Galaxy Nexus Baseband Collection -- maguro - i9250 / M420 / SC-04D Radios
From the original OP:
To be clear: Any correct device radio can be flashed on any version of Android. e.g. You don't need a 4.2.2 Android ROM to run a 4.2.2 radio.
Feel free to discuss which basebands and revisions work best, have good battery performance, where they work (or don't), etc., but please note that there is no overall best, since reception depends on carrier, coverage and geography in your specific area.
Before Posting:
This thread is for the GSM/HSPA+ (maguro) model, GT-i9250, and its international variants, the SHW-M420, and SGH-N044 (SC-04D). For the CDMA/LTE models see the appropriate Verizon (toro) SCH-i515/6 Radio thread, and/or Sprint (toroplus) SPH-L700 Radio thread.
Creating/Posting Baseband Dumps:
Check in Settings > "About phone" to verify what actual baseband you have. If it's not on the list here, please consider making a dump.
If you are rooted or at least have a custom recovery flashed (for adb access), the custom radiograbber and radiotrim tools by josteink should get you a trimmed backup of your radio. In advance: Thank you!
If people are willing to dump radios and attach them here, I'll keep the original posts updated for future reference. There is also a radio build string I found in the radio images if you open them in a hex editor (I use HxD), and check at offset 69070. Please post this string in a [code][/code] block in your post along with the radio.
General Radio Information
If you have trouble with reception after flashing a radio, try clearing your cache using the fastboot method suggested by efrant.
Baseband Versions:
Baseband Prefixes:
These are a combination of Samsung's Region Codes and Network/Carrier Codes. By far, the most complete reference I've found is maintained on the mobilenations.de Wiki by HansDampf40.
Advanced Radio Information
Radio Interface Layer (RIL):
Radio interface layer is a part of the Android ROM. It is the infrastructure which interacts with the actual radio itself. Consider it a hardware OS driver for the radio, with the radios available here as the firmware of the radio itself.
It was previously speculated (but not proven) that having a RIL which was released at the same time as the radio firmware image may improve signal. However, In my Radio-RIL MD5s and Correlation by ROM Build post, I found that specific RILs don't matter, since they virtually always match with the ROM Android version (eg. JRO03C) that they were bundled with.
There is no correlation between radio build date and RIL, so if you are using a recent ROM then the odds are you are already using the latest RIL and there is no need to change. If you are using an older ROM (eg. still on Jelly Bean 4.1) then you may want to consider upgrading your RIL to the latest.
If you want to experiment with RILs, you can use GetRIL by sibbor, which is available from the Play Store, just be aware that you are altering part of the ROM, which will mean it gets wiped every time you flash the ROM. Also be aware that the GetRIL Database doesn't reflect the current knowledge of RILs being tied to Android build version, so its recommendations will likely be incorrect.
Hidden Testing Menu:
JLishere noted the radio settings in "Phone information" under the hidden Testing service menu.
Incorrect usage of this menu (specifically pressing the SMSC Update button while blank) will lead to you losing the ability to send and receive SMS. In this case, refer to the CyanogenMod wiki page for setting up your SMSC settings, but you will still need to find your cellphone service provider's specific value to enter it again.
For the curious/dangerous type, the Testing menu can be accessed two ways:
- In the Phone dialer, enter: *#*#4636#*#*
- Or from Android Terminal Emulator (requires root), enter: su -c am start -a android.intent.action.MAIN -n com.android.settings/.TestingSettings
In Testing > "Phone information", you can see signal strength, network/location information, whether GSM and GPRS are on, the network type the device is currently getting (UMTS is 3G, or HSPA), and turn off/on your radio. Note: Much of this can also be found in Settings > "About phone", and radio can be reset more safely by switching to Airplane Mode and back.
You can experiment with "Set preferred network type" which shouldn't have any effect on a GSM-only device, and under the "..." menu, "Select radio band" to choose different frequencies. There is only partial information on the corresponding frequencies from ygvuhb. Both of these settings reset after a reboot.
That's it! On to the basebands -- flashable with fastboot img using the "fastboot flash radio radio.img" command while connected and booted to unlocked bootloader, or with flashable zip in the custom recovery of your choice.
Directory Link: https://androidfilehost.com/?w=files&flid=312869
Changelog:
From the original OP:
josteink said:
To be clear: Any correct device radio can be flashed on any version of Android. e.g. You don't need a 4.2.2 Android ROM to run a 4.2.2 radio.
Feel free to discuss which basebands and revisions work best, have good battery performance, where they work (or don't), etc., but please note that there is no overall best, since reception depends on carrier, coverage and geography in your specific area.
Before Posting:
This thread is for the GSM/HSPA+ (maguro) model, GT-i9250, and its international variants, the SHW-M420, and SGH-N044 (SC-04D). For the CDMA/LTE models see the appropriate Verizon (toro) SCH-i515/6 Radio thread, and/or Sprint (toroplus) SPH-L700 Radio thread.
Creating/Posting Baseband Dumps:
Check in Settings > "About phone" to verify what actual baseband you have. If it's not on the list here, please consider making a dump.
If you are rooted or at least have a custom recovery flashed (for adb access), the custom radiograbber and radiotrim tools by josteink should get you a trimmed backup of your radio. In advance: Thank you!
If people are willing to dump radios and attach them here, I'll keep the original posts updated for future reference. There is also a radio build string I found in the radio images if you open them in a hex editor (I use HxD), and check at offset 69070. Please post this string in a [code][/code] block in your post along with the radio.
General Radio Information
If you have trouble with reception after flashing a radio, try clearing your cache using the fastboot method suggested by efrant.
Baseband Versions:
Baseband Prefixes:
These are a combination of Samsung's Region Codes and Network/Carrier Codes. By far, the most complete reference I've found is maintained on the mobilenations.de Wiki by HansDampf40.
Advanced Radio Information
Radio Interface Layer (RIL):
Radio interface layer is a part of the Android ROM. It is the infrastructure which interacts with the actual radio itself. Consider it a hardware OS driver for the radio, with the radios available here as the firmware of the radio itself.
It was previously speculated (but not proven) that having a RIL which was released at the same time as the radio firmware image may improve signal. However, In my Radio-RIL MD5s and Correlation by ROM Build post, I found that specific RILs don't matter, since they virtually always match with the ROM Android version (eg. JRO03C) that they were bundled with.
There is no correlation between radio build date and RIL, so if you are using a recent ROM then the odds are you are already using the latest RIL and there is no need to change. If you are using an older ROM (eg. still on Jelly Bean 4.1) then you may want to consider upgrading your RIL to the latest.
If you want to experiment with RILs, you can use GetRIL by sibbor, which is available from the Play Store, just be aware that you are altering part of the ROM, which will mean it gets wiped every time you flash the ROM. Also be aware that the GetRIL Database doesn't reflect the current knowledge of RILs being tied to Android build version, so its recommendations will likely be incorrect.
Hidden Testing Menu:
JLishere noted the radio settings in "Phone information" under the hidden Testing service menu.
Incorrect usage of this menu (specifically pressing the SMSC Update button while blank) will lead to you losing the ability to send and receive SMS. In this case, refer to the CyanogenMod wiki page for setting up your SMSC settings, but you will still need to find your cellphone service provider's specific value to enter it again.
For the curious/dangerous type, the Testing menu can be accessed two ways:
- In the Phone dialer, enter: *#*#4636#*#*
- Or from Android Terminal Emulator (requires root), enter: su -c am start -a android.intent.action.MAIN -n com.android.settings/.TestingSettings
In Testing > "Phone information", you can see signal strength, network/location information, whether GSM and GPRS are on, the network type the device is currently getting (UMTS is 3G, or HSPA), and turn off/on your radio. Note: Much of this can also be found in Settings > "About phone", and radio can be reset more safely by switching to Airplane Mode and back.
You can experiment with "Set preferred network type" which shouldn't have any effect on a GSM-only device, and under the "..." menu, "Select radio band" to choose different frequencies. There is only partial information on the corresponding frequencies from ygvuhb. Both of these settings reset after a reboot.
That's it! On to the basebands -- flashable with fastboot img using the "fastboot flash radio radio.img" command while connected and booted to unlocked bootloader, or with flashable zip in the custom recovery of your choice.
Directory Link: https://androidfilehost.com/?w=files&flid=312869
Changelog:
Last edited:
