been kicked straight back into TWRP screen again Any ideas?

Dannilad said:
Hey, I just looked around and one video I watched did not specify that I needed to wipe System. Just tried wiping System, darvik cache, cache and data so I'll see what happens and let you know if it's worked fingers crossed
EDIT: No, it hasn't worked, I've been kicked straight back into TWRP screen again Any ideas?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
bump

Normally you have to wipe data, cache, dalvik cache and system before flashing a rom. This can either be done manually or as a factory reset from within the recovery. I don't see any reason why it wouldn't boot. Try another kernel. Or you might want to try the AOSP rom by JDC team. It's basically the same as GPE, but without any of the google apps. But those can be flashed. You need to download a gapps package. The most popular seems to be from open gapps. Choose ARM, the android version of the rom and then the type of package. Pico is the smallest and will give you only the google play store.
---------- Post added at 08:56 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:54 PM ----------
And don't change recoveries. The others are outdated. TWRP is the only one up-to-date. You might also try another version of TWRP. The newest is 2.8.7.2 I think.

OTA questions

Hi, Ive recently rooted my phone and was just wondering what I need to do to get OTA for marshmallow in the future and I have a few questions about stock rom.
1. Do I lose root when flashing stock rom?
2. Do my apps and data get deleted when I flash stock rom?
3. Do I lose TWRP and revert to stock recovery when I flash stock rom?
Noob here, so thanks in advance

Marshmallow OTA, you are very optimistic mate, might take 3 months if not more.
Anyway, to answer your queries, yes, flashing stock ROM via Odin removes everything, I mean it removes root, it removes any custom recovery and restores stock recovery. But no it won't wipe your internal memory, but here again there are some firmwares where the devices does get wiped out, but I don't know exactly which one are those! But most firmwares don't touch your internal memory. But if you are coming from a custom ROM then it is highly recommended (mandatory actually) to completely wipe the phone using a custom recovery and then only flash stock ROM.
About thanks, hit the metre, saying thanks doesn't mean anything here in XDA

"Camera Failed" After Restoring in TWRP

I restored a backup from a few weeks ago after trying out a marshmallow based ROM (I was on lollipop prior) and after the restore process, my old phone interface came up and it was as if I never flashed the newer rom at all as expected, however, now my camera does not work at all and I could use a hand figuring out how to resolve this issue.
Things I've tried:
- Rebooting (obviously)
- Clearing cache/dalvik from recovery
- Clearing the camera app's data and cache
When I restored my backup, I chose not to restore 'boot' and 'recovery' because while I was on the marshmallow rom, I unlocked my phone's bootloader and installed TWRP (as opposed to using SafeStrap) and I didn't want to lose it.
Samsung Galaxy S5 GM-900V
Android 5.0
Baseband: G900VVRU2BOG5
Build: OptimalRom 15-5
Marshmallow rom I referenced: Norma_Note5Port_V3.4_VZW
Any advice?

So I've formatted dalvik/cache/data/internal storage and installed the older rom (OptimalRom 15-2 ) again. Did the initial setup and the camera still didn't work. I tried reflashing a known-good kernel that's compatible with this rom and that didn't seem to help.
Can anyone point me in the right direction on how to resolve this? Something must have been flashed when I installed the Note 5 rom that wasn't when I went back to OptimalRom. I just don't know what. I'll keep searching and experimenting. Thankfully I have a real recovery menu now so softbricking isn't as big of a deal.

GoTeamScotch said:
So I've formatted dalvik/cache/data/internal storage and installed the older rom (OptimalRom 15-2 ) again. Did the initial setup and the camera still didn't work. I tried reflashing a known-good kernel that's compatible with this rom and that didn't seem to help.
Can anyone point me in the right direction on how to resolve this? Something must have been flashed when I installed the Note 5 rom that wasn't when I went back to OptimalRom. I just don't know what. I'll keep searching and experimenting. Thankfully I have a real recovery menu now so softbricking isn't as big of a deal.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Since you have TWRP now, try doing a complete and clean wipe. Go into recovery, Wipe, Advance Wipe and select Cache, Dalvik cache, Data and Internal and swipe. Then back out to Wipe and swipe twice on the slider and install the OptimalRom of choice. then install the PB1 firmware NO Bootloader. If you still have an issue then try with the ROM kernal and flash it which I think it'sthe OG5 Kernal No Bootloader. The reason for doing this particular wipe is to get anything that may be left over from a previous ROM. This is my preference and habit from when I started running ROM's on my S3. Beanstown103 and others had recommended doing this in TWRP and haven't had any issues or problems by doing this since. Hope this may help

Thanks al50. I will give that a shot. Sorry but I'm not familiar with "PB1 firmware". what are you referencing there?

GoTeamScotch said:
Thanks al50. I will give that a shot. Sorry but I'm not familiar with "PB1 firmware". what are you referencing there?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's the version that your phone is on. Look in About Phone in settings. Anyways, that’s the Zip file you install after you install the ROM. But if you're already on PB1 then you don't have to worry about that. If you have issues with the camera then try flashing the No bootloader kernal that was made for that ROM, which I believe it was OG5 but check the OP to be for sure