Database Users

alu case / proporta

I dropped my xda 1 twice and had to get it repaired. For my xda2 I tried to get a good, secure solution to cover it.
Proporta seems to have a perfect alu case, but I heard that there is a problem with the gsm/gprs connectivity in the closed case.
After getting the info, that there is no cutting in signal strength, I ordered a propota and got on saturday. It does really cut minimum two bars of signal strenth, that means in some areas there is no more signal at all ( in my home for example) and the xda is constantly searching a connection...
But there is a whole in the back beside the camera whole. This is meant for the connection of an external anntena.. So would it be possible to get a connector for that anntena and ad a selfmade thin anntena on the alu case from proporta. I´m absolutly double lefthanded concerning technical things: can anybody tell me if this might be possible and get a good signal in the closed alucase???

Link to proporta case
Do you have the link to the web-site- I have been looking for a secure case
Thnks

never had a prob with signal on my properta aluminium case for xda 1 :\

That's because the XDA I has a dirty great external aerial, whereas the XDA II has a built in one. Hence when you completely enclose it in aluminum it kills the signal.

i dont think it kills signal they wouldnt design a case that does that...
you can put a 3310 inside a metal tin and still ahve signal so it shouldnt effect an triband phone

Have a look at the many posts on these forums, and over at Tekguru, from people who own the Proporta case, including myself, and most say that it definitely does reduce signal strength. It doesn't actually kill it, but it reduces it by a good 2 bars, and lets face it if you're with O2 that's enought to kill it in most circumstances.
I can only report my own findings, but as far as I'm concerned it DEFINITELY reduces signal strength.

Rogh Case for XDAII
I only have an XDA I, but:
Send me a few XDA IIs and I'll make a super tough custom case for you. The material will be Kevlar* fiber reinforced plastic with a little carbon fiber reinforcement here and there. A case like that would cut absolutely no signal stength but withstand your girl stepping onto it with the heel of her stilettos or dropping it on the floor. For a few more XDA IIs I'll make it withstand driving over it in your car as well.
How much would you be willing to pay for such a case, in case you don't have any surplus XDA II to send me?
Martin Kopplow
* similar to the stuff they make bullet proof vests of, but not as flexible.

I have the proporta alu case for both my XDA and XDA II - no signal problems on either devices when in the closed case.
Jon.

These cases are now being sold through o2 store's.
We got 5 in today and there great well reccomended

What price, they are selling for 19.99 on ebay UK.

There going for £24.99 and there the same ones they eb=ven have the company name properta on the insdie.
We only got them today so I doubt any store has them on the shop floor so go in and ask for them
The manager did our ones for £10 so i'm happy.

I just received a message that Innopocket will do the aluminum case for the MDAII/XDAII as well. they will add them to their website today.

My XDA II Porporta Aluminium Case does not reduce my radio signal strength at all either.....Bluetooth remains the same.... :roll:
One thing to note about the Proporta Aluminium Case, the screw which goes onto the caseing itself for usage with the belt clip losens over a period of time casing the unit to drop off from your belt. Do take note of that. I had mine dropping off even though i was sure i had the screw really tight in the case itself :lol:

Hi,
I´ve cut a windows in the case to see who is calling. Signal strenght now is as good as w/o case.
regards
Wolfgang

Nice work
I also have to do some modification on the proporta case, because if you want to use the headphone, the plastic cover is in the way. so i have to make it a bit bigger in the cover

xtac said:
My XDA II Porporta Aluminium Case does not reduce my radio signal strength at all either.....Bluetooth remains the same.... :roll:
One thing to note about the Proporta Aluminium Case, the screw which goes onto the caseing itself for usage with the belt clip losens over a period of time casing the unit to drop off from your belt. Do take note of that. I had mine dropping off even though i was sure i had the screw really tight in the case itself :lol:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have put a drop of Loctite on the threads so when tightened it will never come loose.
But I never use the darn thing now as it kills off the signal completly. 2 bars at the best of time round here.
Might be interested in the kevlar idea if it looks cool. Thats the reason I have an Alu case cos it looks cool.

I have the proporta Al case and it drops at least 2 bars when it is enclosed too. I also had the idea of a flexible thin antenna attached to the back of the case but I can't seem to find the details on the external antenna connector.
If the external antenna connectors are proprietary, why doesn't O2 release the connector? How can a company advertise having the ability to connect to an external antenna if the plug is not available to fit the socket? Does anyone know if the antenna connectors are the same between xda2 and iMate?
It gets even more annoying when it has been out of range for a few minutes and it gets lazy and decides to stop trying to reconnect to GSM and seems to crash the radio stack.

snowdude said:
I have the proporta Al case and it drops at least 2 bars when it is enclosed too. I also had the idea of a flexible thin antenna attached to the back of the case but I can't seem to find the details on the external antenna connector.
If the external antenna connectors are proprietary, why doesn't O2 release the connector? How can a company advertise having the ability to connect to an external antenna if the plug is not available to fit the socket? Does anyone know if the antenna connectors are the same between xda2 and iMate?
It gets even more annoying when it has been out of range for a few minutes and it gets lazy and decides to stop trying to reconnect to GSM and seems to crash the radio stack.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I too have been looking for the connector for months now, with no luck.
I have also noticed once the phone is out of range for a few minutes, it never bothers to try and reconnect. I am hoping the new firmware will fix this.

I have just installed the new radio stack et al. It may lower the chances of the stack crashing or giving up trying to connect, but I doubt it will provide greater coverage.

it's a nice case mod that one though i would prob put in some windowish thing to protect the screen if it fell on a sharp corner

tape removed on back of Ozone, loss of signal coverage

Hello to everyone,
I recently found a piece of hanging tape on my Ozone. I attempted to stick it back but it wouldn't stick - so I took it off since the back wouldn't fit on the phone afterward.
Since I live in a rural area, the tape seemed to have completely degraded my signal coverage! I have no verizon signal, only when I put my finger on the taped off areas. The moment I remove my finger, signal is lost.
Anyone know what type of tape this is and what I can do to replace it? Does it like... contain some strip of aluminum to strengthen signal coverage?
I'm disappointed in the ozone now, very very cheap.
The tape is located around the camera lense and extends around the speakers to the top of the device.
With all due respect-
Tomi

I just took a look at the back of my Ozone, that tape you are referring to is attached pretty snug like. As many times that I dropped my phone and that back cover pop off, there appears to be no wear or tear.
In hindsight, probably would have been better to have left the tape alone or smoothed it out so that the cover would close. It can only be assumed that the antenna is somehow meshed in that tape as it appears to be the only logical place for it to be due to the overwhelming size of the battery. Your loss of signal confirms this.
I hope you got insurance on your phone. Pay the $50.00 and have it replaced.

jtraveler said:
I just took a look at the back of my Ozone, that tape you are referring to is attached pretty snug like. As many times that I dropped my phone and that back cover pop off, there appears to be no wear or tear.
In hindsight, probably would have been better to have left the tape alone or smoothed it out so that the cover would close. It can only be assumed that the antenna is somehow meshed in that tape as it appears to be the only logical place for it to be due to the overwhelming size of the battery. Your loss of signal confirms this.
I hope you got insurance on your phone. Pay the $50.00 and have it replaced.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not sure, I called the company but I have already used 2 claims on my older Motorola Q, one time when I lost it in my junior year of Highschool last year and this summer where my replacement fell into a swimming pool and I had to get another one. So I can't use the company anymore.
I ordered one of those "antenna boosters" from amazon, seeing that they are tape too - I''m wondering if that'll work?
I want to figure a solution out to what can be done if this happens to other ozone users who remove the tape from the back of the phone. The fact of the matter is, the ozone is a cheap phone if it has to have tape on the back of it just to sustain signal coverage. It really is a shame. Not only this, the phone overheats so fast when I use wmwifirouter to access internet, it's not even funny. I'm using my old Q now and that doesn't heat up to 25% of what the Ozone got to.
Does anyone know what this material could be and how i could replace it? would putting a copper wire or an aluminum piece help? I miss evdo rev.a, which my Q9m does not have and since I live in the woods with a 1.5 mile long driveway evdo rev. a helped a lot with internet service. Otherwise I have dial-up at home, and evdo rev.0 on the q is a lot slower. So I miss my ozone to a degree..
Thanks -
Tomi

Conductive tape for better WiFi/GPS?

Someone on the inspire forum used conductive tape on top of their antennas to boost signal dramatically! Anyone know the insides of a500 know if doing this would help us cuz wifi sucks..?
Sent from my Inspire 4G using Tapatalk

Funny, I am going to be making some conductive glue in the next day or so. I was wondering what I should do with the leftover. I will consider putting some on the antenna just for kicks. maybe I can coat some paper and extend it a bit. If anyone has a good idea of how to implement it I might give it a shot. I'm certainly not a radio engineer type person, so I really don't know if there are any guidelines that I should follow. Like whether or not this will need direct contact with the core wire, recommended length/shape to match frequency, what matters, what doesn't, would a graphite conductor even work, etc. Keep in mind that the resistance will increase with length on this adhesive. I can double coat it and help some but there is no way to avoid this without embedding a wire. I already get a good signal but there's always room for improvement. And I need to open my case to fix a dented corner. Lucky I didn't break the glass when I dropped it on the pavement...
And if anyone believes that this is a bad/goofy idea please say so. I'd rather know not to try something and why than to waste the time.

I was thinking that you could use small strips of aluminum tape (the kind that is used to seal furnace duct joints)
It is very sticky and you would have to use some Goo Gone on a Q-Tip to remove the adhesive from a small strip where the antenna contacts the tape.
I am going to try this once my plastic opening tool kit arrives from China.

dincdoes.me said:
Someone on the inspire forum used conductive tape on top of their antennas to boost signal dramatically! Anyone know the insides of a500 know if doing this would help us cuz wifi sucks..?
Sent from my Inspire 4G using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I thought you sold your 500?
Considering the 500 uses the same hardware manufacturer for the antenna, I can say I get good Wifi in my flat. Even in the toilet.
GPS though, I need to be within 3 meters of a window, but that's understandable.

Moscow Desire said:
I thought you sold your 500?
Considering the 500 uses the same hardware manufacturer for the antenna, I can say I get good Wifi in my flat. Even in the toilet.
GPS though, I need to be within 3 meters of a window, but that's understandable.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was gonna sell it but a family member held onto it for $200 till I paid em back so I did n having fun again
But.. who ever wants to extend their radio reach with out buying new parts i will be trying conductive tape. My inspire can get WiFi anywhere in my house my a500 looses a bar 10 feet away from my Netgear CG3000D ..
Something needs to work.. I'm tired of laying in bed like a contortionist
Sent from my Inspire 4G using Tapatalk

[FIX] Wi-Fi/Bluetooth error - 10 minute fix - NO SOLDERING REQUIRED

This is the way I fixed the wifi\bluetooth error with continuous rebooting on my Atrix.
I did not come up with it, and I do not guarantee it will work in your device, I'm simply sharing this because it's information that's hard to find and understand. I fixed my device in this way, so have others. I do not take responsability for any damage you might make to your device attempting this fix, and I do not claim it will work forever - it's been two days for me and still great!
For completeness sake, if you guys want to check other proposed fixes and some reasons why they might or might not work, here is this great post by mvniekerk, a person more far more knowlegble then me when it comes to these technological issues:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1655071
I'd also like to thank John-aurelio, junior member, who initially posted about this fix here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1655071&page=4
All credit goes to him!
So, what did I do?
1) I cut out two rectagular pieces of plastic from a pill tin, glued them on top of each other with scotch tape. I think any thin piece of plastic should do.
2) Opened up my Atrix by removing screws with a T5 Torx screwdriver. If you don't know how to do this check out this teardown by ifixit: http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Motorola+Atrix+4G+Teardown/4964/1
3) Slightly raised the motherboard and placed the plastic rectangle under it, with a little bit sticking out into the battery compartment.
To my amazement it worked, it is still working.
I wanted to tell you guys why, but I don't know. Perhaps one of you guys wants to experiment applying pressure to each component separately to find out the culprit?
Also, I'm curious to know if this will work for all of you, or just some of you.
Here are the pics:
This last one is the piece of tin\plastic with tape, side by side with a pencil for scale. Its not the tin I used, but its basically the same, but the one I used has white paint, I don't know if should make a difference. If you're worried about shorts just cover the whole thing in tape or cut plastic from a bottle or something.
The first two are how its supposed to look in the end.
[EDIT]: Here are some more pics:
This is the piece of plastic I used. It doesn't show, but it is very thin, one milimiter thick, if even.
These are of the open device. In the last one the plastic piece is a little eschewed, but you get the idea.
Cheerios

Huh. This is similar to the fix some people did with the digitizer problem. Seems like the the connectors on this phone tend to come loose, to where pressure in the right direction will fix it.
Sent from my MB860 using xda app-developers app

Newbleeto said:
This is the way I fixed the wifi\bluetooth error with continuous rebooting on my Atrix.
I did not come up with it, and I do not guarantee it will work in your device, I'm simply sharing this because it's information that's hard to find and understand. I fixed my device in this way, so have others. I do not take responsability for any damage you might make to your device attempting this fix, and I do not claim it will work forever - it's been two days for me and still great!
For completeness sake, if you guys want to check other proposed fixes and some reasons why they might or might not work, here is this great post by mvniekerk, a person more far more knowlegble then me when it comes to these technological issues:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1655071
I'd also like to thank John-aurelio, junior member, who initially posted about this fix here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1655071&page=4
All credit goes to him!
So, what did I do?
1) I cut out two rectagular pieces of plastic from a pill tin, glued them on top of each other with scotch tape. I think any thin piece of plastic should do.
2) Opened up my Atrix by removing screws with a T5 Torx screwdriver.
3) Slightly raised the motherboard and placed the plastic rectangle under it, with a little bit sticking out into the battery compartment.
To my amazement it worked, it is still working.
I wanted to tell you guys why, but I don't know. Perhaps one of you guys wants to experiment applying pressure to each component separately to find out the culprit?
Also, I'm curious to know if this will work for all of you, or just some of you.
Here are the pics:
This last one is the piece of tin\plastic with tape, side by side with a pencil for scale. Its not the tin I used, but its basically the same, but the one I used has white paint, I don't know if should make a difference. If you're worried about shorts just cover the whole thing in tape or cut plastic from a bottle or something.
The first two are how its supposed to look in the end.
Sorry for no open device pics, I did this yesterday and don't really feel like opening my phone, but if you guys think its needed I'll do it later.
Cheerios
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A detailed How To to show us what to do exactly, we can do much ourselves with just this pics. :/
EDIT: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYz_RiuFVRk had anyone seen this?

Will try this with my wifi broken atrix tomorrow.

guidoido004 said:
A detailed How To to show us what to do exactly, we can do much ourselves with just this pics. :/
EDIT: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYz_RiuFVRk had anyone seen this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's literally as simple as opening the atrix and placing the plastic under the motherboard, I don't think it gets any easier then that. But I'll try to take more photos.
As for that video, there are reports of people killing their mobiles by breaking the piece holding the battery or killing the nearby ICs trying that. That guy is just too rough. Also, it doesn't show the battery actually being replaced. If you wanna try to replace the battery, better do it gently and stay clear of that video
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

If the solution is to apply pressure to certain parts of the board then it's likely similar to the infamous nVidia issues from around 2008 where the chips were getting hot enough to expand and brake the solder connection or in some cases, rip some of the pads from the board. If that is the case, be careful, as flexing the board the wrong way could eventually lead to making it worse over time.

I can't believe this actually worked. Been using my Atrix for the whole weekend on WIFI. Also finally been able to use my Lapdock properly.
Thanks so much for such a simple fix.
If its any help to anyone, I ended up using an old debit card, as its seems the perfect height to give enough pressure on the board.
It did take a few goes, but as long as you persist with it, it works really well. Plus no more over heating too.
Thanks again

holy crap. 5 minutes and its fixed! thank you

Cause found??
Hi everybody,
I might have an idea what causes the wifi errors. As the wifi gets fixed by changing the motherboard's position, the motherboard is not fastened properly. This might be caused by the vibration function that is located on the part of the motherboard you would need to move up.(see the location of the vibrationfuction in the attachment.)
If so, should this function be less used then?

Thanks Newbleeto! I was so frustrated with this issue. I was initially trying based that youtube video link by someone else which never worked for me. I later decided to try your solution and it worked for me the very first time Appreciate your help!

Thanks, seems to work!

What an interesting tweak. There some validity to this. The Atrix 4G is notorious for wifi, bluetooth, and GPS dropout. This is largely due to kernel and rom. However I have seem plenty of Atrix4Gs with loose antenna clamps. Usually I apply a little pressure in the outside of the clamp to reform it slightly so it will maintain hold on the reciever socket. Second thing I look at is the shielding around the mainboard. This acts as a heatsink and guard. If depressed in anyway will cause massive heating along with grounding. The antenna clusters are not well separated from RF interference from one another to begin with. Metal in general will restricted RF signals considerably depending on its frequency. The greater the frequency the lower it's ability to perpetrate materials.
From the looks of it your directing RF crossover and bounce back away from each antenna. This is a good thing. It also means as long as the phone is not held on its edge towards any receiving end it won't effect talk and data very much.
My experiments with the Atrix4G always had a bit of unpredictable outcome when it came to pressure on the ribbon connections. This would result in the screen blacking out, digitizer over sensitive or non responsive, failure to boot and so on. Pressure is a big deal with these phones so be careful.
Happy tinkering

IT WORKS
after nearly 4 months of this bug i finally had the guts to open up my phone and do this fix.
and it is working , my wifi is back thank you OP. :highfive::highfive::highfive::highfive::highfive::highfive::highfive::highfive::highfive::highfive::highfive::highfive::victory::victory:

This method works wonderfully. Thanks, OP!

sangyum said:
This method works wonderfully. Thanks, OP!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Spoke too soon. This fix stopped working after two days.... Back to Wifi Error and boot loop. :crying:

I got my wifi to work again, there are two snap on connectors on the same side of the phone. I put 2x pieces of toilet paper cardboard between the frame of the phone and the connector, pushing the connector tighter to the other side.

I'd like to confrm that it works to me !
Thank you, I spent dozens of hours to try solve it.

Newbleeto said:
This is the way I fixed the wifi\bluetooth error with continuous rebooting on my Atrix.
I did not come up with it, and I do not guarantee it will work in your device, I'm simply sharing this because it's information that's hard to find and understand. I fixed my device in this way, so have others. I do not take responsability for any damage you might make to your device attempting this fix, and I do not claim it will work forever - it's been two days for me and still great!
For completeness sake, if you guys want to check other proposed fixes and some reasons why they might or might not work, here is this great post by mvniekerk, a person more far more knowlegble then me when it comes to these technological issues:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1655071
I'd also like to thank John-aurelio, junior member, who initially posted about this fix here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1655071&page=4
All credit goes to him!
So, what did I do?
1) I cut out two rectagular pieces of plastic from a pill tin, glued them on top of each other with scotch tape. I think any thin piece of plastic should do.
2) Opened up my Atrix by removing screws with a T5 Torx screwdriver. If you don't know how to do this check out this teardown by ifixit: http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Motorola+Atrix+4G+Teardown/4964/1
3) Slightly raised the motherboard and placed the plastic rectangle under it, with a little bit sticking out into the battery compartment.
To my amazement it worked, it is still working.
...
Cheerios
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did this as well, and it's been working perfectly for over a week now. Battery life has tripled to 24h (back where it used to be, what a relief) and the wifi is back to being perfect.
In my case, I cut a small piece out of an old credit card and inserted into the section highlighted in the attached picture, inside to out (from the battery bay towards the side). There are flat cables/strips underneath and you probably don't want to insert your spacer material from the outside in. Make sure that the plastic strip fits completely underneath the board, otherwise you won't be able to properly close the back.
Thanks!

To add some data to this can all of you confirm the kernel and rom you are useing before and after this mod. Would help all of us in the future for reference. Thanks.

Cab121 said:
To add some data to this can all of you confirm the kernel and rom you are useing before and after this mod. Would help all of us in the future for reference. Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sure, no problem!
Atrix 4G (Bell Canada)
Unlocked and rooted by yours truly (don't ask how, I'm still not sure I know what I did)
CynaogenMod 10.1 from epinter: Megathread or linuxmobile.org site, builds 2013-08-07 + hporch32 kernel (before and after mod) & 2013-08-26 + hporch32 kernel (after mod)
Radio: Telstra N_01.87.00R

Knocked off ground connector from phone board, need advice on how to best reattach it

In the process of fixing my phone I accidentally knocked off this little metal bit that I believe is for grounding since it seem to contact a metal plate attached to the plastic upper bit that doesn't seem to go anywhere else. Its a really tiny thing and I'm trying to decide how to best reattach it. I found someone on ifixit that posted a similar problem back in 2018, but with no solution (I posted there first but I guess cause its old no one is responding). He took some good photos, so I'll share his post: https://www.ifixit.com/Answers/View/476452/Component+broke+off+of+board,+is+it+necessary
The one I broke off is the one on the left. I'll attach to this a photo of my device with a macro shot I took of the area where it came off.
It looks like it was making contact through 4 tiny holes. I was thinking of maybe trying to flow a little bit of solder into their and then reattaching the metal bit with glue.
On the otherhand, is it pointless? I haven't tried putting the phone back together yet to determine what this effects or do I know if these ground points have redundant ground points else where.
Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.