Database Users

Swapping my SGS with a new one.

So I've got one of the many Vibrants with the flaky GPS, and none of the fixes out there seem to improve the problem. My local T-Mo store is understanding and quite willing to swap it with a new one since I'm still within the 14 day policy. The only catch is I want to put the phone as close to stock as possible before I do the trade so they can't say it was something I did to it. Right now I've rooted deodexed, and I've got clockwork ROM manager going. I've also deleted almost all the stock cruft and swapped the calendar / camera apps. Because I was so eager to make it "mine", I also failed to make any backups BUT my wife happens to have a totally stock SGS from which I can scavange from but I'd like to do it without having to root it or anything. Is this possible? If not would thread 739091 ("True Stock 2.1 firmware for vibrant"; sorry I can't post links since my account here is still new) get me there?

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=734475&highlight=stock is what you're looking for. Just flash this with Odin and you'll be fully unrooted.

Awesome, I really appreciate that. I'm not timid when it comes to making the phone my own (I was an early adopter of CyanogenMod for my old G1) but I just returned from a deployment and the whole 'scene' has changed a lot more than I expected lol.

Hehe. you might want to give the new T-Mobile Vibrant firmware that was leaked, it fixes the GPS problem (result may vary). Returning your SGS for a new one isn't going to fix your problem. It's not hardware related, its firmware.

An exchange won't fix your GPS issues anyway so you mine as well keep the one you have. Trust me, we try to swap them out customers all the time at my store.... It's a known issue and Samsung is SUPPOSED to be sending us an OTA soon
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

ShanDestromp said:
Awesome, I really appreciate that. I'm not timid when it comes to making the phone my own (I was an early adopter of CyanogenMod for my old G1) but I just returned from a deployment and the whole 'scene' has changed a lot more than I expected lol.
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Just want to say thank you for serving.

zephiK said:
Returning your SGS for a new one isn't going to fix your problem. It's not hardware related, its firmware.
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briguydj32 said:
An exchange won't fix your GPS issues anyway so you mine as well keep the one you have.
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Hmmm, quite a few people I'd talked with locally that have the vibrant said swapping worked for them. Is it possible that newer firmware has been released for phones with a newer "birth" date than mine? Then again who should I trust more, people who hardly utilize their phones, or the people who drool over the prospect of new mods and hacks? hehe. I guess I'll just call T-Mo back and let them know I wont be bothering with a swap after all.
Droidicus said:
Just want to say thank you for serving.
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Hey, my pleasure. If nothing else, I have the Army to thank for bringing me out to Hawai'i and giving me the chance to meet my now wife hehe.

ALL out of the box Vibrant's have the same firmware. You need to update to the newest firmware version, it works really well. GPS is better than it is on my CLIQ.

I dunno, i've heard reports of GPS working perfect out of the box for some, and the new firmware doesn't seem to do much for my GPS,
10m accuracy at most unless I leave gps on for about an hour and maybe i'll get 6-7m accuracy, but driving, it SKIPS, (still at 10m) instead of gliding along like my G1 did.
So i'm considering perhaps swapping mine.

QwertyAccess said:
I dunno, i've heard reports of GPS working perfect out of the box for some, and the new firmware doesn't seem to do much for my GPS,
10m accuracy at most unless I leave gps on for about an hour and maybe i'll get 6-7m accuracy, but driving, it SKIPS, (still at 10m) instead of gliding along like my G1 did.
So i'm considering perhaps swapping mine.
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10M of accuracy is not bad and if you want to get technical, GMaps interprets the data differently. What shows in GMaps as 10 meters will show up as 7 under GPS test. I've got my Vibrant here at 6 Meters under GPSTest and 10 under GMaps. Get a grip people.

heygrl said:
Get a grip people.
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I wont speak for Qwerty, but in my case I was LUCKY to get 10m accuracy; usually the best I could get was 40m; usually after 5-10 minutes of 'searching' and when you're driving an unfamiliar city such as Washington DC Like I was this past week, 40m is far too inaccurate for navigation. Your 'get a grip' is completely tasteless and uncalled for in this thread.
That said, I took zephiK's advice and just flashed the new 2.1 (thread 780935), and I must say its a lot better. I can get a 10m fix indoors in less than 5 seconds from a cold start (EG without GMaps knowing where I am at all); before being indoors I would never get less than a 1000m 'fix'. As soon as I get mine fully tweaked, I'll be sure to flash my wifes phone as well since she's got the same issue.

ShanDestromp said:
I wont speak for Qwerty, but in my case I was LUCKY to get 10m accuracy; usually the best I could get was 40m; usually after 5-10 minutes of 'searching' and when you're driving an unfamiliar city such as Washington DC Like I was this past week, 40m is far too inaccurate for navigation. Your 'get a grip' is completely tasteless and uncalled for in this thread.
That said, I took zephiK's advice and just flashed the new 2.1 (thread 780935), and I must say its a lot better. I can get a 10m fix indoors in less than 5 seconds from a cold start (EG without GMaps knowing where I am at all); before being indoors I would never get less than a 1000m 'fix'. As soon as I get mine fully tweaked, I'll be sure to flash my wifes phone as well since she's got the same issue.
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No thats what im saying about.. He does have the update on his Vibrant
Sent from my SGH-T959

Anyways, Qwerty I just hope you get lucky with your swap and get a working gps and hardware recovery.I've been poking around and quite a few people are saying some of thenew vibrants have issues getting into recovery and down load mode
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

Yeah, i'm still considering doing the swap, sometime this week, perhaps even today, got up this morning, and phone was off, (Charging Battery Symbol on the screen),
I'm not running any of the custom roms nor am i OCing. Just worried if I do the swap I may end up with even more problems. I don't know what it is with the Samsung phones, if perhaps a lot of the phones have hardware problems or what. I have only used the original stock rom, and the leaked samsung rom.
I don't mean to be picky with my phone, but I remember my 2 year old G1 getting easily 3m lock as soon as i open up the maps inside my room, and navigating with it, was extremely accurate as well. I also never had restart issues with the phone, till after dropping the thing really hard, and then even the restart thing went away.
Today, I'm lucky to get even 40m lock again, on that same leaked updated firmware. My gripe with the samsung vibrant is that there seems to be some sort of hardware problem with the phone and samsung is not saying a thing about it.

I'm telling you guys... don't bother with a swap... I work in a very high volume store and have seen almost every customer come back with GPS issues. We won't even swap them anymore for customers because TMO has listed it as a known issue, and Samsung has announced the firmware update soon... A swap WILL NOT fix the issue, but if you decide to swap it, don't go whining to us our TMO about how you "keep exchanging it and none of them work..." They know this, and YOU know it.

Couldn't be happier!

I can't believe this! I work in an old mill -a historic building from 1881- and I always had problems getting a good reception here. Since I had Vibrant, famous with its poor radio, I never ever had a full phone conversation inside the building.
Yesterday, I flashed Einherjar's 2.2.1 stock Beta 2. Today, I made 4 phone conversations - all while sitting at my desk, holding the phone however the damn way I want! I couldn't believe my eyes (or ears ) Then I opened Google Maps and got an instant lock with a very good accuracy. Before, it was only able to locate me within 1000 feet or so. I flash ROMs left and right but this one gave me what others couldn't...
So, I want to thank you again and again. If anybody is at the edge of flashing but hesitant, I say go for it. You won't regret it!

Possible new GPS fix

Ok I hope I dont get flamed for this but it worked for me maybe it will for others. I just got my GPS working after getting off the phone with Tmobile support. I had it working on eclair and it stopped after froyo. I kind of hinted to them as to what I needed done and they did it! Now I know exactly what to ask for if this ever happens again. BTW Tmobile is the best hope we dont lose them to ATT.
Ok so whoever performed the gps script that is out there, the gps restore app or anything else on pretty much any rom and didnt get it to work can try calling Tmobile and asking them to restart your network connection. You will have to use a phone other than the vibrant. They will ask you to do a battery pull while the phone is on, they will do something on their end then ask you to turn your phone back on. When it turns back on the GPS should work, It did for me. If it doesnt work please dont flame me, it was worth a shot. If it helped then your welcome!

Thanks, any info for better performance is welcomed in my book!
ROM: Trigger v2.8.2
Kernel: Overstock v2.2
GPS: S.gps2
Modem: Stock KA7
Launcher: Launcher Pro Plus v0.8.3 w/ Clear LP Widget Mod
MODS: Horizontal Accurate Battery for Trigger v1.0
Theme: Solid Black
Quad Score: 2040
GPS Accuracy: 15-20 Feet
Battery Life: 27 Hours

There are great fixes out there for GPS adding this is just another worth a shot.

oka1 said:
There are great fixes out there for GPS adding this is just another worth a shot.
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The reason I thought to share this was because like many people on many threads I noticed that the fixed didnt work and many dont want to open their phones and perform the hardware fix. But with this simple method maybe I can save a few people from prying open their phones and causing havoc. But it worked for me, now I get good gps reception, enough to use to get places with.

I've had great success with bionix v and the gingerbread gps fix. Stock bionix v will have gps loosing signal every few minutes. With the gingerbread gps fix, there are less locked birds but they have much higher snr and I don't loose signal. Using waze now with those mods I don't jump around the map like I did with stock bionix v

On this rom im running, i get a lock in less than a second and a stunning accuracy.
Sent from my JPJPM V2 powered SGH-T959 using XDA App

aamir123 said:
The reason I thought to share this was because like many people on many threads I noticed that the fixed didnt work and many dont want to open their phones and perform the hardware fix. But with this simple method maybe I can save a few people from prying open their phones and causing havoc. But it worked for me, now I get good gps reception, enough to use to get places with.
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I've never been able to speak to anyone at Tmo who would halfway even understand me trying to explain to them the technique you just used. Not to say it wouldn't work but I don't think most of their reps would be capable of doing what you are suggesting even if they were 'able' to do it! Last guy I dealt with was a complete joke, kept putting me on hold and then would come back and say something like he was talking to someone else! I swear he was talking to 3 different people at once, putting people on hold, and not being able to remember who was on what line! Nightmare. Ugh. But hey, if you got a couple hours to waste trying and it works for ya then by all means go right ahead!

tony yayo said:
I've never been able to speak to anyone at Tmo who would halfway even understand me trying to explain to them the technique you just used. Not to say it wouldn't work but I don't think most of their reps would be capable of doing what you are suggesting even if they were 'able' to do it! Last guy I dealt with was a complete joke, kept putting me on hold and then would come back and say something like he was talking to someone else! I swear he was talking to 3 different people at once, putting people on hold, and not being able to remember who was on what line! Nightmare. Ugh. But hey, if you got a couple hours to waste trying and it works for ya then by all means go right ahead!
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Actually you tell them your gps doesnt work and that it did before the froyo update. When it didnt work on eclair tell them that they had you pull the battery while the phone was on and then they sent something to your phone or reset the network. Idk who you talk to but I did this yesterday and it took less than a half hour. Worse comes to worst you get the android "experts" to do it.

aamir123 said:
Actually you tell them your gps doesnt work and that it did before the froyo update. When it didnt work on eclair tell them that they had you pull the battery while the phone was on and then they sent something to your phone or reset the network. Idk who you talk to but I did this yesterday and it took less than a half hour. Worse comes to worst you get the android "experts" to do it.
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Actually my GPS NEVER worked until i spent an hour on the phone *****ing and another hour on live chat until they swapped my phone with what i believe is a brand new one and now the GPS works perfectly! It's definitely a hardware problem. People do the hardware fix, it works, I swapped mine for a new one, it works. I didn't feel like popping my phone open and I'm no good with a soldering gun so why should I have to do the hardware fix myself?

My GPS works respectably well, maybe it just depends on manufacturing date.

[Q] Signal strength drops and semi-random reboots?

Okay, here's my problem. I've got my Samsung Epic up and running (finally), but for two annoying bugs: or it might be one bug with two parts.
One, the signal strength "wobbles" a lot, going from no bars (but still holding service) to almost full bars. I assumed at first that this is just a quirk of the preferred tower configuration around my home.
Part two is more annoying. Sometimes it will, apparently somewhat randomly, lose all signal, which prompts the phone to reboot. Actually it's not a TRUE reboot, it's just the half-reboot that happens when the Android shell crashes: return to boot animation, then reload everything. Often, it'll do this several times in a row. It was doing it horribly when I was running the AOSP version 4 ROM, so I flashed back to a semi-stock configuration (stock ROM plus ClockworkMod). But it's still doing it. Modem version is EC05, and I'm running on a Verizon MVNO. Can anyone offer suggestions?

Try updating your modem to the EI22 released modem and get on an EI22 ROM.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App

Yeah, EI22 fixes most of the signal dropouts for me. Just update your modem.
On EH17 my bars would randomly go to 0 and data would drop out even though I'm parked on a repeater here at work, getting -76db signal (that's really, really good).

i just got a new (or probably refurb) phone from best buy after my original broke. (thank you black tie) and this new stock phone does this same stuff you are describing. this phone sucks! reboots, lock ups, bluetooth doesnt work, keyboard skips.. .what a joke.
so should i call sprint and try to get something other than an epic or go to best buy and have them order me another one? any suggestions?

Well, following the advice upthread I've gone ahead and installed the stock EI22 update for the Epic. We'll see how it turns out.

goblue30093 said:
i just got a new (or probably refurb) phone from best buy after my original broke. (thank you black tie) and this new stock phone does this same stuff you are describing. this phone sucks! reboots, lock ups, bluetooth doesnt work, keyboard skips.. .what a joke.
so should i call sprint and try to get something other than an epic or go to best buy and have them order me another one? any suggestions?
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Black Tie is supposed to give you new phones. Keyboard skips are Samsung's error. Flash a custom ROM with the fixes implemented by the DEVs here.

Followup: after flashing the Sprint stock EI22 ROM, I'm still getting wacky signal strength fluctuations, but it's stopped resetting, which makes me happy. I'd be happier if I could get it to stick with the strong signal, but I'll live.

Try using an app like Network Info or Tasker to see if your phone is hopping towers while the signal is fluctuating. Maybe a PRL update will help.

AdamaDBrown said:
Followup: after flashing the Sprint stock EI22 ROM, I'm still getting wacky signal strength fluctuations, but it's stopped resetting, which makes me happy. I'd be happier if I could get it to stick with the strong signal, but I'll live.
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It could be maintenance or a tower failing near you.

kennyglass123 said:
Black Tie is supposed to give you new phones. Keyboard skips are Samsung's error. Flash a custom ROM with the fixes implemented by the DEVs here.
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im sure you are right, but doesn't anyone think it should just work from the store? i know its a novel idea but i think top notch phones should work right out of the box.

goblue30093 said:
im sure you are right, but doesn't anyone think it should just work from the store? i know its a novel idea but i think top notch phones should work right out of the box.
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Yes it should. Unfortunately the keyboard skips have yet to be addressed by Samsung. There is a maintenance update being worked on. Some people are still getting reboots with the new OTA for Gingerbread but not many. So maybe that will be addressed as well as the keyboard skips.

quick99si said:
Try using an app like Network Info or Tasker to see if your phone is hopping towers while the signal is fluctuating. Maybe a PRL update will help.
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I'll try those--I was trying to use CellID Info for that purpose, but it hasn't reflected any changes at all between high signal and low signal. So far Network Info II isn't either, but we'll see. I did try a PRL update the other night, to no avail.
kennyglass123 said:
It could be maintenance or a tower failing near you.
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That's possible. God knows I'm out in the middle of nowhere, so quality of service probably isn't a high priority. I haven't seen it reflected in other Verizon devices I've looked at the last couple days, but then I haven't exactly been looking at them that closely.
My signal does seem a lot more consistent today--right now I'm stuck at 2-3 out of 6 bars, but it's holding that constantly with very little variation, less even than I would think was normal. Maybe it was a network problem after all and not just my device. That would be nice.
Edit: Looks like I spoke a little too soon, as I just had one complete signal dropout. But it's still better than it was.

That could be when they just swapped out amplifiers at the tower that was giving you trouble. Also it seems Sprint service is subject to a lot of dead zones. I got a big dead spot in my house.

kennyglass123 said:
That could be when they just swapped out amplifiers at the tower that was giving you trouble. Also it seems Sprint service is subject to a lot of dead zones. I got a big dead spot in my house.
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I'm not on Sprint, it's flashed to a Verizon MVNO, so I'm on VZW towers.
Strangely, I've seen my AT&T Android phone lose signal too a couple times today--which is bizarre, because it almost never does that. AT&T around here is only 2G, and slow 2G at that, but the signal is very reliable. Just enough to make me wonder if something weird is going on locally.

In case anyone's still interested in this: it's still doing it, so it's pretty clearly the phone. However when I took it into a building where there's normally poor signal, it stopped doing it and held the stronger signal. Is it possible that because this is a Sprint radio, it's trying to default to 1900 MHz, instead of the stronger 850 signal?

Can I change the radio on a CFW?

Hi all,
I am fairly new to modding and would like to ask a quick question that may be simple for some of you.
I have a MT4G "Glacier" and I did some steps found on this forum to root and install a custom firmware on my phone. For the past two weeks, I must have installed about 28 ROMS. Yeah, I know... I have too much free time.
Here is the issue. I have not found a single rom that can do it all. With some roms, my 4G speed don't work. With others, my screen flickers too. The last one I installed, doesn't have sense. No matter what I do, I can't get a rom where my 4G speed works, which I can't live without since I use my phone as hotspot all the time.
The rom that I like the most was [ROM] [ICS] Glacier_One_V_1.3 (9/24/2012) because it has BEATS audio, is based on ICS and it has sense 4.0 which looks and works great. I would love to find one that has all the bells and whistles like this one, but where I can still use my 4G speeds and my screen is not flashing all the time.
I understand that the RADIO is what controls the WIFI, cell signal, etc. Can I update the radio, for one that currently works under Gingerbread into this rom without messing anything up?
If so, how will I go about it and what things do I need to get? Please keep in mind that I already flashed back to stock and I am very comfortable with flashing now, but I don't know much about what goes inside the ROM itself.
Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Manny

Let me jump in before Jack shreds you for ignorance. The radio IS NOT part of your ROM and has nothing to do with your wifi, gps, the space station or anything other than cell reception (as much as software can). Changing it can be beneficial, but is also dangerous. A failed install means a permanently broken phone. Explain what you mean about not getting 4G.
Sent from my myTouch 4g using xda app-developers app

Appreciate you saving my skin there. Sorry for my ignorance.
What I meam by no 4g speed is, my signal bar on the top right of the phone, almost always reads 4g and get fast browsing speeds on my phone. I can tether my internet to my laptop and it runs great on my stock Ginger.
The moment I go to custom ROM, I can only get 3g and is not just display issues, because the speed is slow based on speedtest.net.
Makes sense now?

webmanny said:
Appreciate you saving my skin there. Sorry for my ignorance.
What I meam by no 4g speed is, my signal bar on the top right of the phone, almost always reads 4g and get fast browsing speeds on my phone. I can tether my internet to my laptop and it runs great on my stock Ginger.
The moment I go to custom ROM, I can only get 3g and is not just display issues, because the speed is slow based on speedtest.net.
Makes sense now?
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Hmm, well, I'm not aware of speed issues on ICS, at least not anymore. However, if you're having issues with it you might try a Gingerbread ROM like Android Revolution HD or Insert Coin.
If you plan on sticking with ICS, you might try the "3G Hacks" in Pimp my ROM. 3G and 4G run off the exact same radio, but a value or two in the ROM may, I repeat MAY, affect the speed. What kind of speed differences are you seeing? Are you comparing these at a similar time of day?
Also, holy crap. You said CFW. I haven't seen that term since my old PSP hacking days. Good times.
Sent from my myTouch 4g using xda app-developers app

I am comparing at relatively the same timed, days and locations. Office versus home, etc.
I will flash againg ICS and test your recommendations. Thanks for your help.

Compare 10 runs back-to-back, same time, same day, same place. That would be a good basis to discuss something.
For all the rest: no ICS ROM will work properly for you. If you want stability - drop to Gingerbread.
About the radio - estallings15 already answered you. You're looking in the wrong places.
"4G" mark on the signal bar means ABSOLUTELY NOTHING on this phone. 4G means something where "4G" stands for "LTE", which is a different set of bands and different transceivers. This phone doesn't have LTE, nor does T-Mobile AFAIK. So it's just an icon. But - make sure you have "H" showing instead on custom ROMs (HSDPA mode). It should show up when the phone starts actively using data.

This makes perfect sense. I really appreciate your prompt response and suggestions.
Back to flashing.
Sent from my HTC Glacier using xda premium