Root fastboot issue solved but now IMEI issue

[orb1t]

Hello,

I have the same problems with my Nexus 5 that Maggie had.
I followed the steps but upon starting cmd or flash-all.bat i get the message "fastboot.exe stopped working" and the .bat returns something like this:

do you have any ideas?
Thanks in advance

Orb

 

[scary alien]

Hey Orb, welcome to our AndroidForums!

(I fixed your image link above for you, by the way)

From the searches I did on your error messages (both in your post text an in the screen shot), it sounds like other with this same issue had a bad (incomplete) download of either the utility or the source file(s) being flashed.

Try re-acquiring (downloading) your files--check the MD5 (or SHA1) sums if published to make sure you got a good download and try again.

Since you've got an N5, I'll probably move your post and my reply to the N5 all-things-root area, but I'll wait until you reply back.

Let us know!

 

[orb1t]

Thanks for your answer!

So i tried it again with a different usb cable today and it worked.
Don't know if this was because of rebooting or caused by the cable, as indicated in another forum.

But still my problem and the reason why I did all of this has not been solved.
After flashing 4.4.4 myself my IMEI is 0 and since then i only have Edge connectivity.
Do you have any idea how to fix this?
(This probably belongs in another area too?)

 

[scary alien]

Hmm, dunno about a zeroed-out IMEI... :dontknow:...

I've have moved your posts over here to the N5 all-things-root area for you.

Hopefully someone will have a suggestion about the IMEI...

Best of luck!

 

[Rxpert83]

Do you have a backup of your EFS? Its an option in a nandroid backup that backs up all the important bits like that. Restoring the EFS backup will restore your IMEI to the correct numbers.

If you don't have a backup, about all you can try to do is reflash the factory image. Its not likely to work but some used to get lucky with that back on the S3.

If you don't have an EFS backup, you'll likely need to get the device replaced.

From a thread talking about the nexus 4, but the explanation is still relevant:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/nexus-4/general/efs-nexus-4-imei-efs-backup-restore-t2740788

What is EFS/IMEI ?

Every Phone has a partition which contains data relating to your IMEI ,radio settings,data profiles etc.. This in particular is famous with Samsung devices which have the root /EFS folder and which is higly recommended to be backed up before flashing any Custom ROMs..However there is a common misconception that there is no EFS partition for the Nexus since there is no root /EFS Directory and everything is contained in dev/blocks ..

On the Nexus 4 the IMEI info is stored in the three blocks

m9kefs1 (/dev/block/mmcblk0p8)
m9kefs2 (/dev/block/mmcblk0p9)
m9kefs3 (/dev/block/mmcblk0p10)

These blocks contain all the IMEI info pertaining to your device.This data is highly Device specific that means each device has a different data in each block unlike the blocks for recovery,boot which are common for all . So EFS/IMEI of your device is Unique to your phone itself and hence it is necessary to backup your EFS.

WHY BACKUP EFS ?

1) Some points have been covered in the What section itself ( Unique to each device, important data)
2) Sometimes during a flash or even otherwise there is a bad block in your partition which corrupts a part of the EFS/IMEI partition . You are left with nothing but a dead weight you can use as a tablet without calling features.This makes it essential to backup your current partitions to flash the same if ever the same problem occurs with your device.

 

[orb1t]

Thanks for your answers!

unfortunately i dom't have a backup of the efs partition.
My girlfriend has a N5 too, shouldn't it be possible to restore from this?
reflashing the factory image hasn't worked and i tried around 5 times with different approaches.

If restoring from another N5 doesn't work do you think google will replace it?

 

[Rxpert83]

Thanks for your answers!

unfortunately i dom't have a backup of the efs partition.
My girlfriend has a N5 too, shouldn't it be possible to restore from this?
reflashing the factory image hasn't worked and i tried around 5 times with different approaches.

If restoring from another N5 doesn't work do you think google will replace it?

No, the EFS is unique. Restoring hers to your device will not work. You can contact google. They may cover it, but I'm not sure. They don't void your warranty for rooting, so be up front with them and let them know what happened.

Tell them your EFS is corrupted and now your IMEI is displaying all 0's.

While you are at it, now's a great time to backup hers if its rooted and store it somewhere safe like a computer or in the cloud.

 

[scary alien]

Great info, Rxpert83! :thumbup:

Just a reminder that orb1t's posts started-out in an N4 thread and I moved him over here to the N5 area.

I'm heading home in a few to research where on my N5 my the EFS information is so I can back it/them up...(it's not obvious in the /dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name directory).

Any insight here?

Thanks!

 

[scary alien]

Ah, a little follow-up to my post above...it looks like

The Nexus 5 has no built in EFS backup partitions. EFS contains things like your MEID or IMEI... your data profiles.. radio settings. The EFS cannot be replaced... it is unique to your phone only... backing up your OWN EFS is highly recommended.

Update: dees_troy has added EFS backup into TWRP. This does not make my zip obsolete... but the EFS is getting backed up the same way. My zip backs up the 2 EFS partitions and packs them into a flashable zip which you can restore in any recovery. TWRP backs up the EFS just like it does Data, Boot and System.

I want to point out... if using TWRP to backup EFS... try to have an original backup and save that off the device somewhere. Down the road you may end up with lots of EFS backups(if you backup via TWRP each time) and somewhere along the line you could mess your EFS up.. perhaps worse over the course of a month. If you get into the habbit of only saving your most recent EFS backup... that recent EFS backup may already be partially damaged. I'm not saying don't make frequent backups.. just have the very first one tucked away somewhere.
DO NOT RESTORE TWRP EFS BACKUPS TO ANYTHING OTHER THAN THE ORIGINAL PHONE.

courtesy of this thread on XDA: [MODEM] [EFS] Nexus 5 Flashable Modems and E… | Google Nexus 5 | XDA Forums

The script that this flashable invokes is pretty simple and simply backs-up the modemst1 and modemst2 partions from the /dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name directory.

Cheers!

 

[xdrc45]

Not sure if you solved this issue with the zeroed out IMEI and I know that the EFS partition contains EMIE/MEID information and is specific to each individual N5.... But I ran across this thread on fixing the persit partition and can help with lost IMEI's, thought that this might be worth a shot and try to help fix your IMEI issue - [GUIDE] to fix persist partition | Google Nexus 5 | XDA Forums

Hope it helps and good luck! :thumbup: