Poor wifi signal issue - Xiaomi Mi 5s Questions & Answers

Hi all!
I would like to know if anyone here has noticed if their Mi5s has a poor wifi signal strength compared to other phones they had.
I've used a Samsung Galaxy 5 NEO as comparison. While the samsung brings me nearly full speed at a distance of 10-15 meters from the wifi device, the mi5s just brings me 1 or almost zero if I move just 3 meters far.
There's something I did that maybe has broken the wifi signal. I had an accident where some coffee was spilled in the phone, and I had to unassemble it to clean the speaker that wasn't working properly. I just cleaned the speaker module (it can be deattached) carefully with little water and it started it to work good again. But not sure if it was because the unassemble but I noticed that the wifi signal was pretty poor comparing other phones.
I'm starting to think in changing the rom now with all the kernel hype and I would like to know if I'm the only one, because if it is that case, I'm probably going to unassemble it again (not a easy task) and recheck if I missed to connect something, but if I remember correctly, the wifi antenna is nothing more that just a metal part attached to the board.
So. Am I the only one who noticed this or just my xiaomi is broken?
many thanks!

Mi 5S have good Wi-Fi module, at least better than Samsung Galaxy S6. I think that your problem is connected with that accident. Metal can oxidize when the water touches it. I think that you have something like this with your Wi-Fi module connection.

Related

[Q] Signal drop (phone network, not wifi)

Hi,
I have had my HOX for 3 weeks now and since yesterday (so, not a new thing), I keep losing the signal in my appartment, in some places outside. Oddly enough, signal is OK (tho just 3-4 bars) in my office.
1. Could this be related to the WIFI antenna issue even tho it's not WIFI issue? In other words, is there a chance that by fixing the WIFI antenna issue, I can get solve this?
2. If not, what are my other options? The garanty is already voided so I cannot send it to HTC for repair (voided by an "unofficial repair center" after the screen got smashed by dropping it from like 1m... - it's very possible that the fall or their repair broke something else, but the repair was already 2 weeks ago)
Thanks for your help!
First thing I'd ask is are you rooted? Have you been playing with radios recently?
If not, the next thing I'd look at is trying to find someone else with a micro-sim, and asking to borrow it. If they still get a good signal on their network on your phone, it might be your sim card. I had a faulty one once which just started dropping network like you describe. It can happen.
If their sim card also shows poor reception, you might have an aerial issue caused by the unofficial repair centre opening the phone up. (Although from the feedback on the WiFi issue thread HTC have worrying repair standards too).
If you can't find another micro-sim, just try finding someone on the same network. This phone (when working) has excellent network reception (better than my previous Desire S) so if a side-by-side comparison shows a big difference in signal strength, again I'd think about getting the sim replaced.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.android.telnet&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwyLDEsImRlLmFuZHJvaWQudGVsbmV0Il0.
If your replacement sim still has the same problem, then I'd consider opening the phone up as per the video guide in the WiFi Issue thread in the general section. Seems to be quite easy if you are careful. It is unlikely that the same aerial for the WiFi is also the 3G one, but I've looked at the tear down pictures, and can't read chinese! If i find out which one it is, I'll update this post. If not, just check all the connections.
Hi,
I have also been having this network drop issue but only near my office. The reason I think is that my office is between two towers and every now and then it tries to balance the traffic on the networks and hence keeps disconnecting devices from one to connect to the other one... However, I have cut out my normal sim into a micro sim and that was done by the guys at the shop from where I bought the device and they had said that if there are any issues, then please order a proper micro sim and use it....
I think that might also be the problem.....
levtrp savans
All,
After checking that my SIM card wasn't in cause (used a friend's HTC One X to test my SIM card and test with his), I broke open the case and saw the problem.
The problem is the damn design of those antenna contact! I saw probably around 10 of those small metal piece that are supposed to be a bit "up" and somehow touch the contact area on the back cover.
I found that 2 of them (in two different pairs, they all seem to be in pair to create a closed circuit I suppose) were a little bit lower than their counterpart, so with a flat screwdriver, put them upright, closed the case and voila, I am enjoying network with full bars since yesterday.
If the issue comes back (and it probabl will, if they got bent the first time it probably means that the metal already was bent beyond its elastic deformation area), I'll probably end up buying a soldering iron a add some patch of silver to increase the height of the contact zones. That's .... just lame I am sure they had a good reason to do that, but seriously!?
Guillaume
Glad you got to the bottom of it. Yeah I think the design choice is forced from having the main body of the phone slide in at an angle into the outer case. If the two parts just clamped together like a more traditional phone build, then they perhaps could have used a different approach.
I'm putting off opening mine up (I have the dreaded WiFi drop issue) as my current case puts just enough pressure on the screen to act like a permanent squeeze, halting my problem.
Would be interested to know if the problem reoccurs like you said it might. Keep us posted.

[Q] Radio/Antenna Repair Issue

Dear folks,
One night I reached out my hand while sleeping, touched a glass of water (which fell over) and my Galaxy Nexus GSM got wet. In the morning I dried it (*no* hair dryer, just a vacuum cleaner and a radiator), and it still works like a charm. With few exections: Almost no signal anymore. Most often no signal, sometimes weak signal, rarely full H+ speed.
In my flat I have no radio at all (-110db if that matters). No speech, no data.
Outside I may have luck, I may not. Sometimes I get almost full HSDPA+ as stated, but most of the times with "standard" covering just no signal or a really really weak one, where my old HTC Hero (T-Mobile H2 Touch) and my work phone (Nokia 31xx) have full(!) radio signal. Embarassing.
Speaker was damaged, too. So was the USB port (not charging when switched on, no sound, wrong headset recognition).
I decided to repair it myself. I did this before many times with my old Nokia 3310, and ifixit.com suggested, it's not that hard. So I went to eBay and bought a new speaker part (that more bulky part at the bottom of the disassembled phone).
Well, this fixed the speaker/headset and the USB issue. Hooray! But my radiosignal was still bad.
So today, I replaced the antenna mainboard (L-Shaped). Well, this fixed… nothing at all. I still got bad radio (at least it's not broken down completely). Now I wonder: What could I do next? Flasing radio firmware has no effect either (I think, I tried three or so). Is it really because it got wet? Sth else to replace?
I'm looking forward to any suggestions on what to do next. If you need any information, just ask.
Thanks in advance.
I'm sorry I can't provide pictures atm, but I only wrote 5 posts or so.

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!

N7100 overheating with wifi dropout - hardware problem

I did a search and most of the Wifi problems seem to describe knox security and bootloader issues.
Here, I wish to describe/discuss what seems to be a hardware problem in my n7100 note 2.
This occurs with stock and dr. ketan rom on 4.4.2 even with wifipatch applied (technically not needed).
OS 4.4.2
boot loader: n7100ZSUFNL1 (I believe this bootloader should be ok - correct me if I'm wrong).
model GT-n7100
ISSUE
- the wifi icon doesn't turn on or wifi drops out when the system is running hot. This happened the first time after I flashed a ROM/upgraded and I thought it was a ROM issue.
- however, more recently, I have managed to keep the wifi signal absolutely stable when i open up the back cover and run a fan blowing on the back/cpu area at the top back of the phone around the camera area.
- with fan cooling => completely stable
- without fan cooling => drops out when system under load or randomly.
for some reason, omega rom had a problem for me where it kept disconnecting irrespective of the heat
I have seen discussions of our phone overheating but this seems to be a hardware problem with the wifi module.
I presume that there may be micro fractures with the wifi chip solder (seems to be a theme in electronics) that may be causing wifi problems with overheating.
This happened with an iphone 4 voice audio processing chip once for me and the "online community" had figured out a fix by taping in a "pressure mount" for the chip.
//blog.lovefone.co.uk/iphone-4-faulty-microphone-audio-chip-problem
Any suggestions on taping in a heatsink or pressure against the wifi module?
Help would be appreciated. Just adding to the knowledgebase in the community.
When Samsung adopted RoHS some range of devices plagued with badly soldered BroadCom chips. I personally know one S3 and two Note 2 (one is mine own) with all the same problem: no WiFi from time to time and likely no BT too.
I paid ~100 euros to change the main board with BC chip guaranteed working about half a year ago.
Thanks for the quick reply and confirmation.
After ordering a new midframe; playing around with screws and disassembling it a few times; it does feel like a solder joint/connection issue.
I haven't heard much feedback from the net on this problem which is why i raised it.
Others on the net have mentioned loosening the screws securing the motherboard down. I will try that as well but I presume that with a loose solder joint; overtightened screws may warp the motherboard just enough for the connection to flake out.
THanks again.
PS - if anyone else has the same problem/suspicion; please chime in.
So, in follow up.
Adding aluminum tape to the wifi chip didn't seem to work. I took it off and reseated the midframe where the antenna is located.
Still was getting dropped wifi.
Disassembled; took a small screwdriver and gently lifted the wifi contacts from the motherboard up so that it makes better contact with the midframe.
Seemed to help.
It's definitely hardware. Whether it's a problem with the WIFI chip or with the antenna; i don't know but it's somewhere along that line.
Crazy hardware gremlins

Gps improvement (a weird solution)

So currently I'm having a major issue with my gps since it was so difficult to find any gps even outdoor, and even sometimes it didn't even found any gps at all. I've tried to reboot, change gps.config, change roms, reflash miui. Any of it doesn't solve the problem.
So I did some research a little bit about extending the gps antenna using wires. Then I peel the casing.
Before attaching the wire, I just try to test the gps. And surprisingly, the gps works very well. I even managed to connect to the gps indoor. The screenshot attached is the result of indoor gps test without the phone casing and antenna extension.
So what's the exact problem anyway with vince?
Does the metal casing interfere with the gps?
Do I need to use the phone without the casing?
In my case, yes I did found that that's the best solution. But it will not be practical to do so
Improvement workaround
Here is another method I used to improve the gps reception. The more practical way.
Simply take a small flathead screwdriver and scratch the contact point at the phone casing. I'm not sure which one is used for gps so just scratch every contact point in the picture.
Make sure the contact pin in high enough in order to make full contact with the phone casing.
Install the casing and the gps worked wonderfully just like without the casing earlier.
What definitive (and practical) solution did you find?
Actually, all you need to do is to press the case from behind, around camera 1 cm from top x 1cm from left/right + 3cm from top/1cm left/right.
My signal went from 0 inside, to 5 meters accuracy. Outside 3 meters. Device only. You can literally delete gps.conf and flp.conf file on redmi 5 plus, and it won't affect gps SNR ratio at all. It's like it isn't reading them. I've been messing around with fixing the issue for 3 days, read all possible posts on the subject, rooted my phone, experimented with everything available till this date. It's just upgraded version of what you have here
It seems there's a design flaw, because GPS antenna and contacts are on the back, and during time, that back seems to bend upwards, which is causing loose connection. One push restored everything in it's place.

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