Galaxy S5 won't pass Hands-free activation; antenna problem? - Galaxy S 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I was using my Galaxy S5 on Ting, then the charging port went bad. A buddy's buddy fixed it. It was factory reset because someone else was going to use it, and they broke the SIM card when they tried to take it out.
They decided not to buy it, so I tried re-activating it on Ting with a new SIM card (from Ting). It wouldn't activate. For what it's worth, there were zero bars of signal, even when I walked outside (and we get perfectly good signal inside our house).
Ting sent me a 2nd SIM; same result.
My questions are:
1) When my "buddy" fixed it, could he have damaged something (antenna?) that is preventing the S5 from communicating with the towers?
2) If so, how easy/difficult would this be to troubleshoot/diagnose/fix? I am an advanced beginner when it comes to electronics repair.
Thanks.

Related

s5: incoming calls no icon??

i have bought a new s5 and haveno incoming calls unless i turn wifi off, then it works fine
sim card has been replaced, samsung have even replaced handset and exactly same occurs
i have turned off 4g so its only on 3g/2g
the network have turned off all call barring etc settings
if i put my sim in my old S3 it works flawless, if i put my wifes sim in my s5 it also works flawless
network or samsung cant work it out, its been factory reset like 6 times now its driving me mad
thanks Kplus
You didn't provide any detailed information about your phone model, firmware or even a step by step description of how you did a factory reset. So we have no way of discerning whether you missed any essential steps or narrow anything down.
Nevertheless you have an odd problem that no one else seems to be reporting. Ergo the most likely explanation is odd settings or corruption on your phone. As a factory reset (clearing user settings) apparently didn't work, the most plausible remaining cause would be a cache problem or some anomaly in your system files.
To that end, try wiping the cache from recovery mode. If that doesn't help, then use Odin to write a full stock firmware to your phone to replace the system files as well. If your problems persist then open a support ticket with your carrier to look into your account configuration. The latter is unlikely though if the SIM works in another phone. So in as much as we can tell given the paucity of details, you should try replacing your system files with Odin. Also check your APN information.
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my phone s5 world version 4.4.2 32gb
S5 incoming calls delayed
fffft said:
You didn't provide any detailed information about your phone model, firmware or even a step by step description of how you did a factory reset. So we have no way of discerning whether you missed any essential steps or narrow anything down.
Nevertheless you have an odd problem that no one else seems to be reporting. Ergo the most likely explanation is odd settings or corruption on your phone. As a factory reset (clearing user settings) apparently didn't work, the most plausible remaining cause would be a cache problem or some anomaly in your system files.
To that end, try wiping the cache from recovery mode. If that doesn't help, then use Odin to write a full stock firmware to your phone to replace the system files as well. If your problems persist then open a support ticket with your carrier to look into your account configuration. The latter is unlikely though if the SIM works in another phone. So in as much as we can tell given the paucity of details, you should try replacing your system files with Odin. Also check your APN information.
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Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm on AT&T and having the exact same problem. I switched from Verizon as AT&T has a new tower in my rural area for better reception. I have 3 bars in my home and when talking on the phone it goes up to 4 bars. No problem calling out. Purchased the new Samsung Galaxy S5 on 9/15/14.
Incoming calls go directly to VM. Sometimes the phone works as it should and calls and messages came thru in a timely manner.
Mostly the calls go to VM and text messages are delayed. Vm doesn't show up as having a vm for hours.
I have gotten a new sim card, exchanged the phone and the new phone does exactly the same thing, I am now past my 14 days so I am stuck with this phone unless I agree to a warranty replacement phone from AT&T. (Same phone S5)
I have has 4 cases with AT&T and nothing has helped. Last case will be resolved bu Oct 4.
I will try turning off WIFI while at home and see if that helps.
I have reset the new phone, did not help. I don't understand why with 3 bars I can't receive calls.
Calling out is no problem. Incoming doesn't work correctly. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
kplusonline said:
i have bought a new s5 and haveno incoming calls unless i turn wifi off, then it works fine
sim card has been replaced, samsung have even replaced handset and exactly same occurs
i have turned off 4g so its only on 3g/2g
the network have turned off all call barring etc settings
if i put my sim in my old S3 it works flawless, if i put my wifes sim in my s5 it also works flawless
network or samsung cant work it out, its been factory reset like 6 times now its driving me mad
thanks Kplus
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Friends of mine were at my house over the weekend and he had a samsung s4 and had the same problem after logging onto my wifi. It is the wifi causing the problem. I had an old modem and netgear router that we hooked up and then we were able to receive calls like you should. We switched out the modem/router combo on Sat to my older setup and my phone is still working normally! I called my dsl provider and told them about the problem as I just bought the modem/router combo from them recently.
They never heard of anything like this. I do find it hard to believe that the home wifi equipment disrutes the cell phone signal. But my phone is now working!!! Anyone ever heard of this or that can explain why this would happen I would love to hear about it.

How to fix mobile data problems on your OPO!

Well, this is probably the first post I ever posted in one of those forums but I was pretty sure some people might get the same issue so I just thought I'd help out.
I received my One a few days ago, went through hell and back to unlock the bootloader after I already set everything up the way I like it, rooted the phone and updated to XNPH33R and everything was a beauty until I noticed my network acting up. At first it was just the internet connection would drop every now and then then the voice calls started dropping more randomly. I must've flashed my phone like 10 times just to make sure I covered everything.
Then I decided to check the bands used by my service provider, found them on a link on the GSMArena website.
After that it was a matter of setting that on my phone, so I searched online and got this code, *#*#4636#*#*, which should take you to the service menu, there you should be able to make a selection as to which band you want your phone to operate on, as well as the connection type. I set mine to my countrys' band and the connection type to WCDMA/LTE, after that my connection was H+ and it didn't drop for 24 hours now, not even once.
Please let me know if you face any problems doing this. I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY PROBLEMS YOU CAUSE DOING THIS - DO IT AT YOUR OWN RISK.
Oh and the oneplus one is a piece of art, literally.
hishamomran said:
Well, this is probably the first post I ever posted in one of those forums but I was pretty sure some people might get the same issue so I just thought I'd help out.
I received my One a few days ago, went through hell and back to unlock the bootloader after I already set everything up the way I like it, rooted the phone and updated to XNPH33R and everything was a beauty until I noticed my network acting up. At first it was just the internet connection would drop every now and then then the voice calls started dropping more randomly. I must've flashed my phone like 10 times just to make sure I covered everything.
Then I decided to check the bands used by my service provider, found them on a link on the GSMArena website.
After that it was a matter of setting that on my phone, so I searched online and got this code, *#*#4636#*#*, which should take you to the service menu, there you should be able to make a selection as to which band you want your phone to operate on, as well as the connection type. I set mine to my countrys' band and the connection type to WCDMA/LTE, after that my connection was H+ and it didn't drop for 24 hours now, not even once.
Please let me know if you face any problems doing this. I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY PROBLEMS YOU CAUSE DOING THIS - DO IT AT YOUR OWN RISK.
Oh and the oneplus one is a piece of art, literally.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So it sounds like it may be an issue with your SIM card. I know what you are thinking, what could this possibly have to do with the SIM, on another phone I had, an LG G2, also running CM11 nightlies, I could not get an LTE signal at all on the phone. I took the sim card out of a nexus 5 which had LTE signal with no issues. I put the SIM back into the nexus 5 to see if it was the sim card, and I got an LTE signal in the nexus 5. Tried flashing different radios, flashed back to stock, nothing was working on the LG G2. FInally somebody suggested that the SIM card may have "tied" itself to the nexus 5, I was like that is BS I have never seen this before, sim cards are meant to be moved around to different phones, kind of the whole point of their existence. After a day or two of trying everything I could, I finally gave in and went to see if it was in fact the SIM card that was causing the issue. Lo and behold, new SIM card activated for my account, G2 immediately received an LTE signal. I know this isnt the exact issue you are having, you are having issues with dropped data, but I still suggest before you do anything else, try to get a new SIM card and see if that resolves the issue. On the G2 I went into that same test menu and when I would select LTE it would go right back to WCDMA preferred, would never stay on LTE, once new SIM card in I was able to change between the two. Just my two cents.

How to reflash a Boost Mobile phone?

My sister bought an S4 off of eBay that was set for Boost Mobile and has had issues with it since she got it. She tells me that when she boots it up that a bunch of error messages pop up but once she closes them she can use the phone for calls and text as well as the internet but only on WiFi. She gets no mobile data and no GPS but does have a SIM card in it, however Boost is not able to activate the card.
She tells me that the phone is a former Sprint phone, and has contacted Boost about her issues but there has been no resolution. They have tried sending firmware to her phone but it has not helped. I do not have physical access to the phone as she is in Florida and I am in North Carolina. I have flashed my AT&T S4 before with no issues and want to try to help her. She however knows nothing about flashing phones but is willing to try it.
What I am trying to find out for her is what she could do to get her phone working the way it should. Would she have to flash it back to a Sprint phone and then to Boost again? What software and firmware would she need to do this? Would she lose her phone number or be able to keep it? I know nothing about doing this but can figure things out pretty well and can follow directions to do the job, and would also have to walk her through doing this herself. This is her only phone and she can't afford to get a different one right now so having this one working is important for her.
Any help with this would be greatly appreciated!
Metalneck said:
My sister bought an S4 off of eBay that was set for Boost Mobile and has had issues with it since she got it. She tells me that when she boots it up that a bunch of error messages pop up but once she closes them she can use the phone for calls and text as well as the internet but only on WiFi. She gets no mobile data and no GPS but does have a SIM card in it, however Boost is not able to activate the card.
She tells me that the phone is a former Sprint phone, and has contacted Boost about her issues but there has been no resolution. They have tried sending firmware to her phone but it has not helped. I do not have physical access to the phone as she is in Florida and I am in North Carolina. I have flashed my AT&T S4 before with no issues and want to try to help her. She however knows nothing about flashing phones but is willing to try it.
What I am trying to find out for her is what she could do to get her phone working the way it should. Would she have to flash it back to a Sprint phone and then to Boost again? What software and firmware would she need to do this? Would she lose her phone number or be able to keep it? I know nothing about doing this but can figure things out pretty well and can follow directions to do the job, and would also have to walk her through doing this herself. This is her only phone and she can't afford to get a different one right now so having this one working is important for her.
Any help with this would be greatly appreciated!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If the phone was originally on Sprint and someone flashed it to Boost Mobile, I can see why she is having problems. I would advise that the phone be returned and obtain other one that hasn't been modified. Boost Mobile will RESKU the Sprint Galaxy S4, S4 Triband and S4 Mini that haven't been modified at no charge and everything will work.
The full list of eligible Sprint devices are listed on the link below.
http://www.boostmobile.com/support/...phone/#which-sprint-phones-can-i-use-on-boost

Urgent : Unlocked at&t s7 No Signal at all; sim slot/antennae fine

Hi guys,
Been into android modification since 7 years but gave up since my last 2 phones. So i got this unlocked at&t galaxy s7 in uae and it worked like charm, the network and coverage. I then started usingthe phone in pakistan too and it worked well even here. So one day i connected to gear vr so that i can initiate the oculus data installation as first time setup but the gear vr kept on disconnecting automatically. I have used it before too but never had problem. Then i rebooted the phone and i find that i have no signals at all even though my sim contacts are being displayed and there is no “no sim” message on statusbar even. But dont have any signals at all. I then inserted my sim to iphone and it was working perfect. Then i inserted different carriers sims to s7 but yet they werent working even. I then cleared the cache, factory reset, cleaned the sim slot and the sim , but no success. I left ky ohone turned off for days andeven drained battery 100% many times to calibrate and perform hardware reset but no success. I then sent the phone back to uae for repairing from my friend as i thought that the antennae were the one’s responsible but before he even thought of disassembling the ohone, he inserted uae sim and it worked perfectly. Call and data were working perfectly. Any idea what is the problem? Kindly let me know pleaseeee. Is there any problem with frequency? Like gsm or cdma? But the phone worked before. I tried to enter the settings of manually selecting networks but there was error popup “No service and signal”. Signal strength 0asu -113dvm
Loki_GOM said:
Hi guys,
Been into android modification since 7 years but gave up since my last 2 phones. So i got this unlocked at&t galaxy s7 in uae and it worked like charm, the network and coverage. I then started usingthe phone in pakistan too and it worked well even here. So one day i connected to gear vr so that i can initiate the oculus data installation as first time setup but the gear vr kept on disconnecting automatically. I have used it before too but never had problem. Then i rebooted the phone and i find that i have no signals at all even though my sim contacts are being displayed and there is no “no sim” message on statusbar even. But dont have any signals at all. I then inserted my sim to iphone and it was working perfect. Then i inserted different carriers sims to s7 but yet they werent working even. I then cleared the cache, factory reset, cleaned the sim slot and the sim , but no success. I left ky ohone turned off for days andeven drained battery 100% many times to calibrate and perform hardware reset but no success. I then sent the phone back to uae for repairing from my friend as i thought that the antennae were the one’s responsible but before he even thought of disassembling the ohone, he inserted uae sim and it worked perfectly. Call and data were working perfectly. Any idea what is the problem? Kindly let me know pleaseeee. Is there any problem with frequency? Like gsm or cdma? But the phone worked before. I tried to enter the settings of manually selecting networks but there was error popup “No service and signal”. Signal strength 0asu -113dvm
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Forgot to tell, my phone has never been rooted, i even tried to enable/disable “Enable hd LTE features” but no luck. Its on 7.0. Dont recieve OTA. Not blacklisted either. Pakistan doesnt have CDMA. I have even noticed it recieving weak signals compared to my iphone when the phone was working ok. And my radio is showing to be off and when i turn it on from the dial code menu. It doesnt keep turned on and it turns off automatically. I still have the imei amd baseband version. Dunno what the issue is.
Kindly reply guys
Please help
Loki_GOM said:
Please help
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Settings>connections>mobile networks> apn settings or access point names
Manually enter your carriers information you'll have to ask them or look it up online sure its easy to find they might even help you in store
Its not good for you to buy these US phones outside of the US because changing CSC to INS/INU/PAK could prove to be difficult being it was never supported by snapdragon G930A model but only exynos G930F although it's not impossible
/system/csc/others.xml is where your answers are waiting for you unless you update to oreo then it'll be in /system/omc/cscfeature.xml and cscfeature_network.xml
You will need a root file manger to be able to see what I'm talking about then you will have to figure out what those "strings" mean
Unless you want to mod and figure out make your phone awesome just flash other US firmware that uses gsm network only i think ATT only uses gsm and you can root to debloat ect.
Here's a method for rooting
https://forum.xda-developers.com/verizon-s7-edge/how-to/root-s7-s7edge-oreo-nougat-t3819616/amp/
I'm sure there's people in your surrounding area that are into androids and rooting that understand and can help you figure things out if you know any one woth a G930F/G935F INS/INU/PAK thatd be awesome. If your imei number is truly gone from your phone its should still be on the back of the phone
I know this isn't the best help but you aren't the first post I've seen of Pakistanian with US S7 tryjng to figure it out.. idk if he ever did but if you learn you can help others as well
*note: when I say change csc I don't mean flashing firmware in odin, that is impossible. I mean porting it yourself with root like in the link below this one
*another note: I am not saying use the link below as anything other than an example because again that link was developed for Eynos phones and not your snapdragon so it probably wouldn't work but just so you have an idea of csc
forum.xda-developers.com/s7-edge/development/utility-flashable-csc-selection-30-t3392957/amp/

Note 4 no longer supported by T-Mobile No Network

My husband and I both have a stock N910T. When we woke up yesterday neither phone would get signal, and not even make wifi call. Went to TMo shop today they told me that they were no longer sending signal to Note 4's (Thanks for the heads up TMo). We really like these phones and I wonder if I could root them and flash a stable ROM and get service on them again. When I pull the sim it shows 5 bars, put the sim back and X. I have rooted many phones, but not since I got this one 6 years ago, so I'm sure I'm a bit rusty.
Any advice highly appreciated. TIA
I'm in the same boat with the note edge. It stopped working friday night for me. Put the sim in a stock note 4 and same thing, so I thought my sim card died. Went to the tmobile store on saturday and they said 2 people had came in with the same issue and they had note 4s.
What I don't understand is how they can just stop supporting a phone. I thought that if it accepts the sim card and has the proper bands it'll work. I mean for ****s sake my car takes a tmobile sim for a hotspot and traffic updates.
same exact. i just factory reset and updated stock to see if it would fix but it wont. Any solutions here??
Try to:
a. flash a custom TWRP (recovery) with Odin
IMPORTANT - after you flash TWRP PLEASE TAKE A FULL BACK-UP!
b. flash a custom ROM with root
c. why root? because you can change the build.prop file and "pretend" to be another phone (newer more likely) so that the lovely t-mobile can still allow your phone to connect to the network.
This way you have zero costs, you keep your note 4.
Unless it's too complicated or the procrastination level is TDH (too damn high)
Or you have the cash and buy something new(er).
There's info on this forum about all these steps.
Before you do anything - go and read, search on this forums and on youtube. There are a LOT of tutorials.
Please be careful and READ. Get educated about custom recovery/ROM's.
You will get good knowledge and your satisfaction on make things work will be enormous.
You will be responsible on your actions with the phone.
Good luck.
mine is already rooted with a custom rom. which parameters do you recommend changing in build.prop?
my audi is older than the note 4 and data works fine and calls work on a motorola L6 from 2005, so I doubt it's the age.
someone on reddit came up with a temporary solution until they fix this. you'll lose 4g/LTE tho
To set to 3G/2G turn on airplane mode and enter *#2263#* on the phone dialer. Then select GSM/WCDMA Auto. After that turn airplane mode off.
Hey all - same issue here - Note 4 stopped working Friday morning. I tried everything on my end (factory reset, ROM flash, SIM swap, etc). I even tore the phone down and checked the connections. I ordered a replacement SIM / SD card tray reader thinking that was the issue. Now I hear others having the same issue. I live in Colorado FWIW. Calling into T-Mobile now to see if I can get some info here.
---------- Post added at 02:50 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:31 PM ----------
After speaking on the phone with a tech support person, T-Mobile reported that they were aware of an issue with Note 4 users not being able to access the network. They said that they "were in contact with Samsung and were actively working on an issue" and reassured me that they would have a solution for customers soon. I sure hope so because I do not want to give up my Note 4!
Note 4 user here too. This sucks. I did the workaround on the dialer posted in one of the above posts, and now it connects. Says 4G at the top, but probably only 3G. That's fine for me in the meantime, but not acceptable in the long run. I just spent 2 days wiping the phone, unrooting, etc only to find this now! Got lots of work to do to get it back to my rooted state. Thankfully I have the backups to do it, just have to find the time now. Thanks T-Mobile!!
Has anyone heard any more on this issue?
Just had the same issue. Called T-mobile support and they had no idea of a widespread issue, said it was likely HW failure. I got a new SIM and that didn't help. Called local cellphone repair shop and they indicated they'd had several calls about this issue and fixed at least one so far by replacing the card reader. I applied the workaround above and got the phone working again so I don't understand why a new card reader is going to fix this.
Note 4 seems like it's back working on T-Mobile as of last night.
HI I purchased galaxy note 4 3 years ago in the first time I put him on i has that problem yet
But I live in curacao in the Caribbean and I think that the mother board was not good.
Then I has flight to medellin Colombia with the phone he began working I was glad but when I arrived to curacao from medellin the same problem
Sometimes he is working sometime not
I have the same problem T-mobile N910T
jalsing said:
Note 4 seems like it's back working on T-Mobile as of last night.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the update! I reversed the workaround I applied earlier and mine is back to 4G LTE now.
Any update on this issue?
The N915-T is spotty and I'm trying to figure out why. It was officially kicked off the network by T-Mobile, but it still works. It connects to most towers but not to a particular one. Whenever I'm on that block the network can not be found. If I walk two blocks away it would connect to another tower and I can make calls. If I walk back toward the 'faulty' tower while on the call, the quality would degrade, the call drops and the phone would lose signal.
This would NOT happen with other phones - not even an older Galaxy S2.
This is likely a different issue altogether, as the phone actually connects and works elsewhere. I'm just hoping someone has an idea.

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