Develop Bugs

[Q] Toro: Intermittent CDMA/1x after MicroUSB repair

Hey guys, like many Toro owners, I had my MicroUSB port finally go out on me. Followed unfortunately shortly after a tumble caused by a cousin just giving my phone to her 3 year old to play with at a family holiday party. This resulted in the screen being cracked all to hell, as one could imagine. In a stupidly rushed attempt to repair the screen glass with a spare piece I had from a friend, I messed up the digitizer, and decided to get a new screen assembly and start over. Unfortunately, after ordering both parts and starting to install both, I realized the mUSB board was no good and had to be exchanged. I slapped the old one back on, installed my screen, and went about my day.
The second time around, I actually remembered how to work on computers and went through my whole usual litany of prep and breakdown. Bled off all my static charge, made a mostly sterile work area, worked in gloves when I could, and proceeded slowly and carefully through the phone teardown. I made sure (to attempt) not to damage any ribbon connectors or even the LTE antenna coax cable and both ports for it.
All this only to notice a short time later that I was having poor call quality, call drops despite a couple of bars, random signal drops, all those good times. This was all with mobile data turned off entirely, but when I turned on mobile data, it hit straight to 4G full service and data was snappy and page loads/searches were fast. However, I cannot tell if it is area signal strength or phone error, but I'm inclined to believe I may have messed something up either in my first botch job, or in my second serious repair.
If there was any repair errors, I'm inclined to believe one of a few things happened. Either I screwed up one of the in-frame antennas the first time around, putzing about trying to pry the old screen off the frame. Or I somehow cocked up one of the CDMA antennas on the mobo itself the second time, but I find that very hard to believe. Or the old mUSB board with it's mic got screwed up, but I highly doubt that too.
Anyone have any ideas, further questions, or (preferably non) snide comments? I've tried to give as many details as possible in this post without overloading it, but let me know if I've left out anything useful. Yet again, it's a Toro, 32gb, running SlimKat's 4.4-1825 weekly. (Can't remember build date right now, and phone's in pieces again for visual verification/pictures)
Any help is greatly appreciated, and thanks!

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.

Nexus 7 Touchscreen Suddenly Does Not Respond

Hi Folks,
We've had a 2013 Nexus 7 for 1.5 years and it's been a great device. Always on stock Android OS. so we get OTAs periodically.
While away, the Nexus battery ran down because my daughter had kept it on before we left. We wirelessly charged it again - i.e., the USB port has been broken for the past year - and booted it up.
Despite seeing the usual animated lock screen and hearing notifications in the background, the touch screen was not responding to input.
I tried powering down/up, then got the "Google" logo and a hang.
On a weird idea from a different forum, I powered down, opened the back and reseated the thinner connector which travels over the battery, then rebooted. It worked!
But, the touchscreen is still not responding on the lock screen.
EDIT: Tried a wipe/factory reset from recovery, but the touchscreen is still not responding
Ideas welcome, please.
- wader

Called ASUS and they think it's a hardware fault, for which they estimated a $300+ repair.
Seems I'll need to consider a new purchase or replacement touchscreen on my own. Ugh.
- wader

ooofest said:
Called ASUS and they think it's a hardware fault, for which they estimated a $300+ repair.
Seems I'll need to consider a new purchase or replacement touchscreen on my own. Ugh.
- wader
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First time I've heard that the touchscreen would die without warnings. I'd bet it wouldn't be the hardware and based thereon, would suggest that you back up the tab, wipe it clean and flash a custom rom as close to the stock thing as possible, like CleanRom and see what it does. Before you do that, you might want to reseat the touchscreen cables - two-pronged connected to the daughter board at the bottom of the tab. Make sure you disconnect the battery prior to disconnecting any cables.

graphdarnell said:
First time I've heard that the touchscreen would die without warnings. I'd bet it wouldn't be the hardware and based thereon, would suggest that you back up the tab, wipe it clean and flash a custom rom as close to the stock thing as possible, like CleanRom and see what it does. Before you do that, you might want to reseat the touchscreen cables - two-pronged connected to the daughter board at the bottom of the tab. Make sure you disconnect the battery prior to disconnecting any cables.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I was already on stock and wiped it clean, which unfortunately made no difference.
There is a 2" crack in the glass in the upper left corner, which is new. This makes me believe that my daughter trapped the tablet under some heavy things (without a cover) during a recent trip - normally, this tablet has been drop-proof, so this is a wild notion. I already tried re-seating the ribbon cables, etc.
I did find a like-new replacement nearby on Craigslist for a decent price, so went that route for a quick "fix." Meanwhile, I've ordered a replacement display to see if I can get it working again via a h/w upgrade - will experiment and see what's up.
- wader

ooofest said:
Well, I was already on stock and wiped it clean, which unfortunately made no difference.
There is a 2" crack in the glass in the upper left corner, which is new. This makes me believe that my daughter trapped the tablet under some heavy things (without a cover) during a recent trip - normally, this tablet has been drop-proof, so this is a wild notion. I already tried re-seating the ribbon cables, etc.
I did find a like-new replacement nearby on Craigslist for a decent price, so went that route for a quick "fix." Meanwhile, I've ordered a replacement display to see if I can get it working again via a h/w upgrade - will experiment and see what's up.
- wader
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A crack in the upper left corner shouldn't affect the whole touchscreen since the cables are located at its lower right corner. When I suggested that you reinstall a rom, I was thinking of the touch firmware being possibly corrupted. Re-flashing a new rom would install it anew; wiping it clean with the current one won't. I've not experienced this with this model, but it did happen to my other Asus models in the past. Leaning heavily on a new touchscreen might be disappointing when the glitch turns out to be software-related. But again, it's your decision. Good luck anyway.

graphdarnell said:
A crack in the upper left corner shouldn't affect the whole touchscreen since the cables are located at its lower right corner. When I suggested that you reinstall a rom, I was thinking of the touch firmware being possibly corrupted. Re-flashing a new rom would install it anew; wiping it clean with the current one won't. I've not experienced this with this model, but it did happen to my other Asus models in the past. Leaning heavily on a new touchscreen might be disappointing when the glitch turns out to be software-related. But again, it's your decision. Good luck anyway.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I understood what you suggested, but the touchscreen subsystem suddenly flaking out seemed as much of a longshot as the new crack or generalized crushing pressure hurting the display/ribbon cable connection. IMHO. I'm guessing one area of h/w - cable, screen, etc. - has been compromised.
Upon more deep inspection (this time with my glasses on), there is a looong crack across the entire bottom right corner and a chip near the bottom right-middle. So, my guess that she crushed the device on her trip may not be too far off.
Plus, this stock device has had a faulty USB connector for the past year, so I have no direct means to get another ROM on there, etc. with just h/w buttons.
The replacement is in excellent condition, so this older tablet is now for experimentation, more than anything.
- wader

Nexus 5X service manual?

Is a service manual for the Nexus 5x available?
Long story short, I was having a problem with my camera, so I whacked the phone on the palm of my hand a couple times (yeah, that might help! [lol]) and after that I lost the network (no bars at all, just a blank triangle always) and nothing I have tried has been able to bring it back.
I am on t-Mobile running 7.1.1.
I cleared the cache, tried different combo's of network settings (2G, 3G, 4G LTE), rebooted in safe mode, replaced the SIM card and tried everything else that I could find in various threads. Nothing works.
I've opened the back of the phone previously to replace the glass (as a glass+frame module) and everything worked after reassembly. So I am willing to reopen the case and poke around but I don't know what to poke at.
So maybe a manual will help or else if anyone has any help they can offer, that would be super!

No one able to offer any help or ideas?

Well I'm thinking maybe the antenna connectors are not so much connected after you tapped the phone. I found this thread which talks about the location of antenna connectors on the back of the phone.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/nexus-5x/help/lte-antennas-located-t3234795
ifixit has good information on it.
Sent from my Nexus 5X using XDA-Developers Legacy app

When I looked at the antenna connections with a magnifying glass, I could see that (using the same orientation as the photo you point to) one of the two prongs at the top right was bent and the single one below the top right two was also a little bent.
I stripped the phone down to the mainboard and straighten out both bent prongs. They looked pretty good to me under the magnifying glass. I also spent some time looking around these areas and at the other antenna prongs. Everything seemed to be in good order, as far as I could tell.
Unfortunately for me, the phone still doesn't get network or GPS connections.
I either need to find someone capable of testing these connections or a new mainboard or maybe phone back.
Thanks.
P.S. Here are some photos of the damaged antenna prongs before I fixed them as best a s possible.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B3aloIK_2QNdX3ZaZGtTdWpqZjg

Any more ideas friends?

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!