Spent 4 hrs IMEI still not restored. DO NOT use Boeffla Restore for I9305!! EFS=Death

Jarmezrocks · May 14, 2014

Ok guys I have posted solutions in the Boeffla thread. I am having issues with my EFS restoring.
Phone does not boot because it has no EFS. So cannot restore via EFS professional because it cannot detect the device.

1). Heimdall restore - Action completes, device reboots but no EFS partition created. DOES NOT WORK
2). ADB restore - dd if=/sdcard/efs.img of=/dev/block/mmcblk0p3 bs=4096. no EFS partition created DOES NOT WORK
3). I've created a CWM script using my backup EFS.img - YES TO TRY?
4). Move all data from Ext-SD to PC. From Aroma File Manager via Philz Touch Move all Int-SD data to Ext-SD, eject Ext-SD. Format and reflash stock via Odin. Re-root. Reflash Boeffla Kernel. Copy Nandroid backup to Int-SD from Windows. Restore EFS via RootBrowser/RootExplorer. - ALMOST FINISHED BACKING UP
5). Restore via PARAM.bin LiquidPerfection Odin Flash <- I think this is going to be my best bet? I WILL TRY THIS NOW

Any other options anyone want to suggest?

daedric · May 14, 2014

Yes.

Flash via Odin with a PIT file. I believe this will force Odin to re-create the partitions. I used a PIT on a n7000 to increase /data in the past, but YMMV.

Jarmezrocks · May 15, 2014

daedric said:
Yes.

Flash via Odin with a PIT file. I believe this will force Odin to re-create the partitions. I used a PIT on a n7000 to increase /data in the past, but YMMV.

Yup. You are spot on mate

I did this before now just noticing you had replied. Flashing back to stock ICS first flashing PIT (Oh and backing up my SDcard) did force it to recreate the partitions. None of the above solutions worked. After Flashing stock ICS, I flashed root, flashed recovery, flashed Philz Touch and restored my nandroid backup with no loss of EFS/IMEI?

So in short none of those solutions worked. And strange that repartitioning revived my old EFS. I didn't need to restore my IMEI to an empty EFS partition like I had hoped and was expecting? So yeah all good. Back on the road again

daedric · May 15, 2014

the eMMC is just a big block of data. Somewhere near the start should be stored the Partition Table. When you lost your EFS partition, you probably got a Partition Table corrupted, but the Partition itself was still there. When you reflashed a PIT, all the system had to do was to start using the EFS again.

To be honest, your EFS partition was probably kept safe by having the PartTable corrupted. Since you couldn't mount it, you couldn't damage it

Jarmezrocks · May 17, 2014

daedric said:
the eMMC is just a big block of data. Somewhere near the start should be stored the Partition Table. When you lost your EFS partition, you probably got a Partition Table corrupted, but the Partition itself was still there. When you reflashed a PIT, all the system had to do was to start using the EFS again.

To be honest, your EFS partition was probably kept safe by having the PartTable corrupted. Since you couldn't mount it, you couldn't damage it

Man you are soooo SPOT ON again!! :good: I have no doubt this is exactly what has happened. The more I thought about it the more this idea makes sense. I come on here now and read your post and it is exactly what is going through my mind.

For other members sake that might come hear by searching I will just give a bit more of a break down. Again this is only my interpretation based on PIT information that is known, please feel free to correct me where needed or elaborate :good:

Theoretical/virtual MMC Blocks
Bootloader ?? -> /dev/block/mmcblk???? <- could be the address? This has a PIT ID80 AKA sboot.bin
KNOX ?? -> /dev/block/mmcblk???? <- could be the address? This has a PIT ID81 AKA tz.img
PIT ?? -> /dev/block/mmcblk???? <- could be the address? This has a PIT ID70 - This is likely the part that could have got damaged?
MD5 ?? -> /dev/block/mmcblk???? <- could be the address? This has a PIT ID71 AKA MD5.img

Known physical Addressing MMC Blocks
BOTA0 -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p1
BOTA1 -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p2
EFS -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p3

Note if any of these blocks get damaged they too can wipe device IMEI
m9kefs1 -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p4
m9kefs2 -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p5
m9kefs3 -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p6

PARAM -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p7
BOOT -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p8
RECOVERY -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p9
RADIO -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p10
TOMBSTONES -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p11
CACHE -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p12
SYSTEM -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p13
HIDDEN -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p14
OTA -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p15
USERDATA -> /dev/block/mmcblk0p16

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Spent 4 hrs IMEI still not restored. DO NOT use Boeffla Restore for I9305!! EFS=Death

Jarmezrocks

Senior Member

daedric

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Jarmezrocks

Senior Member

daedric

Senior Member

Jarmezrocks

Senior Member

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