Database Users

Magician Radio issue

Hi,
I recently had a Magician shipped which seemed fine the first day of use, but at the end of the day, the gsm radio icon showed me a no reception, or 'service unavailable' message...
Now, after upgrading the Rom's (several used) and Radio update to the latest one (1.13 as far as I can see), I don't have any reception or 'service' at all...
The gsm radio always shows the '!' marker...
Anyone any idea where to look?
Loose cable, loose or bad antenna, software/rom issue?
Any ideas are welcome!
This device will be my test-unit for xanadux, but I want to make sure it's functional before testing stuff and debugging things that will never work because of a hardware or firmware issue...
Thanks guys!
Great work, super forum!

this is clearly a hardare malfunction. your device may not be identifying the sim card.

thanks for the quick response, but I don't think it's the SIM-slot that is causing me troubles... The SIM card can be read without any problem, and the pin code is asked and aknowledged by the phone. Once in a while I get coverage, but it always looks like 1 bar maximum, while my Trinity is lying next to it, same operator, and all 5bars of coverage notification are there, so it's not that I'm in a dead zone or black spot where there's no cell coverage at all.
I checked the upper back part (after removing the plastic casing top) and checked where the antenna is connected. Once, while holding and pushing onto the metal part that looks like the antenna extension, I got (just for 5 seconds that is) a connection, and signal level of 1-2 bars, but that dropped and stopped after a few seconds already...
I think it's a connection issue of some kind, internal antenna or the connection to it, but I'm not that keen on taking the unit apart to find out it's not that easy to sort the issue out...
Any help, info, ... can help...
Thanks!

the metal plate just below the top-backside plastic panel acts like the antenna.On top side of it there are two legs which connect to the mainboard.try cleaning the two spots on mainboard and the contacts of antenna.
well, i can say this because i solved this problem once this way.
good luck.

Well, I tried what you mentioned: scratched and cleaned the squares on the pcb, straightened the connecting metal parts from the back plate, cleaned all contacts: no solution...
Any other ideas?
Possibly a sort of switch which makes the device choose between internal or external antenna? What external antenna might fit?
Thanks guys!

Well,
I got my hands on a 'broken' I-mate Jam (got stuck between the car door, screen is totally broken, pcb is fine) and replaced the antenna block: FULL RECEPTION...
at least, for half an hour.. after that: reception dropped, and again left me with the "!" mentioning "no service"
I tried switching the pcb's but for some odd reason, the screen didn't come up good... The backlight didn't turn on and the screen was all striped and smeared...
Is there a difference in pcb versions, connectors, screens?
I thought Magcian = Magician, but now I'm thinking there are different models around there...
Bon... so I'm looking for a pcb of a Qtek S100 now... to switch that one with mine, and see if that helps...
really strange the reception was 'perfect' for about an hour, I even succeeded in making calls with it! No jitter, no drops, perfect reception, and then: BONK, over with it... nothing left...
Any ideas on this one, or any ideas on how to get the I-mate's pcb working in my Qtek?
Thanks guys for the info and help!

XPeria Poor/Fluctuating Signal and GPS Solution

Looking at the results of the xda-developers pool I decided to get an XPeria as it clearly out shined all other phones. I got X1i this Saturday and was shocked about the poor signal strength. I was so looking forward to using this phone and keeping it but was more inclined in sending it back. Now after a couple of days just browsing the developers site which I am used to as I had an artemis before this. I see this was not the last of the problems. There have been mentions of overheating and GPS lag as well as the WIFI being rubbish. I have found the following problems
1. Signals fluctuating and mostly no service when in hand even in some good reception areas. Normally on H when in the carry case but switches to G as soon as held in hand.
2. GPS is frustrating. My artemis used to lock within seconds while having an upto date ephermis file. But even with AGPS and recently downloaded ephermis file, I had to wait over a minute to move off. It locked and then it lost and then it locked again(This was when it was in my hand). Once locked it was stable. It was on Google maps by the way.
Right for these, I have found a temporary solution and we have to work on it to make it a standard solution for all X1. Apparently the signals definitely fluctuate when you touch the lower metallic part on the back which has SE logo on it . The opinion on the forums here is that it may block the signal. I think otherwise as I have covered that area without touching the panel with my hand and there has been no signal drop but as soon as you have the slightest bit of flesh on that area the signal drops at least two bars. This led me to believe that there is an electric conduction or possibly u earth the antennas as they seem to be touching that panel from inside as it has been pointed out before.
So simple test was to put a cling film on that part and then test so I did and walah!! There was no signal drop and it worked flawlessly. I think it’s the same problem with GPS as well.
Now I couldn’t carry on using my phone half mummified. I had to take the cling film off. This is possibly the solution to everyone’s problem but I need someone to suggest either a plastic cover for that area or some sort of coating which does not conduct electricity. I think that will definitely sort the problem.

I think you've got a faulty X1 there mate..
Can you take it back to a store and compare it against another one?
The signal is weak on this compared to some other devices, (it's not as bad as the vario though), however I've never noticed a drop in signal by holding it, so I suspect somethings awry with the one you've got..
GPS signal is very very good with the later radios, what version have you got?
I get a lock within 2 seconds (8 seconds from hard reset or flashed a new rom), and it's very very accurate when it does lock.

My GPS works very well (better than htc cruise) also with previous radio.
So I think you have a fault X1, like say by fards.

I'm with Fards on this, I don't get issues when holding the phone and GPS is snappy.
crabby

Thanks guys. I know it has been discussed a million times before but I have compared the phone with other XPerias and it is the same. There are atleast 4 threads pointing out the same. My X1 would have better signals than my artemis as long as i dont touch the back base. Have you all got silver X1is? If so then can you check if you touch the back panel which i mentioned, if there is any fluctuation in the signals(its not instant it takes about 10 seconds for the phone to show the loss of signals).
I have updated radio to 55 and tried the two new stock roms which are R2A for O2 and 010 generic. The phone still looses signals but not completely when i touch the back panel.
About GPS, it does get a lock very quickly but looses it for a short while when i touch the back.
Anyway if someone else comes accross the same problem then please write here as I am sure there is a solution to be found. I was looking at the following
Clear coating
Antistatic spray coating

I must have missed those threads then.
I have a black x1, and definitely don't get any of those issues.
gps is steady and strong.. monitoring it now... as I type. 6 birds locked standing next to window in house hdop 0.6m which I think is very very good
gsm signal on 2 bars and steady

I had the same issue just once. And even when X1 was in the Brodit car holder.
In my case the soft reset was sufficient to solve the problem. But I guess that you already did that.

fards and pelriog? did you experience any fluctuation when touching the panel?
These are the links to threads
Thread1
Thread2
Thread3
Thread4

Same here, touch back panel, hold for 10 secs and signal drops 1 bar. Currently on 3G network, going from 2 bars to 1.
(And yes, my W810i gets a way better signal in low coverage areas. However, usually not a problem, since I hardly encounter Vodafone low coverage areas in The Netherlands).
Tested 5 times. Dutch Vodafone X1i, R2 stock ROM & stock radio.

Ok I did the touch the panel thing and my bars increased by one... hmmm perhaps there is another faulty batch out there as I get great signal (touch wood) and my gps is very responsive and accurate...

Silver X1 here.. Been touching it up for about 15 mins now
It does seem to drop by 1 bar when touched, but also drops if i just put my hand really close to the back without actually touching. hmm..
what concerns me more is how it just drops the whole line randomly and gives an x then has to search again. Lost a good few calls from that..

well here ive got no problem at all with signal.
But GPS does suck even though most people everywhere say X1 GPS is awesome.maybe it is just my zone/country.. could that be possible?
uhm.. of course not, their satellytes afetr all.

I have disassembled my X1 myself and found that under lower part of backside (piece that have SE logo) is an antenna of some kind.
The antenna is a thick circuit that ran on top of another piece of plastic that cover the loud speaker.
The circuit only have 2 contacts to the main PCB.
My guess is that the reception site of either GSM or GPS is on that part.(may be bluetooth or WiFi too, but I think that's not it)
I wonder what SE/HTC engineer is thinking, putting antenna on this part of the phone! (covered with my hand everytime I use it!)
The solution is "use bluetooth headset" and "hold your phone upside down" and you will be fine.

Yeah, mine loses a bar when touching the metal case at the back, I've not lost any calls (that I know of) because of this though.
I had a look under the speaker section myself last week, and can confirm the antenna circuit over the speaker section. Underneath there's also what looks like a tiny external antenna socket... we could mod our experias to have a rubber duck aerial? Who's up for walkie talkie lookalike xperia?

lol @ walkie talki and upside down. I think the designers have done a very poor job as far as the antenna location is concerned.
Tumpin does your phone loose all signals when in your hand?
Taking this seriously as suggested in my first post has anyone tried putting a cling film on or to that matter anything to cover that area and holding the phone. I did it with the cling film and there was no drop in the signal. So i think it is just a matter of us using some kind of invisible coating or cover on that area so there is no static conductivity. Look at post #5
I would appreciate if everyone gives there suggestions as well how to deal with it. For the people who took the phone apart you could have put something on the inner side to block the static discharge.

I returned my xperia for the second time for signal problems. The problems started after it was repaired for the crack in my case. After that the signal was very poor. GPS was not working in 90%. I wait for 15 minutes for signal, but the only thing that happend was heating the battery. Also HSDPA have a weak signal. In most times I only can use GPRS. The first time I returned the phone for this problem nothing changed. And this time I had a new crack in my case, so I hope they send me a new one!

Im using a X1a and I find its GSM/3G reception is really poor, I already upgraded the radio to the latest but its still the same poor poor reception. Specially when Im using the metal case I frequently get drop calls on my device

kanthai said:
I have disassembled my X1 myself and found that under lower part of backside (piece that have SE logo) is an antenna of some kind.
The antenna is a thick circuit that ran on top of another piece of plastic that cover the loud speaker.
The circuit only have 2 contacts to the main PCB.....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just curious! Any chance that you see what for are the two metal plates contacts from the metal cover of the phone? Those near the SE logo. These two and the other two towards the camera are there for... what? The metal cover is used for something as when you rig in the phone and all four contacts are "online" but what for? Thanks!

I have a black X1i and noticed that reception increased when using it with the keyboard opened in horizontal position.

Same here, I tought it was because I open my metal case that is why reception goes up.
stevencyc said:
I have a black X1i and noticed that reception increased when using it with the keyboard opened in horizontal position.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

The way I bold my Leo seems to improve reception. Am I crazy?

I'm being driven nuts by constant data connection. loss on my Leo.
I have a suspicion it's a hardware problem related to the internal antenna, if there is one. So I've been experimenting holding my phone different ways to see if it helps. And I think I've found a position that improves reliability of connection. Unfortunately it's really uncomfortable, and also maybe coincidence.
Phone in landscape orientation, with the USB port on the right. Tilt the phone till it's approx 15 degrees with USB side highest. Hold phone on the lowest side without touching the metal removable back.
This in 2 hours of testing seems to improve things for me. Though I'm happy go be told I'm being stupid.

Sorry, typed from my phone hence hold became bold.

Isn't the antenna in the base of the handset....? This would mean that most people cover this during a phone call.

I get that in weak signal areas. When im in the loo in work i have to avoid covering the antenna as i lose reception. This was the case with my Diamond also. Dont think its a fault just in weak signal areas your hand blocks what little of the signal there is.

I had very weak reception at some areas of my home (where previously my Diamond had been OK) and it kept loosing the signal. I have installed the new fix for SIM contacts which also updates the radio and I have much better reception at home now. Seems to make a considerable improvement to weak signal areas

[Q] No 3G/4G Signal, Possible Hardware Issue

Background:
I was running the most up to date Paranoid Android rom, working great for weeks.
I went to the east coast (where my phone worked fine), and when I landed in Chicago, I turned off airplane mode and didn't have any data. I thought that was odd, so I tried a factory reset. No change. No big deal, I take another plane to Seattle. Then I only get Edge. The next morning I got 3G/4G for a few hours, then it was intermittent that day, but for the last 3 I haven't gotten any 3G/4G. That's where I am now, although I put on the 4.3 factory image and locked the device. This is what I have tried:
I'm on Straight Talk T-Mobile
1. My wife's T-Mobile post-paid sim card.
2. Cycling airplane, turning phone on and off
3. Flashing CM 10.1 RC3
4. *#*#INFO#*#* and messing with the settings, doing anything and everything I can think of. WCDMA Only, preferred, turning radio on and off, and trying to get to the radio band menu. The radio menu popped up just fine on CM10.1, but crashes on stock 4.3. When I select WCDMA Only, I get zero service at all.
5. Cleaning my sim card with rubbing alcohol
What I haven't tried:
1. Flashing a radio.
2. Taking it apart and inspecting the antenna connections.
Does anyone know if there are multiple antennas for the GSM/WCDMA radios? I looked on Ifixit and I don't see much info on the antenna. parts4repair.com shows only 1 antenna. The thing is, I get great signal on Edge, so if it's only one antenna, then I wouldn't expect such a good Edge signal. Also, the Edge/WCDMA signal processor is on the same piece of silicon, so I wouldn't imagine that would be a problem.
My phone has slipped from my lap a bunch of times and has been dropped on carpet quite a bit, never with any visible damage. I'm starting to think that it was damaged when dropped. I know there aren't great crumple zones on this phone.
Does anyone have any other thoughts, or ideas? I would like to try a few more things before I crack it open.
Thanks,
Ders

Update: I have since opened the case and disassbled the phone. I cleaned the contacts for all of the connections that I could find. I also see that the antenna cable attaches to the board that holds the micro USB port. Another plastic piece snaps in above that. This plastic piece has pressure contacts for a fractal antennna that is basically printed on this plastic piece. If I had to guess, the antenna may have been damaged due to flexing when the phone has been dropped. I ordered a new one on eBay and will see if that does the fix.
Another interesting thing that may disprove my theory. When I disconnect the fractal antenna, I still get an Edge signal. If it doesn't fix the problem I'm going to have to hook it up to an oscilloscope and see what kind of signals are being broadcast. That way I can see if it might be the signal processor chip on the motherboard.

Another update. I ended up replacing the USB board, antenna board and antenna cable. Works like a charm. Seems a little slower than my wife's Galaxy S3. But hey, it works now.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

[SOLVED] Extremely weak Wi-Fi signal

The Wi-Fi signal on my I9505 is terribly weak. Sitting at the same desk the router is on - full signal; Walk 3-4 meters away - signal drops to 1 line; Go to a different room - disconnects due to no signal. I can only see 3 networks at 1 signal line while on another phone I get 11 networks - all with signal at 2+ lines.
My router is perfectly fine (works as expected and has great coverage on other phones/laptops - it still gives off great signal if I go next door/above/below me).
Phone software side I'd say is fine too, but I'm not 100% sure:
Issue happens both on latest WizCyan (TW based) and on latest RR (CM14 based), both using different kernels.
Currently on XXUHPG1 bootloader and baseband. PDA version is XXUPPI1 (according to the "Phone INFO" app).
Hardware side, I've tried a few things - bent all of the golden springs I could find just a tiny bit upwards, tried to clean the gray contacts on the mid bezel as best as I could (dry microfiber) - they weren't dirty or anything, but they seem scratched/shiny where the spring would have come into contact, is that bad? (I can take pictures if necessary)
I even flipped the blue antenna wire around (though I think that one only affects cell signal).
I also have to note that there's something wrong with my Wi-Fi IC / mobo because sometimes it stops working altogether (won't turn back on), needing a reboot or physical intervention. I doubt that would affect signal strength, as long as it's actually turning on, I guess?
Edit:
SOLVED!
Well, this is probably a very unique/fringe case - I found out there was a crack in my motherboard, just below one of the antenna connectors. I also found out that pushing down on where the crack is relinks the motherboard connections and gives back the full Wi-Fi signal. So I "ghetto-rigged" a piece of plastic to push down on the crack when I put the mid-bezel back in, and it seems to be working for now. Hope it holds up and doesn't cause other issues.

Actually, it could affect signal strength. You might want to check your antenna wire running down the right side of the battery compartment and make sure it isn't broken or partly disconnected.

You should also note that some phones have better antennas, thus having better reception.
So comparing it to a different phone isn't really a good way to measure the effectiveness.

Took some pics, I've no idea if they're of any help. Maybe somebody can tell if there's something wrong.
Strephon Alkhalikoi said:
Actually, it could affect signal strength. You might want to check your antenna wire running down the right side of the battery compartment and make sure it isn't broken or partly disconnected.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's the wire I had flipped around. I even disconnected it to see if there's a difference, and it only weakened the cell signal. Full cell signal when I put it back. No change regarding Wi-Fi. If I run the phone with the mid bezel off, I only get 2 lines even next to the router, and it doesn't even connect - so I suppose the mid bezel antennas connect?
Pwnycorn said:
You should also note that some phones have better antennas, thus having better reception.
So comparing it to a different phone isn't really a good way to measure the effectiveness.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
True, still, from full signal to 1/0 lines as soon as I go from my desk (and router) to my bed 5m away isn't right. Wi-Fi reception used to be as good on my S4 as on the other phones. (I can't remember exactly when this started.)

I believe you have a radio chip issue. Something that software cannot fix.

Solved. Thank you for trying to help.

@cLick1338: Telling people you solved the issue without revealing the solution doesn't help anyone who may come across this thread in the future. So how did you solve it?

Strephon Alkhalikoi said:
@cLick1338: Telling people you solved the issue without revealing the solution doesn't help anyone who may come across this thread in the future. So how did you solve it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had edited the first post. Figured it would be most visible for such people.

cLick1338 said:
I had edited the first post. Figured it would be most visible for such people.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you edited it yesterday I wouldn't have noticed it. The XDA app automatically drills down to the first unread post and I don't always think to scroll back up.
Sorry.