[WARNING! + GUIDE] Backup and Restore IMEI / NV Data Procedure for GT-I9305

[lyriquidperfection]

WARNING! DO NOT FLASH YOUR DEVICE UNTIL YOU HAVE BACKED UP YOUR IMEI / NV DATA IN THIS GUIDE!

Click HERE for information on the long awaited and all new EFS Professional v2.0 including download! Now supporting Qualcomm devices!



Setting up QPST with your PC:

• Dial *#7284# on your phone to access PhoneUtil and select 'Qualcomm USB Settings' at the bottom. Now select 'RNDIS + DM + MODEM' and press 'OK' to return to the previous screen. Now press your 'Back' key to exit PhoneUtil. Your phone is now in DIAG Mode.
  
• Download and Install: SAMSUNG_USB_Driver_for_Mobile_Phones_1590.exe - 23.06 MB if you don't already have Kies or a USB Driver installed.
  
• Download and Install: QPST v2.7.378.zip - 14.68 MB
  
• Now connect your phone to the PC with a USB cable and wait for Drivers to install.
  
• Start the 'QPST Configuration' application and select the 'Ports' tab then press the 'Add New Port...' button.
  
• Select the COM Port that has 'USB/QC Diagnostic' next to it, change the Port Label if you like to 'Samsung GT-I9305' then press 'OK'.
  
• You should now see your phone listed in the 'Ports' tab and the 'State' should indicate 'Enabled'.
  
• You can now Close this application.

Backing Up IMEI / NV Data:

• Start the 'Software Download' application and select the 'Backup' tab.
  
• Press the 'Browse' button and choose a Save Location for your QCN File.
  
• Press the 'Start' button and wait for it to finish. This will back up all your phones NV Items and save them to the QCN Backup File.
  
• The resulting QCN Backup File should be 250KB.

Restoring IMEI / NV Data:

• Start the 'Software Download' application and select the 'Restore' tab.
  
• Press the 'Browse' button and select your QCN Backup File.
  
• Press the 'Start' button and wait for it to finish. This will restore all your phones NV Items from the QCN Backup File.
  
• Your IMEI / NV Data should now be fully restored. Dial *#06# on your phones keypad to check your IMEI is restored.

Restore USB Settings after Backup / Restore:

• Dial *#7284# on your phone to access PhoneUtil and select 'Qualcomm USB Settings' at the bottom. Now select 'MTP + ADB' and press 'OK' to return to the previous screen. Now press your 'Back' key to exit PhoneUtil. Your phone is now back to default USB operation.

If the 'Qualcomm USB Settings' Button is missing from the PhoneUtil application then execute the following command in a Terminal Emulator to launch the Qualcomm USB Settings page directly:

su -c 'am start -n com.sec.android.app.phoneutil/com.sec.android.app.phoneutil.USBSettings'

Please Note: You must be rooted or this command will not work.

Recovering IMEI And Data Connection After Flashing WRONG Root Package Intended For I9300:

• Make sure you have Samsung Kies or the Samsung USB Driver installed on your PC.
  
• Download and Extract: Odin3 3.04.zip - 457.11 KB to your PC if you don't already have it.
  
• Download and Extract: Param_Bin_I9305.zip - 612.14 KB to your PC.
  
• With your Phone Switched Off, press and hold: 'VOL DN' + 'HOME' + 'POWER' to enter Download Mode.
  
• Connect your phone to your PC via USB Cable and start Odin.
  
• Check your phone is connected by seeing if a COM Port in a Blue box is present under ID:COM.
  
• Press the 'PDA' Button and select the 'Param_Bin_I9305.tar.md5' file you extracted from the Zip Archive earlier.
  
• Press the 'Start' Button and wait for it to finish flashing. If successful, you will see a Green Box with 'PASS!'.
  
• Wait for your phone to reboot then go to your Dialer and press: *#06#. You should now see your IMEI and your Data Connection will be back.

If I have saved your bacon then please buy me a coffee!

 

[tauran]

well i guess this is what i'm going to be looking for.

So i have no IMEI on me device and I have no backup of the EFS.

Before I pm you:
1) do I need to have a rooted device to perform this? if so I can install your pre-rooted ROM.
2) when i go to *#7284# menu I see the following screen.
PhoneUtil

UART
[option(selected)] MODEM
[option] PDA
USB
[option] MODEM
[option(selected)] PDA
SAVE and RESET

so i have no "RNDIS + DM + MODEM" option, can this still work for me?

thanks

 

[bleepsake]

phew, was about to dive into flashing and then saw this thread. THANK YOU!

I am an iOS refugee. Totally new to android. I guess I'll wait for more developments to come out for my Quad core LTE S3.


Sent from my GT-I9305 using xda app-developers app

---------- Post added at 07:13 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:09 PM ----------

ah tauran you saw this thread first, good good. Was about to actually pm to let you know that this thread is for you!
Hope you get your device working.

Sent from my GT-I9305 using xda app-developers app

 

[lyriquidperfection]

well i guess this is what i'm going to be looking for.

So i have no IMEI on me device and I have no backup of the EFS.

Before I pm you:
1) do I need to have a rooted device to perform this? if so I can install your pre-rooted ROM.
2) when i go to *#7284# menu I see the following screen.
PhoneUtil

UART
[option(selected)] MODEM
[option] PDA
USB
[option] MODEM
[option(selected)] PDA
SAVE and RESET

so i have no "RNDIS + DM + MODEM" option, can this still work for me?

thanks

There is a 'Qualcomm USB Settings' button at the bottom of the screen in PhoneUtil. Press that and you will be able to select "RNDIS + DM + MODEM".

 

[tauran]

There is a 'Qualcomm USB Settings' button at the bottom of the screen in PhoneUtil. Press that and you will be able to select "RNDIS + DM + MODEM".

Nope, still dont have that option.

Tried with/without USB connected
with/without usb debugging
with without SIM card inserted

but all these methods still result in the screen i described above.
Do I need root?

else, i guess i'm well and truly screwed.

 

[lyriquidperfection]

Nope, still dont have that option.

Tried with/without USB connected
with/without usb debugging
with without SIM card inserted

but all these methods still result in the screen i described above.
Do I need root?

else, i guess i'm well and truly screwed.

No you don't need Root and just to confirm you do have the I9305 don't you?

I have the UK EE I9305 and when I dial *#7285# I have the 'Qualcomm USB Settings' Button at the bottom of the screen on PhoneUtil.

 

[tauran]

No you don't need Root and just to confirm you do have the I9305 don't you?

I have the UK EE I9305 and when I dial *#7285# I have the 'Qualcomm USB Settings' Button at the bottom of the screen on PhoneUtil.

Yes, I also have UK EE i9305, purchased from t-mobile.

Would be interesting to see if the others who have lost their imei have also lost this option in the phoneutil menu. failing this, i really need to be able to reset the flash counter and have the status to "Normal" before i consider sending it back.

 

[chippyuk]

Yeah! Would be interesting to know that as if the 'Qualcomm USB Settings' button is missing then the whole process is pointless unless there is another way of invoking 'DIS + DM + MODEM'

@lyriquidperfection, many thanks for this, have made a backup just in case!

 

[lyriquidperfection]

Yeah! Would be interesting to know that as if the 'Qualcomm USB Settings' button is missing then the whole process is pointless unless there is another way of invoking 'DIS + DM + MODEM'

@lyriquidperfection, many thanks for this, have made a backup just in case!

Don't worry there is a workaround, just need to do more testing before I release it. It is basically a set of commands originally for AOSP Roms which I modified specifically for the I9305 to manually Enable or Disable the Diag Mode. So this Backup and Restore method will work for everybody.

 

[btemtd]

So all this time i had a useless efs backup . Omg

Sent from my GT-I9305 using xda app-developers app

 

[bleepsake]

when I try to dial #7284# or #7285# I get this message. I haven't flashed yet so everything is still pretty much Virgin. Can any one shed a light on this?

Sent from my GT-I9305 using xda app-developers app

 

[CharlesW123]

Code is *#7284#

Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app

 

[btemtd]

Ok All done, That backup process took longer then expected for a 250Kb QN file..... So let me get this straight the 20mb EFS image i had backed up previously is useless? This new 250kb QN file is the heart of our device now and should be backed up everywhere?

Another thing what happens If we leave it in diag mode or whats the difference. Thanks I would like to learn alittle

EDIT: I learnt myself lol What happens if you leave it in Diag mode is you will not be able to see your phone in windows as a Portable device, which means you cannot copy and paste files the simple way from (My Computer)

I am still curios as to why the QN file is only 250kb comparing to the previous EFS.img, It might be a good idea to state in the OP that the file should only be this XXXX Large .. Just so people feel safer once they have completed the procedure

 

[lyriquidperfection]

Ok All done, That backup process took longer then expected for a 250Kb QN file..... So let me get this straight the 20mb EFS image i had backed up previously is useless? This new 250kb QN file is the heart of our device now and should be backed up everywhere?

Another thing what happens If we leave it in diag mode or whats the difference. Thanks I would like to learn alittle

It's all in the first post but maybe I need to make it a bit clearer. Phone should be in Diag Mode when performing Backup and Restore otherwise phone should be in MTP + ADB Mode.

The QCN backup file contains the data for all the NV Items in the NV Memory which is also where the IMEI is stored.

It doesn't hurt to backup the EFS partition aswell as it contains mac addresses and other important data for your device.

Sent from my GT-I9305 using Tapatalk 2

 

[btemtd]

Great Just to be safe I have kept all my previous EFS backups and added the NV QCN file with them...I was mainly making sure that 250kb sounds correct yeh? it shouldnt be larger then this?

 

[lyriquidperfection]

Great Just to be safe I have kept all my previous EFS backups and added the NV QCN file with them...I was mainly making sure that 250kb sounds correct yeh? it shouldnt be larger then this?

Yes 250kb is correct because its just the bytes for the NV Items thats stored in the QCN file.

 

[_ray_]

efs backup without root, now that's what i am talking about
great job :good:

 

[narcarsiss]

Happy to ship my phone to you if you need one to play with.

After some research I discovered that backing up the '/efs' folder using existing tools such as my EFS Pro application will not work with this particular device.

Most Samsung devices have a file in the '/efs' folder called 'nv_data.bin' and on closer inspection this file is not present on our devices.

This is because the I9305 has LTE which also means its fitted with a Qualcomm chip to control the modem. This also means that our device uses a Qualcomm RIL instead of the usual Samsung RIL so the NV area of the device including the EFS structure is laid out different.

As it happens our device is not much different from some US variants of the Galaxy S III except we have the Quad Core Exynos CPU in the I9305 where as some US variants are fitted with a Dual Core Snapdragon.


Setting up QPST with your PC:

• Dial *#7284# on your phone to access PhoneUtil and select 'Qualcomm USB Settings' at the bottom. Now select 'RNDIS + DM + MODEM' and press 'OK' to return to the previous screen. Now press your 'Back' key to exit PhoneUtil. Your phone is now in DIAG Mode.
  
• Download and Install: SAMSUNG_USB_Driver_for_Mobile_Phones_1590.exe - 23.06 MB if you don't already have Kies or a USB Driver installed.
  
• Download and Install: QPST v2.7.378.zip - 14.68 MB
  
• Now connect your phone to the PC with a USB cable and wait for Drivers to install.
  
• Start the 'QPST Configuration' application and select the 'Ports' tab then press the 'Add New Port...' button. Select the COM Port that has 'USB/QC Diagnostic' next to it, change the Port Label if you like to 'Samsung GT-I9305' then press 'OK'. You should now see your phone listed in the 'Ports' tab and the 'State' should indicate 'Enabled'. You can now Close this application.

Backing Up IMEI / NV Data:

• Start the 'Software Download' application and select the 'Backup' tab.
  
• Press the 'Browse' button and choose a Save Location for your QCN File.
  
• Press the 'Start' button and wait for it to finish. This will back up all your phones NV Items and save them to the QCN Backup File.

Restoring IMEI / NV Data:

• Start the 'Software Download' application and select the 'Restore' tab.
  
• Press the 'Browse' button and select your QCN Backup File.
  
• Press the 'Start' button and wait for it to finish. This will restore all your phones NV Items from the QCN Backup File.
  
• Your IMEI / NV Data should now be fully restored. Dial *#06# on your phones keypad to check your IMEI is restored.

Restore USB Settings after Backup / Restore:

• Dial *#7284# on your phone to access PhoneUtil and select 'Qualcomm USB Settings' at the bottom. Now select 'MTP + ADB' and press 'OK' to return to the previous screen. Now press your 'Back' key to exit PhoneUtil. Your phone is now back to default USB operation.

If I have saved your bacon then please buy me a beer!

 

[lyriquidperfection]

Happy to ship my phone to you if you need one to play with.

Sounds good but don't you need it to get insurance replacement?

Sent from my GT-I9305 using Tapatalk 2

 

[tauran]

Don't worry there is a workaround, just need to do more testing before I release it. It is basically a set of commands originally for AOSP Roms which I modified specifically for the I9305 to manually Enable or Disable the Diag Mode. So this Backup and Restore method will work for everybody.

So there's hope for me yet. thank god for that. will try to be patient as i wait for the workaround