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Hey guys.
In the market for the One X. Thing is, I don't wanna get one with the WiFi issue. Is there info somewhere on the serial numbers of the bad batch of phones? Is there any way to know that the one I'm getting is good or not?
max_3000 said:
Hey guys.
In the market for the One X. Thing is, I don't wanna get one with the WiFi issue. Is there info somewhere on the serial numbers of the bad batch of phones? Is there any way to know that the one I'm getting is good or not?
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As of a tally taken two weeks ago there were 160 people in the Wi-Fi thread that reported their phone was suffering from the issue. If you double it for people with the issue not documenting it in the thread, that's 360 phones out of about 5K owners on the forum. That's less than 10%.
If you look at the pictures of the phone disassembled, the issue appears to be from how the phone is seated in the chassis at the factory. The connectors are on the body of the phone while the antennas they are connecting to are on the chassis. In the Wi-Fi thread, people are told to "press on the back of the phone to see if it affects the Wi-Fi signal." The connectors use dynamic tension vs. springs. Since the part of the phone where the connectors are located wouldn't experience compression under typical use, that's an acceptable design choice. People artificially creating compression to "test" their phones could be causing the problem their testing for. The fix HTC is putting in place is simply spacers to prevent compression; real and artificial (people pressing on their phones). I have an early March-build phone that's been dropped six times and the Wi-Fi's as good today as when I got it. It's better than the i9100 it replaced and a G-Tab 10.1 I’m still using.
In anything mass produced, precision of assembly improves as more are built. So you could make the assumption later built phones are less likely to have defects. You’ll see references to HT23 and the like. The “3” in HT23 signifies “March” and so on. But the design of the Wi-Fi connectors aren't being changed and, based on the number of devices affected, you have a far greater chance of getting a phone with great Wi-Fi than one with a problem. There are plenty of differing opinions so educate yourself and make your own decision.
BarryH_GEG said:
As of a tally taken two weeks ago there were 160 people in the Wi-Fi thread that reported their phone was suffering from the issue. If you double it for people with the issue not documenting it in the thread, that's 360 phones out of about 5K owners on the forum. That's less than 10%.
If you look at the pictures of the phone disassembled, the issue appears to be from how the phone is seated in the chassis at the factory. The connectors are on the body of the phone while the antennas they are connecting to are on the chassis. In the Wi-Fi thread, people are told to "press on the back of the phone to see if it affects the Wi-Fi signal." The connectors use dynamic tension vs. springs. Since the part of the phone where the connectors are located wouldn't experience compression under typical use, that's an acceptable design choice. People artificially creating compression to "test" their phones could be causing the problem their testing for. The fix HTC is putting in place is simply spacers to prevent compression; real and artificial (people pressing on their phones). I have an early March-build phone that's been dropped six times and the Wi-Fi's as good today as when I got it. It's better than the i9100 it replaced and a G-Tab 10.1 I’m still using.
In anything mass produced, precision of assembly improves as more are built. So you could make the assumption later built phones are less likely to have defects. You’ll see references to HT23 and the like. The “3” in HT23 signifies “March” and so on. But the design of the Wi-Fi connectors aren't being changed and, based on the number of devices affected, you have a far greater chance of getting a phone with great Wi-Fi than one with a problem. There are plenty of differing opinions so educate yourself and make your own decision.
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Thanks a lot! Really appreciate the info.
I thought this was worth sharing, this is my second thread ever on XDA and hope it helps somebody.
Quick story about my case:
I tried software fixes, ROMs, and made a lot of reading, when I finally figured it could be an antenna issue, I decided to give myself a try on my cellphone repair skills, turns out I turned a “nearly dead” GPS taking 10 minutes to lock into a “better than average” GPS taking 20 seconds to lock. Time taken for the task, 15 minutes, time suffering from bad GPS signal, 1 year, go figure.
Let’s see if you are a candidate to try this solution:
- You must be sure this isn’t a software related issue (i.e. my GPS works with X rom but it doesn’t with Y rom, that would certainly be a software issue).
- You CAN get a GPS lock but the signal is weak (i.e. constantly dropping signal in an area where you are sure another phone works fine) or GPS locks takes up to 5 minutes (and you already tried a software fix to speed up GPS lock).
- You’re phone is relatively old (i.e. it was bought when it came out, although I’m sure the quantity is low, I assume there are still E98X phones which are brand new and I would not recommend disassembling a brand new phone).
- You have experience opening cellphones (i.e. experience using small phillips screwdriver, gently popping frames/housing/covers, putting back in position plastic buttons before re-assebly).
Before we start, quick explanation on what may be happening to your phone if you are a candidate:
- Presumably, the GPS antenna (and Bluetooth, 3G/4G as well) is making poor contact with the springs on your phone.
- This phone uses contact springs for pretty much everything (see attached picture for springs locations of antennas), so these springs and/or the antenna contacts eventually bent away from each other and lower your GPS, Bluetooth, 3G/4G signals.
Here is what you need to do:
- Remove the back cover, and remove the back frame (See the following video from minute 0:00 to 1:50 for disassembly of backframe https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9OJRtf39QA).
- Inspect every spring and antenna contacts (see attached pictures for antenna springs and pad locations), make sure they are not rusted or damaged, else you need a replacement part for it (for antenna pads, you may want to clean those with isopropyl alcohol if you have some).
- Using a soft, thin, *plastic* tool (thinner than a credit card, but sturdier than paper), lift every spring you see up to 10 degrees (see attached picture for reference) and wiggle it up and down to force it to stay tilted up about 10 degrees (don’t force it up more than 15 degrees when wiggling or you risk to break the spring, there are quite a few of springs, I remember at least 5 pairs, so make sure you get them all done).
- Revert all disassembly made (See the following video from minute 6:32 to 7:51 for reassembly https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QxLa5rXX7Y), and VOILA!! your GPS signal came to life again (and hopefully your Bluetooth and 3G/4G are enjoying the new perks too!)
-Additionally, better 3G/4G signal does save battery, your cellphone amplifiers require less work and produces less heating too.
Disclaimer: I’m not responsible for damage to your phone, this guide is intended for an grown up audience who takes responsibilities of their own actions.
Reserved
Jose-MXL said:
Reserved
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I was looking for something like this. Thanks very much..........
Let me know if you need anything else (i.e. more detailed instructions) and report back your results, unfortunately for the audience, I didn't take pictures of the process since I wasn't sure it was going to work (and then just took the picture of the NFC springs), so if you can take some pictures of how the contacts looks in the inside, that would awesome, I can update the main post with these, there is quite a few springs inside so you want to make sure you get them all in shape.
I forgot to say in the main post, better 3G/4G signals give a lot less of work to the amplifiers, which means less phone heating and less battery consumption, this is a nice service to do to a 2 year old phone like mine.
Enclosed is a picture from a replacement mid frame cover. Could you please use something like ms paint to circle which pins you bent upward? Looking at my Optimus G Pro 980 Mid frame cover and motherboard/logicboard I do not see these........
Jose-MXL said:
Let me know if you need anything else (i.e. more detailed instructions) and report back your results, unfortunately for the audience, I didn't take pictures of the process since I wasn't sure it was going to work (and then just took the picture of the NFC springs), so if you can take some pictures of how the contacts looks in the inside, that would awesome, I can update the main post with these, there is quite a few springs inside so you want to make sure you get them all in shape.
I forgot to say in the main post, better 3G/4G signals give a lot less of work to the amplifiers, which means less phone heating and less battery consumption, this is a nice service to do to a 2 year old phone like mine.
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jmacguire said:
Enclosed is a picture from a replacement mid frame cover. Could you please use something like ms paint to circle which pins you bent upward? Looking at my Optimus G Pro 980 Mid frame cover and motherboard/logicboard I do not see these........
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UPDATE:
See main post, I got a picture from somewhere else for the spring locations.
Actually my friend, that picture only shows the pads for the antennas, try to match it with your phone and see where they contact, these are going to be the springs, they don't look like spiral springs, these are other type of springs which I don't recall the name but they are more like a V shape, and one of the sides is attached to the board and the other one "springs" up and down, let me know if you got it or I will open my phone again, just for you! (no kidding)
Also, if I were you I would try to do the same for all pairs of springs I see on the motherboard, there is a pair for the speakerphone and one more down the board for something else.
GPS finally fixing
Thank you so much for this post. Before this solution, I tried different roms, gps fixing apps, disabling carrierIQ, editing the gps.conf file to add "better" servers, etc. This is the only solution that really worked. Now I am getting a GPS fix in 10 to 15 seconds where before it was up to a minute or more. I have an LG E980 (ATT Version).
As directed, I turned off the phone, removed the rear case back, removed the battery+sd card+sim card, removed the screws in the back panel of the phone and then separated the back panel from the front panel to expose the circuit boards and spring contacts. Then, I cleaned all the spring contacts and their mating flat contacts on the back panel with alcohol. Then I bent all of the spring contacts up slightly, re-seated the back panel making sure the side buttons were in the correct place (I do not believe the quickmemo and power buttons are interchangeable even though they are the same size fyi), and then secured the screws back in place.
Thank you!
Way to go buddy, I'm glad I could help you and that you were able to follow those horrendous instructions, I can't be sure on your case since yours wasn't as bad as mine, but on my case it also improved 4G reception overall, these antennas are used for pretty much everything so it would only be logical to get better signal on all the services, this is a "must" service on old E98X phones, perhaps nearly half of the GPS and bluetooth issues on the forum are due to this plus a weak or faulty software filtering not helping.
any info how to increase the wifi antenna? could this be the white cable?
Sent from my LG-E980 using XDA Free mobile app
I've quit using my OG Pro because the GPS is so poor. Hard to get a fix and drops constantly. Glad I stumbled on this, and will give it a try.
Can you point out which springs are specific to the GPS antenna? I suppose I can try to work with all the springs, but with my luck, I 'll break something that was working fine.
fungo45 said:
I've quit using my OG Pro because the GPS is so poor. Hard to get a fix and drops constantly. Glad I stumbled on this, and will give it a try.
Can you point out which springs are specific to the GPS antenna? I suppose I can try to work with all the springs, but with my luck, I 'll break something that was working fine.
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I don't know which ones they are. I did all of them. They are a lever type spring contact so it is hard to break them. Just do so lightly.
Wow fairly simple fix with great results, thanks!
Jose-MXL said:
Before we start, quick explanation on what may be happening to your phone if you are a candidate:
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Just tightening all the screws fixed all my GPS issues. No disassembly required! Add this into OP.
Thanks
Just did this, really improved the speed and reliability of everything- gps, wifi, etc. Thanks.
A quick tip for those doing this the first time. be careful of the buttons. I've taken apart my optimus g pro a few times now, and those dern things like to fly out of you're not careful when taking it apart. Also, when putting back together, use a small piece of scotch tape on the exterior of the frame to hold the buttons in place when you put the frame back in place. make sure the tabs of the tape stay on the outside, and pul them gently as you snap the screen back on. It's easier to have the frame on the table on put the screen down onto the frame when done this way, and save those dern buttons from coming out of their slots.
I have two OG Pro (E980) developed same broken GPS issue.
Now, I think the problem is the two soft contact pads, when I bent little bit, the GPS 's issue got fixed.
Also, the method not to improve any 4g/Wi-Fi/Bluetooth.
LG made such low quality contact PINs
Two years have passed and this thread is still helping people with their now "ancient" G Pros. My problem was that the coax cable had popped loose. Still I went ahead and re-tensioned all the contact springs. GPS is now functioning like new. Thanks to all who contributed.
Conflicting reports in regards to NFC on the higher-end Deluxe models. GSM Arena reports it's available, PDAdb, which i believe is more reliable doesn't even mention 'NFC'.
I believe this VERY common feature has been 'avoided' in this phone, absolutely foolish by ASUS as it's keeping me away from this phone. Can someone please confirm? Anyone know why this decision was made despite the fact they have the 5.5", 5.7" deluxe variants and the ULTRA, which isn't much better?
Thanks
RoOSTA
It is available BUT it is in the very top of the phone.
Most phones use the battery and have NFC centered around the middle of the back. The ASUS Zenfone 3 deluxe, and the ZTE Axon 7, have it at the top of the phone, around where the speaker is located.
I don't know WHY it was put there but I eventually found it with a bit of hair pulling...
Somethings need to be the top part of the back but you can also use the very top of the phone too. A little annoying as this isn't very well explained...
NFC sensor is on the front near the top of the screen.
Yes, it have NFC, in te top of the phone near the call's speaker
I used it all days with some nfc tags.
An awkward location to put the NFC. You cannot see the screen when it is contacting the other device.
ultramag69 said:
It is available BUT it is in the very top of the phone.
Most phones use the battery and have NFC centered around the middle of the back. The ASUS Zenfone 3 deluxe, and the ZTE Axon 7, have it at the top of the phone, around where the speaker is located.
I don't know WHY it was put there but I eventually found it with a bit of hair pulling...
Somethings need to be the top part of the back but you can also use the very top of the phone too. A little annoying as this isn't very well explained...
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@wshek @jonasiesta
Thanks guys. Can you show me a quick NFC tag scan in a short video please?
roosta said:
@[email protected]
Thanks guys. Can you show me a quick NFC tag scan in a short video please?
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Hey, so I sometimes get the NFC to work (unlike my zenfone 2) bit when I tap to send / beam a picture it goes to Google play and tries to install the gallery app. Anyone know how to send the picture instead?
jmoricone said:
Hey, so I sometimes get the NFC to work (unlike my zenfone 2) bit when I tap to send / beam a picture it goes to Google play and tries to install the gallery app. Anyone know how to send the picture instead?
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You "sometimes get it to work" ? Pretty crap phone if it doesn't work as intended...
roosta said:
You "sometimes get it to work" ? Pretty crap phone if it doesn't work as intended...
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Senior member of High School
I get NCF to work.. Did not realize the chip was in a different location than model 2. Model 2 is rooted and can send pics via beam with no problem. Version 3 when I try to beam tries to install the app. Don't need wise ass comments. Joined XDA for "real" advice. If I need bull**** comments, remarks, etc I would have just posted on ****ty websites. Real question for real answers. If you have nothing else to do shut the **** up
The NFC is located at the top of the phone. You could "image" it's using the 3.5mm jack as the center of antenna. (Although it's actually there..)
I use the NFC function almost daily for payment (for convenience store purchase as well as subway ride) and it works 100% of time. (never second time touch) The way I use it is screen facing me, only the very top of phone (basically where the 3.5mm jack is located) is touching the payment terminal reception pad.
Most of the payment terminal will even accept the phone lying flat, LCD up as long as the 3.5mm jack is located near center of the payment terminal's reception pad.
The reason why NFC is located at top of phone is that the back of this phone is made by one piece of metal. NFC signal will have trouble pass this metal barrier. Beside, I found it's easier to use as NFC is at top since can hold the phone 45 degrees (LCD facing me) instead stick the back of the phone flat to the payment terminal when making payment.
Also, the screen is not needed to be on when making payment (YMMV, may depend on APP). The sensitivity of NFC is even better then my cashless credit card. (I tested both at same terminal).
lssong99 said:
The NFC is located at the top of the phone. You could "image" it's using the 3.5mm jack as the center of antenna. (Although it's actually there..)
I use the NFC function almost daily for payment (for convenience store purchase as well as subway ride) and it works 100% of time. (never second time touch) The way I use it is screen facing me, only the very top of phone (basically where the 3.5mm jack is located) is touching the payment terminal reception pad.
Most of the payment terminal will even accept the phone lying flat, LCD up as long as the 3.5mm jack is located near center of the payment terminal's reception pad.
The reason why NFC is located at top of phone is that the back of this phone is made by one piece of metal. NFC signal will have trouble pass this metal barrier. Beside, I found it's easier to use as NFC is at top since can hold the phone 45 degrees (LCD facing me) instead stick the back of the phone flat to the payment terminal when making payment.
Also, the screen is not needed to be on when making payment (YMMV, may depend on APP). The sensitivity of NFC is even better then my cashless credit card. (I tested both at same terminal).
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Thanks for the info. One of the downsides of the body design I guess... Good to see its working for you and there's a way around it. I would've gone for this phone had root been available on it by now. Lack of IR is something I don't use all the time, but still find it important and am using on my V20...
RoOSTA
ok, after nearly 5 years of using, i had have problems with the USB port of my N7000.
It was impossible to get a good power contact during recharging my battery.
So i ordered a replacement part for it. So far, so good.
But after replacing, i have only Edge (G2) and no G3/Umts any longer!
Have compared the new one against the old one twice but with the same result.
So i looked into the WWW and found different replacements with the same problem!!!
It looks like, that it is impossible to get the old original quality.
Ok, ~7$ is not expensive, but anyhow! Now i can charge but not surf in the net.
~34KB/s is 10 times less than with H+:silly:
I think, it seems to be a plagiarism with really bad quality.
So be careful if you will buy some (declared as a "original"!) replacement part.
I'm guessing Samsung (or the distributor) does not make the parts anymore so to keep with the demand there are attempts to create more of it by other opportunistic companies.
When replacing the connector you may have bent the connectors for the antenna or forgot to connect them. Check you motherboard brass connectors's health and the celular antenna's cable if it is connected right.
I think this phone being forgotten as so many dev leave and for the part replacement might be non ori at all. Within 5 years I got 4 times replacement for USB port & 3 times internal spraker, normally I let the phone repairman do at phone shop nearest my home. Lately they give discount for regular customer. Speaking about regular customer it also means this phone has nearly R.I.P as I always change the same part of replacement. Last week the 4th times USB replacement. What to do as I am unaffordable to buy new phone.
What are you doing with your phone bro. For all this time I have replaced the usb connector once and the display and this is my only repairs for this phone.
I ran into the same issue.
To my knowledge, there are at least 4 different revisions of the USB charging PCB. Some are incompatible with the device you own, because of regional differences between devices.
I had to buy two, one from china, one locally from a smartphone repair shop owner (cool guy!), as the china one didn't work. Only 1 or 2 bars GPRS when standing right next to the cell tower.
With the one bought locally, I have worse reception than with the original part, but it is very much acceptable and works in at least 90% of all areas I'm in.
Both replacement parts have different model numbers than the original one that was built into my note originally. Some sellers have pictures of another model number, so it suggests, that there at least 4 versions out there.
To further elaborate on my findings:
Two times so far, I experienced one very weird and almost esoterical bug.
This happened both times after reasonably long uptimes on bauners NightOwl 7.1.2 ROM (some version released early 2018).
I have the reception indicator once in the status bar at the top of the screen and one time in the notification area. For some weird mysterical reason, it can happen, that both of these indicators develop their own interpretations of the signal. It might happen, that the status bar will say e.g. H and the notification area will report something like E. The other way around it might happen as well. Telephony is not possible in such situations.
It is very weird and some online searches suggest, that this might be the note itself, not the software. It seems like several of samsungs devices are prone to this problem, not only the n7000. A reboot solves the problem, but I wanted to point this out as I thought the notification area signal reception indicator would merely mirror the status bar reception indicator, that is definitely not the case, so you might want to check for both signal indicators to be more certain about your issues. I'm sure nobody expects this, so a quick heads up.
Greetz
Especially the one labeled U6002, which was lopped off in my attempting to remove the middle ribbon cable (during Step 9 here). All I've been able to find is generic information like this, but these numbers could be purely coincidental.
http://www.electronicmarket.com.au/5211a13303c/tube-assemblycondenserout-552113a-p-58377.html
http://www.electronicmarket.com.au/5230ar2630a/filterair-152302-p-58846.html
They can be glimpsed at the bottom of the second pic here:
https://www.scribd.com/document/355593344/Diagram-Schematic-ZE551ML
But... it's written in the pic, these are the pogo pin for the NFC antenna which is in the back cover.
Thanks. I didn't know that, since the arrow is distinctly pointing away from what I'm talking about and to something else. Also, it uses singular "pin" and not "pins," so that also was deceiving.
Anyway, the surface of the board revealed when one snapped off appeared not to be metal, so I just super-glued it back on.
I have not tested NFC yet, but I never use it.
I am using NFC for more than 6 months now that my bank support AndroidPay (now GooglePay), you need the NFC antenna to pay with it, I pay with my phone everywhere, very useful.
I just read up on it, and it does look useful. I'll try it out.