Database Users

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.
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Click to collapse

Modify S200 GPS antenna to improve GPS signal strength

as you konw, S200 GPS is not easy to fix, let me tell you a simple method to fix this problem.
1. Turn off your S200, open rear cover, remove the battery, locate the gps antenna position.
refer to f1.jpg
2. Peel the black gps antenna carefully and turn over from left to right. use the multimeter to measure resistance between two electrodes and you'll find it's short-circuit status (~0 Ohms).
Look carefully at the root location of the antenna, there is a black transparent line, at the end of this line,you can find the short-circuit point, cut off this copper chips until the short-circuit point completely disconnected, then measure resistance between two electrodes to determine it is no longer short-circuit (Infinity ∞ Ohms).
refer to f2.jpg d1.jpg and modification diagram.jpg or this (surcart's pic).
recovery the antenna, turn on your S200 and test gps. Enjoy it !
refer to c1 and c2 pics (compare with HTC P3600, left is P3600, right is S200)
c1.jpg is before modify, c2.jpg is after .
btw, tracking speed is faster than before.
d1.jpg is a large pic
d2.jpg is the details after modified
maybe you can do it without peeling antenna off, try to cut the short-circuit position directly if you are not sure you can completely peel off. refer to d2.jpg or s200_p1.jpg(provided by wysxs, thx) or Victor79's pic .

Has someone tried it already?

of course, i‘ve finished this modification and tested, gps now is very fast to track

what do you mean with "confirm it's short-circuit status"?
but if this methode works, this would be great

Well, this would be excellent if it works as gps signal can be a pain in the ass to get on this phone. Can you explain in more detail and maybe a before and after-picture comparison on the removed "copper chips"? One that is more of a close up than the 2nd picture in your guide.
I'd like to know exactly what I'm doing before trying this out.
Thnx.

So can you make a video of this?

Yes a video would be fantastic

sorry for my english,
pls see these two pics (compare with HTC P3600, left is P3600, right is S200)
c1.jpg is before modify, c2.jpg is after modify:
btw, tracking speed is faster than before.

joyqing said:
sorry for my english,
pls see these two pics (compare with HTC P3600, left is P3600, right is S200)
c1.jpg is before modify, c2.jpg is after modify:
btw, track speed is faster than before.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's great but can you open your modified s200 and take a picture like the f2.jpg that shows how it should look after you have removed the copper chips ?
We would like a more detailed guide of how to do this.

surcart said:
That's great but can you open your modified s200 and take a picture like the f2.jpg that shows how it should look after you have removed the copper chips ?
We would like a more detailed guide of how to do this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
pls see d1.jpg in the first post for details.

Wow... I tried and it works great. Find satellites in a flash.
thank you very much
Lucio

bbrulez said:
Wow... I tried and it works great. Find satellites in a flash.
thank you very much
Lucio
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good for you. I just lift up the tape a bit in one edge and realized that the tape is actually the antenna. Haven't done the mod yet. I expected a chip beneath the tape. How bad was your reception before the mod? Could you get a signal at all or nothing?

This thing might need a little more research. I was about to try this mod and started to peel the antenna off. I started at the top and the antenna accidentally tore a bit as you can see in the picture. Above and a little to the right of the white spot in the picture you can see the torn part. It's not torn all the way across but it's there. Anyway. I got a bit freaked out thinking I had ****ed the antenna up beyond rescue so I put the battery back in and started the gps viewer. Lo and behold I now have a stronger gps signal than before. Putting my phone in the same spot as before the tare i now have 5-8 satellites instead of the 2-3 I had before.

pls see modification diagram.jpg in first post, understand how to.

Why you guys don't use some tape to seal this? I don't think Acer put it there with no use. Did you check radio reception? Maybe that's the reason being there.

freco said:
Why you guys don't use some tape to seal this? I don't think Acer put it there with no use. Did you check radio reception? Maybe that's the reason being there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what do you mean "radio reception" ? GPS radio reception or GSM radio reception? If it's GPS, pls see c1.jpg and c2.jpg in above to compare signal strength. if GSM, pls see GSM.jpg to find where is GSM antenna location. i just modify GPS antenna. i don't think the reason that Acer put it there is just to “reduce” the signal strength.
do you think S200 GPS signal strength and tracking speed are too bad? compare with my HTC P3600, i think yes, but after modified, i think no.

I meant FM radio reception. Does ti still work fine with no hands free?

freco said:
I meant FM radio reception. Does ti still work fine with no hands free?
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Click to collapse
FM works fine, listening now, no hands free.

Hi!
Isn't any other way to solve this problem of short-circuit without cutting things inside phone?
Something to isolate it, as freco said?
I wanted it to be reversable, you know, there must be a reason to acer build it that way, they aren't a bunch of incompetent that could not see this short...
PS: What tools did you use to cut it? Just a little stiletto would do it?

joyqing said:
FM works fine, listening now, no hands free.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. Maybe I 'll give it a try on weekend.

Droid-X and signal strength

hey all i have two droid-x that have had default froyo 2.2.340 and also the newest OTA 4.5.596 and also CM7 which is what they both have.
i have had them setup exactly the same way when i run these tests.
on my (lets call it "the good droid-x") it has great wifi and cell phone radio reception
on my (lets call it "the bad droid-x") it has crappy wifi and cell phone radio reception
you can tell something is not right when they are sitting side by side with the identical software (as mentioned above)
i am guessing its a bad antenna connection and that the wifi and cellphone radios use the same antenna.
i did not check with BT but for sure 100% the wifi and cellphone radios are about 1/2 of what im getting with the good droid-x
could someone please pull up a picture and circle what they think the antenna might be so i can try and see if i have a break?
it could be also that maybe the chips are not getting enough power or something but the phones function the same it seems so i dont know.
if someone could shed some light it would be great
i switched batts and battery covers and that didnt do anything either.
thanks

just wanted to give an update
there was some connections crossing in the phone that should not have been
i cant believe phone did not blow up on me
the led connectors were all touching
dont ask me how the phone kept functioning but i seperated those 3 big led connectors and now everything is working good

Very glad to hear you found the problem. Where did you get this bad unit? Is it possible someone had already opened it up?

zehkaiser said:
Very glad to hear you found the problem. Where did you get this bad unit? Is it possible someone had already opened it up?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
most definately
this was what it was when i got it
http://iowacity.craigslist.org/mob/2443460199.html
i checked it out at a walmart parking lot...everything worked but i didnt really notice that the signal strength on the gps, wifi and cell radio were really CRAPPY to put it mildly.
so i replaced the screen (was hoping that might have been part of the problem)
powered it all up and everything was functioning the same as it was (crappy)
so i thought it must be the antenna must have came loose or something
couldnt find any info on antenna...many of you know i been asking in here and phonearena and in irc but no one seems to know the exact location
so i decided to switch the motherboard out with my good droid-x and guess what it did the same thing.
so that told me it was on the motherboard for sure
so i got my magnifying glass out and found some bad areas right away
seperated the crossed connectors and put it back together and BAM
has a better signal then my good one
im a happy camper now
i have 2 droid-x`s
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
i circled the area in RED those led connectors were pushed into each other and the little standoff was smashed down.
if it would have been like the old camera FLASH`s where they charged up...i would have hated to see what would have happened to me when i took a picture
BOOM!!

Need fix
Hi m16-maniac! i need the photo to fix my dx, the link its out, please send me to [email protected] or post here. VERY VERY THANKS.

No 3g at all after opening and replace the power board.

So after my capacitive keys died I ordered a new power board with the capacitive keys I opened and replaced the board.
But after that I can't get 3g or H+ signal I can only connect to 2g and 4g signals and I get complaints from the person that I speak that they don't hear me well and my voice sounds like I have 1 bar of signal.
Anyone knows anything about this problem?
I have done full restore, wipe everything, installed cm 12.1 but I have the same problem.

Possibly know a little about this......
Back in my S2 days, I had reason to replace the USB socket board.
Before I did it, I did some research and found that this board was in some way connected to the signal reception side of things.....
I also discovered that there are a number of different versions of this board, and buying the wrong one would result in loss of signal. This all may still apply to the S5.....worth checking out.
Look at your old board and look for some printing on it that may or may not say "rev X.X" (the X's will be numbers) then compare it to the new board......
http://i.imgur.com/rVnFwJM.jpg

keithross39 said:
Possibly know a little about this......
Back in my S2 days, I had reason to replace the USB socket board.
Before I did it, I did some research and found that this board was in some way connected to the signal reception side of things.....
I also discovered that there are a number of different versions of this board, and buying the wrong one would result in loss of signal. This all may still apply to the S5.....worth checking out.
Look at your old board and look for some printing on it that may or may not say "rev X.X" (the X's will be numbers) then compare it to the new board......
http://i.imgur.com/rVnFwJM.jpg
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thx ill give it a try

[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.