A few months back my Legend went through a cycle in the washing machine. Afterwards I did all the recommended things (take everything apart, leave it in the sun for a day or two, keep it in a jar of water absorbent silica in the evening). Anyway, after three or four days of that, I put it back together again and my battery was dead. Tested it with someone else's battery, and everything worked perfectly, I even made a call with it.
I then waited about 3 months for a new battery (it got stuck at customs) which I finally go this week. Thing is, I now have 0 connectivity with the phone no matter what I do. I always have 0 bars, I can't connect to wireless networks (even though I pick them up perfectly), and I can't get the GPS to turn on at all. Everything else works fine (including the FM radio), but there's no connectivity.
I was hoping it might be a software issue of some strange sort, since the wireless picks up well but just says "connecting--disconnected" when I try to connect. A hard reset did nothing to the phone though.
Is there anything else for me to try? I'm running pretty thin on ideas at the moment. Would replacing the back cover fix any of the connectivity issues? Also, is it still possible for it to be a software problem, and should I maybe try to install a custom rom on it?
Any advice at the moment would be much appreciated. Thanks!
EDIT: I just realised that I had made things worse with my reset. Now I have no file browser with which to sideload apps and no internet connectivity. EDIT2: Managed to fix the file manager problem with ADB. Now just the actual problem again
The GSM antenna is in the bottom part that covers the battery compartment - I'd say you have some oxide on those two contacts.
Take a small screwdriver (or a needle) and gently scrub those pins on your phone.
As for the two on the cover, you'll notice those two parts come apart, so I'd take the inner part and gently brush the two contacts with a piece of cloth and a toothpaste - it's a good thing to gently brush something.
If that fails and you're sure you plugged all inside as it was...it could be another problem...
You may also try bending the two contact in the phone out - these act like a spring, but be gentle about it
P.S.: Is your Legend at least clean now?
EDIT: Now that I think about it, you can try the phone with piece of wire:
cut a wire of : speed of light/frequency in Hz and connect it to the two pins inside the phone
For USA:
299 792 458 m/s divided 1 900 000 000 Hz = 0,15778 m
Thanks Dr.Romca.
I'm trying the clearning out for now. when you say the battery cover comes apart, are you talking about the piece of plastic inside the rubber? There seems to be an additional piece of plastic inside the rubber which might come loose, but I'm not quite sure how to pry it out without breaking it. Any tips on how to do this?
I'll give the piece of wire a skip until the very end
It's not glued or anything, just push the rubber part in the middle and try to click it out...
Dr.Romca said:
It's not glued or anything, just push the rubber part in the middle and try to click it out...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ahh ok, I wasn't sure what to expect on the other side. Didn't want to jam a screwdriver in between the plastic and rubber and hurt some electronic component. Managed to get it loose though, and gave it a thorough but gentle rub down.
EDIT: Nope, still no service on it. I still find it strange that it doesn't want to connect to the GPS or the wireless either. As far as I know, those shouldn't be affected by an antenna issue right?
That's strange... WiFi and GPS antenna is in the other rubber part....
It seems there might be something wrong with the PCB...
I'm at a loss here...
Damn I have connectivity issues here...
The strange thing is it worked once after the washing...
If you have the courage for it, you can also try this:
Take the phone apart, I mean really apart, if you can unmount the display/touchscreen. Then take the PCB - mainboard, try to put a sticker over a microphone and the repro, then take a toothbrust and a detergent and brush the PCB - make sure you clean all, there will probably be some metal plates that look they can be unmounted, so try to unmount them and clean beneath them.
After this take the PCB and put it in the hot-air oven (if you have one - NOT a Microwave! ) 40 - 50 °C for like an hour should do the trick...
You can also use alcohol to clean the PCB, but since it was water that caused this, I'm gonna presume you'll have more luck dissolving with water again...
Anyway, that's what I'd do, but I'm and engineer, so if you're not sure, just take the phone to service
Hello,
The WiFi and gsm signal are at seperate places on your phone, so you either got a major problem with the hardware, or the ROM just went nuts. I suggest you flash a new ROM before you take the phone apart, cause it might get damaged irriversably..
Goodluck, keep us updated!
Sent from my HTC Legend using XDA App
Thanks for the continuing advice. You're right about the engineer thing though; since I'm not an engineer I'll leave taking the phone apart until the very end.
I've never flashed a ROM before, but I'm sure I'll be able to figure that out. What initially made me think that the ROM might have gone crazy is the fact that the wireless actually picks up networks. The further I get from a network, the worse the signal, and the closer I get the better, so the wireless signal is working properly. It just seems to have a problem connecting, which seems like a software issue rather than a hardware issue.
If that fails, I'll send it to HTC and see if they can do a repair for me. I already sent it to them for a check-up and a new battery directly after I had it dried out. I included explicit instructions that it got water damaged, that I was not looking for a warranty repair, and I would just like them to make sure everything is working and bill me for the repairs and a battery. Two weeks later I get the phone back with a note saying that they noticed some water damage, and they don't do warranty repairs on water damaged phones Anyway, I'll try them again.
If HTC fail to do anything again, I'll try my luck with a full teardown. Still, ROM flash first.
EDIT: Ok, so I followed this (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=894465) post up until the end of downgrading your rom, and the problems are exactly the same. From my understanding, this would have installed a clean rom onto the phone, so any software issues should have been cleared up. I'll still try and install a custom ROM, just because I've always wanted to and just maybe something will work, but the software problem seems an unlikely explanation now.
This is getting very strange now. Using my newfound "Wi-Fi" Hotspot powers, I can actually create a Wi-Fi hotspot that my computer successfully connects to. Once again, if the hardware was broken I don't see how this could work. I still can't connect from my phone to any Wi-Fi network though.
As I mention (for a completely unrelated reason) earlier, I sent the phone in to HTC. This might be a very dumb question, but is it at all possible that the ROM on my phone works at a different wavelength/frequency than what is used by carriers in South Africa (where I'm from)? I'm thinking maybe HTC did a stock reset or something which changed it, because I never tested my phone after getting it back from them. That would also explain why my phone doesn't have reception with the current ROM. Just note that I have no idea how these things work, it's a complete shot in the dark
EDIT: My GPS also works now, or at least the gps indicator flashes when it should. Since I don't have any kind of internet access, I have no way of knowing if the GPS works, but in the past it never flashed.
I'm currently thinking of using my computer's wireless to connect to my phone, and then bridging that connection with my UTP connection to connect to the internet. I have no idea if this will work or what exactly if it will get me closer to a real solution, but at least having internet access on my phone will make things a bit easier. Will let you know how it goes.
So have you succesfully flashed a different ROM?I'm not sure what type of rom should you have but WWE by it's definition should work...So if you have rooted, try any WWE ROM...
Dr.Romca said:
So have you succesfully flashed a different ROM?I'm not sure what type of rom should you have but WWE by it's definition should work...So if you have rooted, try any WWE ROM...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I first downgraded it to 1.31, and now it's on BlaYo's B0.2.
can you check what radio you are using?
You may want to update it!
It's in settings / about phone / software / baseband version
My is 47.51.32.17U7.13.35.05
Not sure if there's a special version for SA, but here is a radio update only:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=706435
Sorry for the late reply. Real life caught up for a day or two.
My baseband version was 47.26.35.04u_7.05.35.26L. I updated it with the radio update you posted, and it's still not working. As far as I know, South Africa can use any American phone except those on Sprint, if that helps at all.
Also, I was away from home for the last week, and now that I'm back home my phone connects perfectly to the wi-fi here. I am certain that I did not make any mistake in connecting to the other networks I tried, as I tested the settings on multiple computers and entered the passwords multiple times, but the wi-fi seems to have been a red herring. So the only problem left now is normal phone connectivity.
I'm sorry to hear that...I'm not sure what the L means at the end...but about the wifi thing, it has been mentioned here that different locations use different WiFi channels...so at this point it's almost sure you have a driver/settings mismatch somewhere...
but I don't know much about that...sorry..
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
Hi guys, hoping someone can give me some help with my phone problems.
I have a verizon s4 that was working perfect other than having a cracked lcd. I took apart my phone and unplugged all the flex cables and antenna and removed all the modular pieces on the phone then replaced the lcd/digitizer assembly (didn't use heat). When I finished my repair and put everything back together, the phone appeared to work fine at first, but I soon realised my wifi performance was really bad (1 bar 5 feet from router) and also my 4g was being weird (if it goes under 2 bars, it stops working and eventually after a few minutes shifts to 3g where it does work fine) I took the phone back apart to see if I missed anything, but the antenna are both plugged in properly and all the flex are plugged in.
Does anybody have any ideas?
8
I think I have figured out my problem, but I am not sure how to fix it. Hoping someone can help. I had an antenna contact bent over. When I went to bend it it broke the top portion off.
Any idea on how to fix or replace it? Also where to get a replacement part if needed.
Hello,
I had my phone water damaged and repaired, but now my WCDMA/LTE doesn't work and I have some suspicions they had a faulty repair on my phone. Here's a timeline of the events to understand why"
1. Bought I9505 (I live in europe, hence the european version). All worked fine, had HSDPA (no 4g when I bought it 2 years ago, since my carrier didn't support it yet).
2. Did a small dent in the phone's screen (cracked glass in the upper corner, near proximity sensor, tiny piece of glass missing [1mm], but touch screen worked fine)
3. Dropped it in water while on vacation. Quickly took out battery, bought a bag of rice and held it in rice for ~20h, hoping the water would be absorbed.
4. Next day I fully charged then turned on my phone, it was connected to 3g, I was receiving facebook notifications, my mother called me at one point and ringtone was working. The only problem: touch screen didn't respond at all so I couldn't answer or unlock my screen.
5. Took it to a local service, they changed my screen (and did a full reset on my phone that I wasn't asked permission for - that I didn't understand why, but I thought who knows, maybe they needed it for the screen change). However, I wasn't upset since I was more interested in getting my touch screen to work, and it did.
6. HERE's THE PROBLEM: yes, they fixed my touch screen, but now i have to use it only in "GSM only" network mode, since the others don't work: whenever I choose any of the other options ("WCDMA/GSM, WCDMA only, WCDMA/GSM/LTE"), I lose signal completely, and I get "Not registered on network" message when trying to call. I should mention that APN setting are correct and I tried the SIM in another phone and it worked. I also tried another SIM in my phone and it didn't work.
7. Somehow I thought it might've been the water damage and I was ok (although upset) with it. But I searched the internet for answers since I thought maybe I'd fix my phone due to a software/bad config problem. I used ODIN to flash different versions of official firmwares with no success.
8. HERE's WHY I'm SUSPICIOUS: I found some piece of information that said the LTE/WCDMA(data) module is embedded in the display, not in the motherboard. Upon further research, i found the USSD code *#2663# that tells me the display is from a SGH-I337 (S4 model used in the US). Thus, if the data module truly is embedded in the display, that would render my data service useless, since the US frequency is not the same with EU frequency.
What do you guys think ?
Is it truly the display's fault or did I get erroneous information regarding the WCDMA/LTE ?
Am I entitled to negotiate with them because they put an incompatible component on my phone for a partial refund or is this my phone's fault ?
Is there any way to force the frequency somehow so my phone works (rooting & modifying some modem files maybe) ?
I'm sorry if I had some presumtious/loaded questions, but it's all information that I had from the internet.
Thank you for your patience to read all of this.
Do us a favor please? Enter download mode (Volume -, Home, Power) and read off the model number listed there. Reason being that I suspect your phone was totally replaced, with an AT&T model.
Did that just now, the product name says GT-I9505. The IMEI is also the same as before (checked with the product packaging it came with when I bought it). Could they have any way to overwrite this stuff ? Because your knack is not unfounded - under the battery, the IMEI/SN sticker seems to have been peeled and re-glued since it's wrinkly and misaligned.
Worst part is they're authorized Samsung service partners, that's the reason I went to them and not another service. (I can find them on the samsung website, when looking for service locations)
It sounds like they simply moved your motherboard into an AT&T midframe. I'd take it back to them posthaste and have them fix it properly. Because LTE isn't working, and it was before they did their work, they are responsible.
Heya guys, to make a long story short, bought an S8 on ebay, Verizon G950U, and was told the camera didnt work and there was no IMEI etc...
Upon checking, the front camera has a torn connector. I fiddled around with the daughter board where the antenna connectors etc.. are, (breaking the speaker and its entire cover in the process) and sometimes I randomly get cellular back, but it doesnt stay for long. i'm not sure whats faulty, but I'm certain it has nothing to do with the mainboard. The latest time the connection popped back was when I tried moving the back cover back on, I guess something must have clicked. I already reinforced the wires and the surrounding connectors, but I cannot get cellular at will. Would replacing the board in it's entirety be a fool proof solution? Hoping for help on the matter.
EDIT: Not sure if it was coincedental, but Also during one of the times the cellular service returned, it was immediately when I plugged my headphones into the device.
Akumai said:
Heya guys, to make a long story short, bought an S8 on ebay, Verizon G950U, and was told the camera didnt work and there was no IMEI etc...
Upon checking, the front camera has a torn connector. I fiddled around with the daughter board where the antenna connectors etc.. are, (breaking the speaker and its entire cover in the process) and sometimes I randomly get cellular back, but it doesnt stay for long. i'm not sure whats faulty, but I'm certain it has nothing to do with the mainboard. The latest time the connection popped back was when I tried moving the back cover back on, I guess something must have clicked. I already reinforced the wires and the surrounding connectors, but I cannot get cellular at will. Would replacing the board in it's entirety be a fool proof solution? Hoping for help on the matter.
EDIT: Not sure if it was coincedental, but Also during one of the times the cellular service returned, it was immediately when I plugged my headphones into the device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had a note 5 that cellular issues because the quik plugs for the antennas wore out and it did a similar type thing Once I swapped mbs it worked like a dream