Network / IMEI Problem

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Chaosin1983

Senior Member
Oct 28, 2011
127
2
Thank you both for trying to fix this, this just went beyond my knowledge now, I will be watching this thread and waiting if you guys can come up with something...i am SO dissapointed that this is happening to my Galaxy Nexus...

Once again I have NO signal, NO IMEI, NO baseband...I tried reflashing a couple of radios and no luck... :(

HUGE thanks to both...
 

jamiescott23

Senior Member
Dec 23, 2010
232
41
Istanbul
Thank you both for trying to fix this, this just went beyond my knowledge now, I will be watching this thread and waiting if you guys can come up with something...i am SO dissapointed that this is happening to my Galaxy Nexus...

Once again I have NO signal, NO IMEI, NO baseband...I tried reflashing a couple of radios and no luck... :(

HUGE thanks to both...

I just bought a new Galaxy Nexus. And I don't wanna experience the same problem. What should i do? Is there a way to backup files containing IMEI and if any problem occurs i can restore them?

Thanks in advance.
 

thiagodark

Senior Member
Nov 1, 2010
689
103
Old City-ES
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thiagodark

Senior Member
Nov 1, 2010
689
103
Old City-ES
What this does is gives rild (radio interface Samsung daemon) chance to rebuid /factory from .nv_core backup. It knows how to do it, but normally can't do it on startup, since /factory is ro mounted. By mounting it rw, deleting files that are broken and killing daemon (which is service, so it gets restarted by android magicaly almost immediatelly), it gets chance. So try this. If you don't have busybox, just do ps, find rild there and PID number and do kill <PID>.

If this doesn't help, your secondary backup .nv_core.bak is also broken or it's really HW issue. In either case, this would require special tools to fix. But this is worth trying as last resort. I did it on my phone just to test this theory again.

EDIT: And I don't believe it's HW issue. If it was, generic IMEI wouldn't work. But it does for you and generic IMEI is nothing else then nv_data.bin that is hardcoded somewhere in the system to be used if factory doesn't exist. But if your /factory is broken and you don't have backup, you'd still need SPTBox or something similar to generate new files from scratch. So send it to somebody or find some Samsung repair place...


i tried what you said and i had no luck...

i don't think efs files are broken because i can make my imei, baseband, imei sv, etc appears by removing battery for 5 minutes, what i can't do is reboot or try to use 3g network, because it makes signal and i need to pull the battery again...

when i deleted /factory the problem was exactly the same: unknown imei, baseband... and when a pulled my battery for 5 minutes everything came back, but with a "0049" imei...

i'm thinking: what could cause unknown imei, baseband... that 5 minutes without battery can fix? i believe the problem is not on efs files, as a matter of fact, it is the akward problem i have seen...


i still gonna searching for an answer...


thanks for your help
 

jamiescott23

Senior Member
Dec 23, 2010
232
41
Istanbul
at the moment nobody knows what is this problem and why it happens... so just be lucky! =o)

oh, and meanwhile, make a efs backup, the easiest way is this: http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1510906

=o)

Mate, they have saved another phone's IMEI to mine, it's complicated in turkey. Otherwise you can't use phone in Turkey. You need to buy it in Turkey. If otherwise, you should register it with your passport that proves you have gone abroad in the last 30 days.

Anyway, there was no IMEI and baseband. I just went back to factory settings and it came back. REstarted it a few times to see if i'll see same problem as you did, NOT YET.

But i can return the phone. What should i do?
 

Chaosin1983

Senior Member
Oct 28, 2011
127
2
Any progress guys? I'm loosing my patience with this thing, I've been seconds from throwing it against the wall...:mad:

I've noticed that sometimes when my signal goes out after having signal (when I do have IMEI and Baseband), I can see that the Airplane Mode is ON on the Power Menu and greyed out, but unchecked in the settings menu,Could it be that it is rather an issue with the Airplane mode auto triggering itself? Any ideas?

Edit: it just happened again, I flashed radio XXLA2...it worked ok for a while, and out of the blue, i have no signal...if I check the power menu, it has airplane mode ON, but grayed out, in the settings the checkbox is unchecked.

Edit2: did a factory restore...and so far (last 30 mins) I've had solid signal.
 
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thiagodark

Senior Member
Nov 1, 2010
689
103
Old City-ES
well guys, i'm giving up, just can't figure out what the hell is wrong with this phone i really think is a soft issue and it's related with 3g modem but i don't have knowledge enought to make a proper solution...

it's "nice" to know that i'm not the only one with this issue, so maybe someone clever than me could figure out how to fix...

it's really disappointing...

oh, and if someone could post a good /efs backup would it would be really great, i don't believe the problem is there, but i could know for sure! =o)
 
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thiagodark

Senior Member
Nov 1, 2010
689
103
Old City-ES
Any progress guys? I'm loosing my patience with this thing, I've been seconds from throwing it against the wall...:mad:

I've noticed that sometimes when my signal goes out after having signal (when I do have IMEI and Baseband), I can see that the Airplane Mode is ON on the Power Menu and greyed out, but unchecked in the settings menu,Could it be that it is rather an issue with the Airplane mode auto triggering itself? Any ideas?

Edit: it just happened again, I flashed radio XXLA2...it worked ok for a while, and out of the blue, i have no signal...if I check the power menu, it has airplane mode ON, but grayed out, in the settings the checkbox is unchecked.

Edit2: did a factory restore...and so far (last 30 mins) I've had solid signal.


try to disabke data over mobile network in "wireless and network options" and see if signal drops...
 

Chaosin1983

Senior Member
Oct 28, 2011
127
2
OK I got something new I think...

So i did a total factory restore right... back to 4.0.1 that came with the phone...I waited until Android asked me to update OTA, signal was stable with 4.0.1 so I waited a few hours to install 4.0.2...after installing it, I left it for a few hours, and signal was still stable...then I installed the OTA 4.0.4...and within half an hour I had the same problem...signal dropping, no baseband, no IMEI...so I'm pretty sure is 4.0.4 that is messing with my phone.

So I went back to 4.0.2 (radio XXKK6 which comes with the update)...and then installed AOKP M4...which is 4.0.3...so far (the weekend) signal has been OK, not totally stable, but say 95% stable, it will sometimes switch back to 2G, and within seconds go back to HSDPA. I do get the dropped signal once in a while (a few seconds, or needing a reboot once or twice), if I pull up the power menu while the signal is out, i can actually see the airplane mode switching between on and off, and after a few seconds it will stay off, and I will have signal again...

I am convinced that something is autotriggering the airplane mode...is there a way completely remove the airplane mode?

I know it is not a solution, but at least it will make the phone work as a phone again, I'll just wait for the next Android update and see if they worked this out.

Hope this helps.

Can you guys replicate what I did and see if yours works the same?

PS: pulling the battery for 5 minutes (or more) does not return my signal/iemi/baseband...
 
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thiagodark

Senior Member
Nov 1, 2010
689
103
Old City-ES
i already did this and for me, when it booted on 4.0.1 it came with no signal... and unknown baseband and imei... i don't think it is related to 4.0.4, i believe in your case it was just coincidence! i did exactly same thing, flash stock 4.0.1 and updated until 4.0.4... gonna try again, just in case!

Mine does the same thing with airplane mode "triggering on and off", but i dont think that something is triggering "airplane mode", i think it shows that way because phone is trying to turn on the radio (so it shows airplane off), and when cant do this, it shows "airplane mode on"...

pulling the battery does not have anything for me either, what happens is: if i turn on and imei/baseband is "unknown" there's nothing i can't do, i need to shut down and wait a little bit and turn it on again, and if imei are back, okay, i just need to let 3g disabled and can use it as phone... i don't actually need to remove the battery, i need just to wait when it is off...
 
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Chaosin1983

Senior Member
Oct 28, 2011
127
2
Ahh damn don't tell me it's a coincidence :( ...will it is still working that way so far, I'll just cross my fingers and hope it doesn't lose signal permanently again. Give it a try again and let me know what happens...

At the end of the day I will post a picture of my signal status throughout the day...

I still can't believe nobody knows how to fix this... do you think a Samsung Service Center might help (of course turning the phone completely back to stock locking bootloader?
 

Naezor

Senior Member
Aug 10, 2007
50
12
Las Vegas, NV
I still can't believe nobody knows how to fix this... do you think a Samsung Service Center might help (of course turning the phone completely back to stock locking bootloader?

*Raises hand* Samsung certified technician and I'm stumped.

---------- Post added at 11:42 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:38 AM ----------

When I received this customer's phone, it was still stock on the 4.0.2 that we shipped it with. During my initial troubleshooting, I updated it to 4.0.4, still didn't resolve the issue. Downloading 4.0.1 to see if that helps any. I'll report my findings. Jeeze, I really don't want to JTAG this thing... UGH!
 

Chaosin1983

Senior Member
Oct 28, 2011
127
2
*Raises hand* Samsung certified technician and I'm stumped.

---------- Post added at 11:42 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:38 AM ----------

When I received this customer's phone, it was still stock on the 4.0.2 that we shipped it with. During my initial troubleshooting, I updated it to 4.0.4, still didn't resolve the issue. Downloading 4.0.1 to see if that helps any. I'll report my findings. Jeeze, I really don't want to JTAG this thing... UGH!

Oh man... please let us know what Samsung says about this??? do you think warranty would cover it? please report to back to us. BTW what is JTAG? would that fix this?

Here's the picture of my signal throughout the day...by far stable, and it'll jump betwen No Signal, GPRS, EDGE, 3G and HSDPA, and it is also taking a hit at my battery for sure....but at least I can make and receive calls so for now... I will stop touching it until we get something new.

[/URL]
 

thiagodark

Senior Member
Nov 1, 2010
689
103
Old City-ES
Chaosin, i tried downgrade again and no, it doesnt seems to be related with OS or radio version...

screw this, i'm givening up... gonna buy an iphone this month!

i'm really tired and disappointed with this!
 

Chaosin1983

Senior Member
Oct 28, 2011
127
2
Damn! i just can't believe there is no way to fix this...

thiagodark please don't go to Apple! LOL... I've been eyeing the Galaxy Note lately as a replacement if I am unable to fix this god forsaken thing...but I would be really mad if I had to throw away the 600 bucks I payed for this thing...

A small update on my situation:

Just for kicks I flashed AOKP Build 36 4.0.4...and after 5 mins of running my signal went dead, never to return again...so I went back to AOKP M4 4.0.3...running XXKK6, and I have unstable signal, every once in a while dropping and requiring a reboot to get the signal back. :mad:

Naezor, any news on your situation?

EDIT: Update! I tried changing the Kernel to Fugumod, and my signal is fixed, running AOKP B36...solid H signal...!!!! (crossing fingers this will last, it's been working perfectly for the last 4 hours)
 
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thiagodark

Senior Member
Nov 1, 2010
689
103
Old City-ES
i called to samsung yesteday and they said they couldn't even touch the phone because it is imported and not like what is made here, so neither if i pay they could make it work...

i took it to the samsung authorized center anyway and, i swear, the guy there knows about phones less than ANYONE here on xda, when he starts to find the sdcard i said: "nevermind..."


anyway, no progress at all, trid to flash several roms, thru odin, cwm, fastboot... and nothing...

the thing is i don't have much time to 'play' with it... tonight i'm gonna try your combo and see what happens...

thanks

oh and now that i decided that i'm gonna buy a new phone, i probably gonna brick it!! ehehehe
 

Chaosin1983

Senior Member
Oct 28, 2011
127
2
Well I think I might have to start deciding on buying a new phone as well, because my new combo died just now...:mad:

:(

EDIT: bit the dust and got the Note, it should be here by Friday. I'll keep trying to fix it since I need to sell it for something.
 
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    This is after fdocomo v3, right? So your files get rebuild from what's in the factory and you still get what, unknown IMEI? This may also be that files in factory are simply broken and were broken before backup. They contain IMEI, so if something happened to them, this would show as such problem. However, if /factory is lost, I don't know how to fix it. There are things worth trying though - you may try restoring nv_data files from nv_core files, which is actually pretty simple if you have busybox. With rw mounted factory and airplane mode on, do:
    Code:
    shell@android:/factory # cd /factory
    shell@android:/factory # rm nv_data.bin*
    shell@android:/factory # rm .nv_data.bak*
    shell@android:/factory # rm /data/radio/nv_data.bin.*
    shell@android:/factory # ls -la
    -rwx------ radio    radio     1048576 2012-04-20 03:13 .nv_core.bak
    -rwx------ radio    radio          32 2012-04-20 03:13 .nv_core.bak.md5
    -rwx------ radio    radio           1 2012-04-20 03:13 .nv_state
    drwxr-xr-x radio    radio             2011-01-03 15:26 bluetooth
    -rw------- radio    radio         640 2011-01-03 15:26 hdcp.keys
    drwxrwxr-x radio    radio             1999-12-31 16:02 imei
    drwx------ root     root              1969-12-31 16:00 lost+found
    -rw------- radio    radio        4674 2012-04-20 03:13 nv.log
    drwxrwx--- system   radio             1999-12-31 16:00 wifi
    -rw-r--r-- radio    radio         144 2011-01-03 15:26 wv.keys
    # busybox killall rild
    wait lets say 30 secs

    Code:
    shell@android:/factory # ls -la
    -rwx------ radio    radio     1048576 2012-04-20 03:13 .nv_core.bak
    -rwx------ radio    radio          32 2012-04-20 03:13 .nv_core.bak.md5
    -rwx------ radio    radio     2097152 2012-05-10 00:34 .nv_data.bak
    -rwx------ radio    radio          32 2012-05-10 00:34 .nv_data.bak.md5
    -rwx------ radio    radio           1 2012-04-20 03:13 .nv_state
    drwxr-xr-x radio    radio             2011-01-03 15:26 bluetooth
    -rw------- radio    radio         640 2011-01-03 15:26 hdcp.keys
    drwxrwxr-x radio    radio             1999-12-31 16:02 imei
    drwx------ root     root              1969-12-31 16:00 lost+found
    -rw------- radio    radio        4847 2012-05-10 00:34 nv.log
    -rwx------ radio    radio     2097152 2012-05-10 00:34 nv_data.bin
    -rwx------ radio    radio          32 2012-05-10 00:34 nv_data.bin.md5
    drwxrwx--- system   radio             1999-12-31 16:00 wifi
    -rw-r--r-- radio    radio         144 2011-01-03 15:26 wv.keys
    shell@android:/factory # cat nv.log
    (...)
    Thu May 10 00:34:19 2012: NV backup has been rebuilt.
    Thu May 10 00:34:19 2012: backup NV restored from Secondary bak.
    Thu May 10 00:34:23 2012: MD5 open fail. (No MD5 file) : /data/radio/nv_data.bin.md5
    Thu May 10 00:34:23 2012: NV restored.(GED)

    What this does is gives rild (radio interface Samsung daemon) chance to rebuid /factory from .nv_core backup. It knows how to do it, but normally can't do it on startup, since /factory is ro mounted. By mounting it rw, deleting files that are broken and killing daemon (which is service, so it gets restarted by android magicaly almost immediatelly), it gets chance. So try this. If you don't have busybox, just do ps, find rild there and PID number and do kill <PID>.

    If this doesn't help, your secondary backup .nv_core.bak is also broken or it's really HW issue. In either case, this would require special tools to fix. But this is worth trying as last resort. I did it on my phone just to test this theory again.

    EDIT: And I don't believe it's HW issue. If it was, generic IMEI wouldn't work. But it does for you and generic IMEI is nothing else then nv_data.bin that is hardcoded somewhere in the system to be used if factory doesn't exist. But if your /factory is broken and you don't have backup, you'd still need SPTBox or something similar to generate new files from scratch. So send it to somebody or find some Samsung repair place...
    1
    well, i noticed that /factory was totally messed up due my attempt to fix it. I retore and fix permssions to looks just like yours but for a strange reason i can't restore .nv_data.bak and .nv_data.bak.md5 through root explorer...

    screenshot_2012-05-09-09-40-53.png


    in any case, even with /factory without almost all files inside the issue was exactly the same and i was able to make radio works with the "battery remove" workaround...

    edit: exactly same problem, but now with a generic imei! =o)

    i'm gonna restore my backup when get in home...
    Your /factory still as wierd permissions. Most of the files are owned by root and are not readable by radio, which will cause problem. This is probably result of restore. You made nv_data.bin owned by radio, but without accompanying nv_data.bin.md5 system will just ignore it and probably give you generic IMEI, which is what we were seeing here when md5 files didn't match bin files.

    Anyway, generic IMEI looks promising. We know how to fix generic IMEI if you have backup of /factory - so please don't loose it.

    So yes, restore /factory, fix the permissions
    Code:
    # cd /factory
    # chown radio.radio .*

    and try checking the log file in /data/radio/log again. Since you have the directory, I still think there must be something in there.
    1
    done, restored factory from backup, what was strange is that even after all files restored. with right permisions and with right owner, the generic imei remained and i had to install f*ckdocomo.apk to get it back...

    now i just have the original problem =o)

    i really didn't have any file inside /data/radio path before, but now it has a log and i believe is due the /factory problem and not related with the original problem

    anyway, that's log in /data/radio/log

    9 09:44:21 2012: MD5 is turned on.

    Wed May 9 09:44:21 2012: truncate 10276 -> 5156 bytes
    Wed May 9 09:44:33 2012: __refresh_md5_file: Can't open /factory/nv_data.bin.md5. Permission denied.
    Wed May 9 09:44:33 2012: MD5 is turned on.
    Wed May 9 09:44:44 2012: __refresh_md5_file: Can't open /factory/nv_data.bin.md5. Permission denied.
    Wed May 9 09:44:44 2012: MD5 is turned on.

    REPEAT FOR A LONG LONG TIME AND THEN I RESTORE FILES IN /RECOVERY copying files from sdcard

    Wed May 9 09:53:20 2012: __refresh_md5_file: Can't open /factory/nv_data.bin.md5. Read-only file system.
    Wed May 9 09:53:20 2012: MD5 is turned on.
    Wed May 9 09:53:31 2012: __refresh_md5_file: Can't open /factory/nv_data.bin.md5. Read-only file system.
    Wed May 9 09:53:31 2012: MD5 is turned on.
    Wed May 9 09:53:43 2012: __refresh_md5_file: Can't open /factory/nv_data.bin.md5. Read-only file system.

    REPEAT FOR LOOOONG TIME AND THEN I RESTORE MY .IMG BACKUP AND USE F*UCKDOCOMO.APK

    Wed May 9 14:24:50 2012: /data/radio/nv_data.bin does not exist.
    Wed May 9 14:24:50 2012: MD5 fail. orignal md5 'f6afbceb74ee4290c4563e046f24' computed md5 '6ec535b7b029665813c18d6283c7' (rild)
    Wed May 9 14:24:50 2012: MD5 fail. orignal md5 '861f9436276afbcbdc44f58d473a' computed md5 'de37d01ec798841e4944ee69cf5f' (rild)
    Wed May 9 14:24:51 2012: default NV restored.
    Wed May 9 14:26:07 2012: /data/radio/nv_data.bin does not exist.
    Wed May 9 14:26:07 2012: /data/radio/nv_data.bin does not exist.

    oh, and i think all files is just fine in /factory path, but no fix at all.

    i start to think it should be a hardware fault...

    screenshot_2012-05-09-21-35-21.png
    1
    I just bought a new Galaxy Nexus. And I don't wanna experience the same problem. What should i do? Is there a way to backup files containing IMEI and if any problem occurs i can restore them?

    Thanks in advance.

    at the moment nobody knows what is this problem and why it happens... so just be lucky! =o)

    oh, and meanwhile, make a efs backup, the easiest way is this: http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1510906

    =o)
    1
    Hey guys im worried now, iwas thinking to buy this phone, but im afraid of this problem, i was going to buy it from india and without warranty.
    what should i do now?
    Is there any solution out there yet..?

    no, there is no solution out there yet

    flashing .imgs (radios, roms, bootloaders) doesn't solve the problem... there is absolutely no radio or rom that makes it works right. I tried everyone.

    and i'm pretty sure it is not related to efs/factory partition


    to be honest with you, without warranty i wouldn't buy the, not at all... it's a pretty expensive device to take the risk to end with a VERY expensive mp3 player... even the chance is not that high!!

    i'm seeing several threads about this and no fix til now:

    http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1643015
    http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1618163
    http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?p=26340507
    http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?p=26369207

    but it's up to you! =o)