Redmi Note 9 - How do I restore my IMEI? I don't have a backup of my nvram/nvdata but I have the numbers.

[YLTN]

How do I write IMEI along with baseband version back to my phone? I really don't want to risk bricking it again, that's enough stress for me in the past two days

I heard that I can only flash IMEI 2 back to it, and if I want flashing IMEI 1 as well I'd need to install a custom rom on the phone. So if that's a solution I'd love if someone could help me with it. MIUI 13 is slow and laggy af (which is the reason I bricked the phone in the first place, to install a better ROM).

But here's something, when I flash the phone's firmware through fastboot, issues start to rise (as per my experience with it so far), but through SP Flash Tool, it's alright. So I'd love to know if installing custom ROMs using the tool would be alright, if not then if recovery is required or if fastboot is fit for the job. If that's an issue I'd love if someone could give me advice when it comes to it.

Old post 1: (not my current situation)
"Long story short, I bricked the phone and after months, I've finally been able to repair it (downgraded from MIUI 13 to MIUI 11), but I lost my IMEI. I have the phone's two IMEI numbers, but I could not find any tool to help me write it to the phone. Either that, or I don't know whether the phone should be turned on or off, or if there's any special mode that's required for that matter.
Help would really be appreciated."
Old post 2:
"It happened after manually installing engineering ROM on it, now I can only doubt it's BROM mode that's working and nothing else, but I'm not sure. SP Flash Tool doesn't want to work with the phone since I want to flash the stock rom back. I really need help please."

 

[mvikrant97]

Long story short, I bricked the phone and after months, I've finally been able to repair it (downgraded from MIUI 13 to MIUI 11), but I lost my IMEI. I have the phone's two IMEI numbers, but I could not find any tool to help me write it to the phone. Either that, or I don't know whether the phone should be turned on or off, or if there's any special mode that's required for that matter.

Help would really be appreciated.

Install Engineering ROM and then write imei using available tools.

 

[YLTN]

Install Engineering ROM and then write imei using available tools.

I fear that if I install the ROM, the phone might brick again

 

[mvikrant97]

I fear that if I install the ROM, the phone might brick again

Why?

 

[YLTN]

Why?

The reason why my phone broke in the first place was due to flashing a misc.bin file after following a YouTube tutorial. It was part of a process to download twrp on the phone unofficially. Since then I started looking for ways to fix it until I finally found a post that had to do with fixing nvdata corruption (which was the error I had prior to fixing the phone) which helped.
So yeah, I don't think I can trust flashing ROMs on my phone as much as before, but I'll still try the engineering ROM thing.

 

[YLTN]

Why?

So um...it bricked. This time worse than before. It doesn't turn on at all no matter how long I press the power button. It was after I manually flashed eng rom.

 

[mvikrant97]

So um...it bricked. This time worse than before. It doesn't turn on at all no matter how long I press the power button. It was after I manually flashed eng rom.

Does it shows up in device manager?

 

[YLTN]

Does it shows up in device manager?

Yep, it doesn't show up as it's name or "Android", it shows up as MediaTek USB Port (COM3), that's why I doubted it to be in BROM mode.

 

[YLTN]

Yep, it doesn't show up as it's name or "Android", it shows up as MediaTek USB Port (COM3), that's why I doubted it to be in BROM mode.

By the way, after trying to connect to it using mtkclient, I got this error:
DeviceClass - [LIB]: ←[31mCouldn't get device configuration.←[0m

 

[YLTN]

By the way, after trying to connect to it using mtkclient, I got this error:
DeviceClass - [LIB]: ←[31mCouldn't get device configuration.←[0m

Hold on, it worked now for some reason when I disconnected the battery, but it keeps connecting and disconnecting so that's an issue.
I'll try to reconnect the battery and see.

 

[mvikrant97]

Hold on, it worked now for some reason when I disconnected the battery, but it keeps connecting and disconnecting so that's an issue.
I'll try to reconnect the battery and see.

Please install LIB USB drivers.

Visit this tutorial here on xda

 

[YLTN]

Please install LIB USB drivers.

Visit this tutorial here on xda

Bro, thank you so much, the phone's unbricked now. I couldn't believe my eyes

But for now, is there any solution for the IMEI problem?

 

[mvikrant97]

Bro, thank you so much, the phone's unbricked now. I couldn't believe my eyes

But for now, is there any solution for the IMEI problem?

I always recommend a NV Backup before messing up with your own device, that's all I know.

Download the file attached here but remember you can fix only second IMEI using this method. Please don't try to fix both IMEI or NV Data will be corrupted again.

Video Tutorial to Follow Video Tutorial

FILE LINK
File password: redmi

 

[YLTN]

I always recommend a NV Backup before messing up with your own device, that's all I know.

Download the file attached here but remember you can fix only second IMEI using this method. Please don't try to fix both IMEI or NV Data will be corrupted again.

Video Tutorial to Follow Video Tutorial

The guy in the video is using MIUI 12, I have MIUI 13. I don't know if that's an issue but someone in the comments said something about MIUI or so. I'm not a professional but many times when I see tutorials they're very specific with the MIUI version.
Also, I'm not sure how to back up nv data, do I use mtkclient or is it somewhere in the attachment you sent me?
And one more thing, my phone's baseband version is unknown, could that affect the process?

 

[mvikrant97]

The guy in the video is using MIUI 12, I have MIUI 13. I don't know if that's an issue but someone in the comments said something about MIUI or so. I'm not a professional but many times when I see tutorials they're very specific with the MIUI version.
Also, I'm not sure how to back up nv data, do I use mtkclient or is it somewhere in the attachment you sent me?
And one more thing, my phone's baseband version is unknown, could that affect the process?

You don't need the backup anymore and you can follow the tutorial in the video irrespective of the MIUI version you have.

I have also attached the files that are used in the video.

 

[YLTN]

You don't need the backup anymore and you can follow the tutorial in the video irrespective of the MIUI version you have.

I have also attached the files that are used in the video.

Alright then, I'll follow the steps and tell you the results once I'm done.

 

[YLTN]

You don't need the backup anymore and you can follow the tutorial in the video irrespective of the MIUI version you have.

I have also attached the files that are used in the video.

The phone keeps rebooting when connecting it to Maui META. Like it shows META MODE at the bottom of the screen but then it turns off. Now it's bootlooping. I guess I'll have to flash MIUI on it again. At least I still have access to fastboot and recovery.

Update: NV Data corrupted after flashing MIUI, but I got a solution that hopefully works.
Update 2: After flashing MIUI 11 (along with some other nvdata and nvram files, i think they're just empty), it works now and the error is gone. But as I said IMEI issue's still there. Maybe I would need engineering ROM for this one? Although it bricked my phone before.

Also, the phone started bootlooping before attempting the Maui META thing, so maybe it's either the manual formatting of partitions or the files I flashed on it.

 

[mvikrant97]

The phone keeps rebooting when connecting it to Maui META. Like it shows META MODE at the bottom of the screen but then it turns off. Now it's bootlooping. I guess I'll have to flash MIUI on it again. At least I still have access to fastboot and recovery.

Update: NV Data corrupted after flashing MIUI, but I got a solution that hopefully works.
Update 2: After flashing MIUI 11 (along with some other nvdata and nvram files, i think they're just empty), it works now and the error is gone. But as I said IMEI issue's still there. Maybe I would need engineering ROM for this one? Although it bricked my phone before.

Also, the phone started bootlooping before attempting the Maui META thing, so maybe it's either the manual formatting of partitions or the files I flashed on it.

Try flashing the ENG rom and try fixing your IMEI

 

[YLTN]

Try flashing the ENG rom and try fixing your IMEI

So I ran into another issue. it tells me I need "exaid-verified.img" and that verified boot is enabled, which is not present in the ENG ROM folder.

 

[YLTN]

Try flashing the ENG rom and try fixing your IMEI

Btw one more thing, I can update my phone right? Like, it won't break my phone? I'm good with MIUI 11 but I wonder if updating it would fix baseband version.