Root [International] No network connection after failed flash - damaged my phone?

[davoid]

I was on AOKP mr1 with googy max kernel and all was working fine.

I wanted to try Illusion rom so did a nandroid backup, flashed the zip, wiped the phone and rebooted the phone.

I suspected there was something wrong when I was confronted by the googy max splash screen, and the boot never progressed beyond this splash screen.

So...

I booted back into recovery, wiped the phone again (using philz "wipe before installing new rom" feature, then a manual data wipe, dalvik, and cache. Reflashed Illusion.

Rebooted. Stuck on googy splash screen.

entered recovery, restored my AOKP install and rebooted.

I now have my previous setup apart from one significant difference.

I now have no network connection.

My phone signal is a blank triangle, and when I go into mobile network settings and tap on Network operators (Choose a network operator) a toast pops up saying "Error while searching for networks"

I can no longer use my phone as a phone. I have tried restoring earlier nandroids of other roms and they all show a network error. Neatrom told me to insert a sim card.

I have tried removing and reinserting my sim, but I get the same error.

Is it possible that I have permanently damaged my phone through the failed flash? Or is there a way I can recover from this problem?

I hope someone can help me. I am very stressed about losing my telephony.

 

[CDPlant]

Is your IMEI number still there? Might be a corrupt EFS

 

[davoid]

I can't remember how to find my IMEI number

 

[CDPlant]

Settings > About Device > Status

 

[davoid]

It says IMEI: Unknown...

 

[CDPlant]

Hmmm it looks like it could well be the EFS Do you have a backup of it? If you've ever flashed Siyah kernel then it will back the EFS automatically. It will most likely be in the root of the internal memory and there will be 2 files -

efsbackup.tar.gz
efsdev-mmcblk0p3.img.gz

Can you see those?

 

[Shotgun84]

Nandroids backup and restore everything but the modem. So there's a chance that the original flash messed your modem up but when you restored the nandroid it sorted everything but that. With any luck your efs folder will be fine and all you need to do is flash a compatible modem.

 

[davoid]

I don't, but I have found files on my sdcard called

efs.tar.gz
efs.img

which i must have created at some point. I don't know what software generated them though or how to restore them.

I'm glad I've found them though.

 

[CDPlant]

I don't, but I have found files on my sdcard called

efs.tar.gz
efs.img

Ah, I have those too actually. These were done through kTool so they should be able to be restored from there. I haven't done it before so I can't make any guarantees though

 

[Shotgun84]

I'd try flashing a modem first as I don't think it's your efs

 

[CDPlant]

With any luck your efs folder will be fine and all you need to do is flash a compatible modem.

Sorry I completely missed this I've been going off on an EFS tangent

So yeah Davoid, do this instead ^

 

[davoid]

Nandroids backup and restore everything but the modem. So there's a chance that the original flash messed your modem up but when you restored the nandroid it sorted everything but that. With any luck your efs folder will be fine and all you need to do is flash a compatible modem.

shotgun I didn't see this post. doh!

I tried restoring my efs - first from the img file (nothing happened, even after reboot) and then the tar file. My phone instantly restarted and got stuck during boot.

I have tried restoring nandroids but now it won't boot into anything. I have tried a new flash of AOKP and it is stuck on the samsung splash screen.

EDIT: I assume a new flash would install the modem with it. That makes me think it is too late for that.

I feel like my options are diminishing

 

[funkylogik]

Yup modem was my first thought too since its the only thing thats really independant of the rest.
Davoid it was probably a Neat Rom aroma installer that let you back up the EFS mate :beer:
While we'r on the subject.. how do i back up my EFS peeps??

 

[Shotgun84]

Have you tried clearing data and your caches? Can you get into download mode? If you can try flashing some stock firmware.

 

[funkylogik]

Check out Nigsy's posts here btw http://androidforums.com/showthread.php?p=6012648 he had EFS problems after flashing illusion too

EDIT i missed this page lol sorry. Bro just flash a modem on top of the rom youre on. No data wipe needed :thumbup:

 

[CDPlant]

shotgun I didn't see this post. doh!

I tried restoring my efs - first from the img file (nothing happened, even after reboot) and then the tar file. My phone instantly restarted and got stuck during boot.

I have tried restoring nandroids but now it won't boot into anything. I have tried a new flash of AOKP and it is stuck on the samsung splash screen.

EDIT: I assume a new flash would install the modem with it. That makes me think it is too late for that.

I feel like my options are diminishing

Oh no I'm so sorry I feel really bad because I might not have given you the right info Really hope there's a fix for this.

 

[davoid]

I've just read that kTool doesn't work with 4.2.1

AOKP is 4.2.2 so that could be why the efs restore crapped out.

I'm currently downloading the latest stock rom to try shotgun's suggestion.

It will be strange running a stock rom lol.

It's been so long I can't even remember how to root it.

CDPlant don't worry, you were trying to help.

 

[Shotgun84]

While we'r on the subject.. how do i back up my EFS peeps??

You can backup with Philz recovery. Go to backup and restore, custom backup and unselect everything then select efs.

 

[funkylogik]

Thanks bro. Do normal nandroids back up the EFS?

 

[Shotgun84]

Nah a standard nandroid won't backup your efs

 

[funkylogik]

Thanx man. Is there a logical reason why they dont?

 

[Shotgun84]

Honestly I'm not sure. Maybe it's the same reason it doesn't backup the modem either.

 

[davoid]

I flashed a stock rom using Odin, however it wouldn't boot but kept repeating the swirling samsung splash animation.

I flashed Chainfire's CM recovery, then rebooted into philZ (in order to recover my fix for Sudden Death Syndrome) and restored my neatrom nandroid.

Upon booting I noticed a small vertical red line in the top left hand corner of the Galaxy SIII splash screen and when it successfully booted into Android (Yay! ) there was a brief toast popped up informing me of Factory Mode meaning some things might not work; and on my home screen there was a semi-transparent overlay with technical phone info.

Research turned up that this is caused by a corrupted EFS Folder (not necessarily only, I suppose) and I guess this could have been the original cause for the loss of network, as CDPlant suggested, or it might have been because I attempted to restore my efs folder using kTool with an incompatible version of Android (4.2.1 and above).

Anyway I restored my efs folder using kTool, rebooted as requested, and I now have my network back!

I got my phone back!

Thank you so much for any advice and suggestions, guys. CDPlant please don't feel bad about giving advice that might have been wrong. I didn't blame you even when I didn't know if my phone was recoverable. You offered me the kindness of your time and advice when I was worried about my phone and I really appreciate that. And it looks like it might well have been the esf corruption after all.

As an aside, I've remembered that the small red line is there because I flashed a Jelly Bean bootloader with the latest stock rom, and this line indicates I have flashed a custom rom. If I want to get rid of it Ill probably have to flash an ICS rom and then restore again with that bootloader.

 

[funkylogik]

Glad youre back man :beer: so what you gona flash next lol?

 

[Shotgun84]

I'm glad you're up and running again.

And CD, as davoid said don't worry about it. I'll let you into a secret. I did the exact same thing to this guy here

http://androidforums.com/international-galaxy-s3-all-things-root/680061-i9300-emei-broadband-uknown.html