Bluetooth not turning on consistently - T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-T989

Like many of you, I've been having some trouble turning on bluetooth and it's been getting more difficult to get the bluetooth turned on. I don't have any other problems with other features, like GPS or wireless connections, but more often than not, I cannot get the bluetooth to turn on unless I reboot and toggle airplane mode a bunch of times.
As the first step in trouble shooting the problem, I decided to go back to a stock ROM since that has seemed to work for others. I deleted all of my user data and formatted system, cache, data and davlik cache before each ROM load. I first tried the stock Gingerbread ROM but the Bluetooth was still not working consistently. I then tried the ICS stock ROM but again the bluetooth did not work correctly. On each ROM, I tested the bluetooth thoroughly by power cycling the phone, using airplane mode, and trying to toggle bluetooth repeatedly. I was able to turn the bluetooth on in each ROM but it would only come on about 10% of the time and there did not appear to be a pattern of reboots or software manipulation that I could do which would cause it to turn on. Nothing seem to work so I suspected there must be a hardware problem.
I opened up the phone tonight and on a hunch, I reseated the antenna (the white antenna on the right side of the phone when it's laying on its face) by removing it and reattaching it to the board by the two ends of the antenna but did not remove it from the middle clip. I'm not sure what happened, but when I restarted, I had no wireless service which made me think I was buying a new phone tomorrow :crying: but the bluetooth was working every time! I opened the phone back up and totally removed the antenna and reseated it. This time when the phone started, I had great wireless signal and the bluetooth worked perfectly. Granted, it's only been a few hours but it's never worked so consistently since I reseated the antenna. No idea if this will last but it seems like in my case, there was an issue with the connection to the antenna. I'm not even sure if that antenna is used for the bluetooth or not.
If this works for the next couple of days, I might try buying a new antenna. If you decide to remove the antenna, make sure that you use a needle nose pliers to remove the two ends of the antenna. You do not want to pull the antenna off by the wire. Also, if you reseat it, make sure there is equal slack on each side from the middle clip because the antenna needs to fit between the two golden lines printed on the case. Otherwise, when you put the case together, it will pinch the antenna. As with all hardware changes, THERE IS A CHANCE THAT THIS WILL SERIOUSLY DAMAGE THE PHONE'S ABILITY TO RECEIVE WIRELESS SIGNAL. I thought for a few minutes I would be at T Mobile tomorrow buying a replacement.
I'll report back if this works long term. Sorry if someone already mentioned this as a solution. I did quite a bit of searching and had never heard of someone trying this.

The attachments show the location of the antenna in the case and the close up of the antenna. If you remove the back cover and unscrew the panel from the back, the antenna is right there.

Bluetooth seems to be a reoccurring issue in a lot of custom roms...for some people anyway.
If you want it to work flawlessly, as well as everything else, there's always stock 4.1.2.
Sent from my Moto X cell phone telephone.....

I tried going back to the stock gingerbread and ICS. I knew that bluetooth worked when I had the stock gingerbread ROM but now in the stock gingerbread ROM, bluetooth no longer turned on consistently. I wiped everything on the phone when I went back to the stock ROM and it just did not work. That's what made me think that there was a hardware problem and possibly a poor or loose connection.
I'm not 100% convinced that reseating the antenna worked because I don't know if bluetooth even uses that antenna but I wanted to post my experience with it. I would go back to a stock ROM first to make sure that it doesn't work there before messing around with the hardware.

Related

GPS totally Dead

Hi,
Not sure if this is a question of a rant.
Desire about 6 Months old, been working fine but now I get absolutely no GPS lock at all.
I have tried GPS Status and gone through the menus, resetting A-Gps to no avail.
A-GPS picks up and locks on fine, perfectly accurate
Tried disabling A-GPS leaving only Satellite but nothing at all.
Nothing in Navigation, no bars at all in CoPilot.
The phone does see the GPS device, but receives zero signal from any satellite.
I have tried pretty much all Radios, and a whole bunch of Roms from Leedroid 2.2a back through the other Sense Roms, non Sense and Stock ROM
Done full resets, factory restores etc and have ran out of ideas.
I know where this will go, I will return it to non root, stock and request a Warranty return.
Orange will get it back and say, Nope...it's water damage (seems to be a common theme for mobile repairs)
There is no damage, the phone has been well protected in all the time I have owned it, rubber covers, screen protectors etc.
I work Office based so it isn't as if I am outside using it either.
Personally I think this is heat related, not water/moisture. When using the GPS it does get warm. I think too warm.
I would like there to be a plug in GPS inside the phone which could be replaced but it may be integrated which effectively makes my phone a doorstop (for what I wanted it for).
EDIT: Just looked at a good disassembly video on You tube. Yep! there is no plug in GPS unit.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXZqIjtFoAU&feature=related
Anyone got any suggestions??

GPS Dropping

Does anyone else have this issue? My GPS loses connection to the satellites every couple minutes. And yes, I have the latest map update.
Must be the bug in update. Try to use 3rd party app! Just because i never updated mine, and is working like a charm
Sent from my LG-E988 using xda app-developers app
The GPS in my phone is not very accurate. Maybe its just this phone. I only get relatively good GPS reception at night.
Sent from my LG-E980 using Tapatalk
Thanks guys. I'm starting to think it may just be this phone as well. The first map told me I was 3 miles away from my house....lol...and the second was accurate but keeps dropping the signal. I do have carhome. I'll try that and see what happens.
I also have this issue though the GPS (which is used a lot by me) was quite OK in the beginning after I bought my LG OG PRO.
I read in one of the Samsung NOTE forums that people mention the same problem claiming that the drops come when there is an "interruption" (which can be an incoming call or SMS or switching from 3G antenna to 3.5G for example). After reading this I realized that my GPS gets lost always after an incoming call plus I see at least a couple of places along my daily driving routine where GPS is lost exactly at the same place every day (making antenna switch assumption logical).
There were no any conclusions or suggested solutions in these forums, people even do not know if it is software or hardware related.
Anyone has such an issue too? Any recommendations for possible fix?
I can't believe but it seems I solved the problem with GPS - 15-20 seconds for GPS lock, no dropping and GPS test application shows very nice picture of 8-9 satellites constantly locked up while most of the signal bars are yellow (i.e. the signal strength is good).
I searched a lot as it really bothered me because I use my GPS very much plus I can say that beside this annoying thing I am very satisfied with my LG OG Pro, but nothing helped until I found this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBpNtWvY454 (it explains the solution for Nexus 5, but my problem is identical)
Basically, the problem is that there are special contacts on the motherboard connected to the GPS antenna which is part of the back cover and the contacts are not tightened well to the GPS antenna (look at the attached picture where I put the red arrows at the relevant places). Due to the bad touch between the contacts and the antenna, the GPS does not work properly. So, all you need to do is to remove your back cover, gently "un-glue" the GPS antenna end (the rectangle part on the back cover containing 2 golden dots), lift it up a little and put a piece of paper that will tighten the antenna and mother board contacts when the back cover is returned. Good luck.
It is NFC Antenna, you cant fix GPS this way.
I have same issue, but i think NFC and GPS antennas are different. I am disassemble the phone and pull up all golden springs - but gps still very weak(((
Any solution?
same GPS problem for my g pro.
GPS is weaker and weaker
I realigned all the pins inside the phone and fixed it for a bit, but the signal was still weak. I figured it was the modem. I installed a custom rom and it worked like a charm!

[Q] Wi-Fi won't turn on, any ideas?

Hey guys.
My T-Mo G2/Desire Z is running CyanogenMod 6/Froyo 2.2. All of a sudden out of the blue the wifi just shat out on me while I was watching a Youtube video. I tried reconnectin to WiFi and it tries to turn on, but tells me it's "unable to scan for networks". I've been able to get it up for a short while by smacking the back of my phone, but I'm wondering if I'm missing anything obvious.
Did the following:
1) Pulled the battery with the phone on, waited 30 seconds, turned it back on, no go.
2) Powered off the phone, pulled the battery, waited 30 seconds, nope.
3) Grabbed a WiFi monitoring ap and noticed that the WiFi driver is unable to initialize, which probably means a hardware problem.
4) Like I said, smacking the back of my phone helped get it back for a few, but it went dead again as soon as I tried moving it.
I'm hoping this is something software related, but due to how old this phone is and how long I've had it for and how it has a tendency to get warm from long sessions of use, do you guys think the solder for the wifi antenna has gone bad? I'm a dunce and don't know how to solder, but I can only imagine the heat produced by the phone would be an issue for such a fragile solder point.
I don't really want to do a factory reset (don't have the original ROM around) - is there something I can check to make absolutely sure it's a hardware problem and not a software problem?
I love this phone too much to switch - might have to buy a used one because I don't want to take this thing apart - watched a disassembly video for it and it looked like a complete pain in the ass (and I've replaced the digitizer on my old HTC Herald).
Thanks all, your help will be much appreciated.
My son's G2 did the same thing. No more wifi. 3g still works, but not wifi.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk
Bumping this, as I'm noticing there's a bit more activity on this forum. I've been running for over a year without Wi-Fi and I'd like to get that back. Still not sure what the problem is and nothing I've done has solved it.

WiFi is gone

I've had this tablet (SM-P600) for almost a year now & it has worked perfectly. Over the last week or so, the WiFi has been randomly turning on & off. Not just losing signal, but actually showing as off in the menus. As of this morning, wifi will not turn on at all. Just says "turning on" on the screen & sits. Never gets to the next screen showing all the open networks.
Everything is fully backed up so I went into recovery tonight. Did the full factory reset and wipe procedures. Tablet boots back like it is as supposed to, but wifi wont turn on when getting to that screen in the initial setup.
Tablet has been well cared in a case, not dropped, and not gotten wet. However I am still positive this is a hardware issue.
Any ideas for things I might try? Help!! Thx in advance
I've the same problem with my galaxy note 10.1 2014 edition SM-P605 :crying: Still haven't found solution
I am almost 100% certain this is some type of hardware problem. I tried flashing about 3 different ROM's and 3 different kernels, all of which successfully booted up. I finished by doing a 100% re-wipe (data & system included) & reinstalling a pure stock kernel and firmware. On every single revision, the words "turning on" would appear when clicking the WiFi option, but then it would get stuck. Message would eventually clear & I could continue using everything on the tablet . . . . . . . just no WiFi or Bluetooth functionality.
Final attempt was to gently remove the back cover. When lightly tapping around different points on the MoBo, the names of my local wireless networks would OCCASIONALLY appear. At one point they locked in & I really thought I had it. However, the whole thing disconnected again after a few minutes & I was back to square 1. :crying:
I never could figure out the perfect sweet spot to pinpoint the problem. My guess now is either a chip or ribbon cable that isn't seated properly, but I poked and pushed (gently!) on everything that was visible without removing any hardware other than just the back cover. Does anyone have a link to the layout of the motherboard that shows EXACTLY which piece is the WiFi/BT module? I did find an online disassembly tutorial with a random Google search, but for some reason they failed to identify this particular module.
Sorry for the long post, but I feel I am SO CLOSE to figuring this out once and for all. Just need a little more tech help to push across the goal line. Thanks!!
~Vol
Vol4Ever said:
I've had this tablet for almost a year now & it has worked perfectly. Over the last week or so, the WiFi has been randomly turning on & off. Not just losing signal, but actually showing as off in the menus. As of this morning, wifi will not turn on at all. Just says "turning on" on the screen & sits. Never gets to the next screen showing all the open networks.
Everything is fully backed up so I went into recovery tonight. Did the full factory reset and wipe procedures. Tablet boots back like it is as supposed to, but wifi wont turn on when getting to that screen in the initial setup.
Tablet has been well cared in a case, not dropped, and not gotten wet. However I am still positive this is a hardware issue.
Any ideas for things I might try? Help!! Thx in advance
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What model is your tablet?
This was sent from my Lenovo A850 via XDA mobile app.
irfanadli97 said:
What model is your tablet?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry about that. It's just the initial release plain jane WiFi model. SM-P600
Update:
After a little more poking and prodding on the MoBo, I'm starting to see activity. Tablet will finally connect again, but will only hold the connection for 10-15 seconds and then drop back out. A few seconds later the cycle repeats.
I really wish I could find a good hi-res photo of the motherboard to help. HAS to be a simple loose connection, or maybe a not-so-good solder point somewhere???
Vol4Ever said:
Sorry about that. It's just the initial release plain jane WiFi model. SM-P600
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
......
never heard of 'em, is it a cheapo tablet? In my country there's a store of them (Allwinner 6.6" tablet with microSD slot, 2gb internal w/o bluetooth WIFI ONLY INTENDED FOR CASUAL GAMING, or should I call it kids only tablet, RM130 ($35))
That thing has a cheap plasticy housing, unneat design but has a pretty good performance (it plays dead trigger pretty well)
This was sent from my Lenovo A850 via XDA mobile app.
irfanadli97 said:
......
never heard of 'em, is it a cheapo tablet?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
SM-P600 is Samsung's actual model number for the WiFi only version of the 2014 Galaxy Note 10.1. Most definitely NOT a cheapo tablet!! Although this wifi issue makes me wonder. I had the functionality back for about a day or so, and then it disappeared again. This has to be a simple case of a loose connector, but I sure can't find it. Ugh. Utterly frustrating.
oo...my bad
maybe software issue
This was sent from my Lenovo A850 via XDA mobile app.
What firmware version are you using because I am having the same issue. I manually updated to the september update (P600UEUCNI1) for the wifi version and started experiencing the same issue.
Same here. I think it's an issue with NII firmware.
*****PARTIAL solution*****
I have proven 100% that mine is problematic hardware . . . . . NOT software or kernel. For the time being my WiFi is back up & seemingly stable. I had to remove the back from the tablet for the fix. You have to be *extremely* careful, but it just snaps off with no screws. Lots of YouTube videos if you choose to attempt, but please don't say I didn't give you fair warning!
The reason I say partial solution is that I haven't pinpointed the exact location of the short. I am 99% sure it is somewhere on the extreme upper left hand corner as you face the front of the tablet. There are a couple of ribbon connectors in that area, and a few snap on type connectors that look like little motherboard chips. After gently poking & prodding the ribbons and disconnecting & reconnecting the snap connectors (being CAREFUL; I cannot stress this enough), my WiFi reappeared.
My final tip is to keep the screen on the page that shows the list of available networks. If you are having the same problem I was, this screen will just show "turning on" and nothing else for the WiFi. While poking around, I would occasionally see the list of networks pop up & then go back off. I finally hit whatever the magic spot is, and the networks held. Snapped the back cover on again, and I've been online for probably 4-5 days now without a single hiccup.
And before I get flamed, I know how dangerous it is to poke around with a powered, exposed tablet. There are probably certain points that could make connection and FRY the entire thing in an instant. I was just willing to take the risk as my tablet was useless without network capability. I had nothing to lose. I would recommend at least trying to poke & prod with the tablet OFF a few times to be safe, but I personally got tired of rebooting over & over & over & over. My luck sucks. With the tablet ON, I was at least able to monitor when something was happening.
Good luck if you attempt it!!
~Vol
Vol4Ever said:
I've had this tablet (SM-P600) for almost a year now & it has worked perfectly. Over the last week or so, the WiFi has been randomly turning on & off. Not just losing signal, but actually showing as off in the menus. As of this morning, wifi will not turn on at all. Just says "turning on" on the screen & sits. Never gets to the next screen showing all the open networks.
Everything is fully backed up so I went into recovery tonight. Did the full factory reset and wipe procedures. Tablet boots back like it is as supposed to, but wifi wont turn on when getting to that screen in the initial setup.
Tablet has been well cared in a case, not dropped, and not gotten wet. However I am still positive this is a hardware issue.
Any ideas for things I might try? Help!! Thx in advance
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I bought my Note in March of this year, I started having the WiFi issue after the April firmware update. At first I would get the Connected to... message at random times, even though I had full signal strength. At the end of September, I started losing connection at random times and in the middle of October, I had to send it in to Best Buy's Geek Squad service to have them repair it. It is a hardware issue, as the no matter what firmware version I use, it will never connect to the router. I know it, Geek Squad is aware of it, as I have sent it in for repair twice so far. I would have to send it in a third time before they will think about replacing it with a new Note. I will admit, that before I updated it in May, I did root it, because I tried to remove the Business Week+ and New York Times apps, as I never used either one of them. I tried disabling them, only to have them reactivate and update themselves.
Damn, what I read here is not good news. My SM-P605's died yesterday.
With Tapatalk on my Galaxy Note 10.1 (2014)
Hardware issue for sure. Same problem with mine. Opened the back case, disconnected the upper right (as your looking at the screen) small ribbon, reconnected, and boom, perfect wifi once again!
The EZ Package Disabler app is fine for debloating rooted and non-rooted devices with Touchwiz roms. It uses Knox, so that mustn't be removed. The apps are still on the system partition, but are completely dead now. While other apps, especually for non-rooted devices kill the system apps during boit and try to prevent their restart. But during boot the whole stuff is active until the app kicks in, allowing the system apps to receive updates, communicate, spam free flash mem etc.
The app wirks the same way on my rooted P605 and unrooted S5. And gives a reason to buy Samsung stuff, unlike Touchwiz and its bloatware. As far as custom roms go, i found that of my old LG L9 much better. Even if the early roms were AOSP 4.0.4 based, then 4.1.3, they had already had the fresh & bright look & feel of the future Kitkat, and a few useful enhancements like an integrated backup tool, which was more simple, but for me as useful as TB.
As for the main problem here, i think using a case with a hardened backside, and not one if these with a big hole(though being better than nothing), prevents oroblens like battery, display and seemingly wifi connectors loosening. Or bad solder joints. The backplate of the note gives thru any pressure on the back, especially in the middle area. It then rests on the battery, metal shields, connectors and stuff. This seems to generate enough wear over time for problems. The same back plate on a much smaller device(my S5, but that has a subchassis covering the innards, too) would be much stiffer, and my 7" tablet has an aluminium unibody case, such trouble is unknown there.
Hi Gents..
same problem here... I used to own a SM-600 purchased in 2014 unfortunately I lost it... (the first tablet worked without any proble until I lost it...) than I managed to found the same modell brand new on amazon... it worked for 2 weeks and 2 days ago wifi died... but funny enough not straight away.... first couple time just switched off the wifi... I managed to switch simply back... next day it only worked if restarted the device... now factory reset nothing... If it is hardware related why worked 2 weeks witout any problem? If it is software related why not working after software reset? Only installed a few apps from the store.. the device did not overheated or physically damaged...
I have the exact same problem.
Since I bought this a long time ago, I have to pay for the repair. I just want to know if it is worth it. How much did it cost you (if you bothered)?
In my opinion it would be foolish to spend a dime to repair a 4 year old tablet. If the battery is original, it may well be near the end of its useful life as well. FWIW, I bought this tablet used about 8 months ago and have not experienced this wifi problem.
It's still so well equipped, that you can't simply replace with a modern entry level or midline tablet, but with a top of the line one, so a repair is well an option.
I just don't have a clue about the SoCs performance level. To which current ones it would equal and where things get better. I can only compare it to my similarly(Snapdragon 801) equipped phone and my cheap 7" tablet's quad core Mediatek SoC, and that is considerably worse, though being three years newer.

GPS not working

I bought a supposedly new HTC 10 off ebay a few months ago, and just realized on a recent trip that location service is using only wi-fi & cell. Once I am out of signal range, I get no location data, and GPS not working.
The phone came S-OFF and running WWE software, which I have changed to US unlocked using RUU, currently running 2.51.617.32, baseband [email protected]_76.02_F.
From a previous contact with HTC, they told me the serial number is that of a Sprint phone. I am assuming that this is a refurb of some kind.
I have installed GPS Status and tools, and the app can see the satellites, but cannot get a fix. Hardware check says that the sensor is OK. I have cleared AGPS and that made no difference.
Changing data from 3G to LTE to Auto, or on & off (per a couple threads at xda) made no difference.
I am unsure what to do next. Phone works well otherwise. Would flashing a Sprint radio help? perhaps a different kernel?
Any advice appreciated. TIA.
I had this issue after a battery replacement. Essentially this thread worked for me. Once the HTC 10 was opened up and the rear casing removed, there's a v. small copper prong located next to the headphone socket and it needed a bit of careful prying so that it could make contact with the back plate of the phone once rehoused.
So it could be that your new phone off ebay is a refurb and has been previously opened?
I would try a Sprint ROM before opening it.
dwgallery said:
I had this issue after a battery replacement. Essentially this thread worked for me. Once the HTC 10 was opened up and the rear casing removed, there's a v. small copper prong located next to the headphone socket and it needed a bit of careful prying so that it could make contact with the back plate of the phone once rehoused.
So it could be that your new phone off ebay is a refurb and has been previously opened?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
finally found someone with some 10 repair experience haha. I just noticed my GPS won't lock, assuming it's due to screen/battery repair. I have over 5yrs phone repair experience, so salty i am in this spot.... But I have been many times with HTC repairs, and eventually figure out hte querk. Any other insights? I opened it up yesterday and couldn't get a lock still even without back frame shell on. I then noticed the top pin above the headphone jack was depressed most likely due to prying when opening, i carefully bent up and it didn't break, now making connection with back cover frame but still no gps lock.... also try reconnection of the top daughter board flex where hard gps chip lives....
Update: Twas the pin at top, and flashing RUU that got me up and running GPS again! woohoo!
Thanks by the help!
The last week I change the battery and I lost the GPS signal. After reopen the phone, the GPS pin it was in bad position. After move the pin, the GPS it is working again!

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