Help, I bricked my Samsung S4

Conundrum, Wed Sept 17 2014, 10:48PM

Hi all.
Managed to brick it (not me, fortunately) by installing a naff firmware and it hosed the EFS data.

Got it back barely but now the IMEI, and all the other data is "Kaput!!!" (as my Russian friend says) and
apparently it is very hard to unmuck once this has occurred.

I paid the £1.99 to check the phone is legit (it is) so the IMEI just needs putting back somehow.
Its on the little sticker under the battery and verified valid.

EDIT: Seems that the problem is a stuffed baseband chip, the solder joints on these are BGA and one tends to go thermally sensitive so the baseband drops out when the phone is knocked or warms up.

If anyone with experience in SMD rework wants to "have a go" at it please PM me, the phone is otherwise defunct and I hate to see good hardware go to landfill as a new motherboard is over £90 with postage


thanks!
-A
"Bother!" said Pooh, as Apple still won't replace his broken 4S motherboard for under £150...