Develop Bugs

[Q] Is my Play dead?!?!

Ok here goes...I have a C Spire , (used to be Cellular South) CDMA, stock 2.3.3 OS, Xperia Play, rooted with the UnLock Root tool, CWM installed with CWM Installer from the market, and bootloader is still locked. Well Thursday (5/31) I went to use my phone and I notice the touch screen was unresponsive. I proceeded to reboot it (touch worked long enough to press the reboot option) hoping it would help, it reboot fine. I let it finish loading and tried to unlock it, touch screen unresponsive again so this time I pulled the battery and after it loaded all the way up it worked fine. Well it work flawlessly until last night. I took it out of my pocket and noticed the screen was unresponsive again. BTW at this time I was in town away from my computer. I tried the method I did before but no luck. I keep fooling with it all night. Sometimes it would work if I took out the memory card, sometimes it would work with back cover off, sometimes it would work if both were out/off or sometimes if both were in/on, sometimes after a battery pull, and sometimes not. (during this time I accidentally broke my SD card, the little lip on the end broke off) It was not consistent results. Finally it stopped working all together. I used the gamepad to navigate to the settings to try and factory reset it but I could not due to the fact you have to touch the screen to confirm it. So I got an awesome idea to get it in to CWM recovery to factory wipe it. I wiped EVERYTHING, every option, which might be where I messed up. Now it won't load past the SE logo. When I got home I tried everything. I have tried the PC Companion through the repair my phone option, it says no updates and it has the latest software. Then I tried the Update Service, it says the same thing. I am at a total loss. I read on here about the Flashtool. I downloaded it and updated it and gave it a try but I have no clue how to use it. Everything I try ends in "Error flashing. Aborted." Please help me!!!!!!!!!
P.S If you need anymore info I will be happy to provide it if I can. I JUST WANT MY PLAY BACK!!!

Try flashing the stock Sony firmware with flashtool. That should get the phone up and running again.
As far as the screen goes, it sounds like a dodgy digitiser. You can replace it yourself but I havent a clue how much it costs.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/archive/index.php/t-1239846.html (someone with similar problem as you)
---------- Post added at 11:42 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:40 AM ----------
http://www.amazon.com/Sony-Ericsson...412S/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1338633691&sr=8-1
Link to a digitzer for the Play on Amazon for you as well

I tried to flash the stock firmware with Flashtool but I have no clue how to work it. I am taking it to C Spire right now. Hopefully they will just give me a new one.

Well C Spire tested it and the conclusion was that it had a manufacture malfunction. They said that they would give me a new one but all the store in our area was out of them. They said that they would give me another kind of phone to replace it but all the ones they named off was lower end phones, even the representative admitted to that. So she told me to just go on their website and complete a warranty claim form and they would ship me a new play within a few days. I filled out the necessary forms and I am now waiting on my new Play. Thanks for the help.

Just out of curiosity, why do you hate c spire? you do know it was just a name change, right?

Yeah they say that crap but they are lying!!! Their service used to be the best around, never found a dead zone any where but now that they "just changed the name" their service sucks and they are cheating their LOYAL customers out of their money and treating them like crap!!! C Spire does not care for their customers!!!! In some areas like mine C Spire is our only option other then crappy prepaid phone which I am seriously starting to consider! THAT IS WHY I HATE THEM AND I AM NOT THE ONLY ONE! Have a look at their Facebook page and you will see how many of their customers they have P-ed off!

[Q] Data connection issues.

I bought my s3 in March of this year, and everything was working just fine until May. It's an awsome phone and I love it. However, since May, my phone no longer connects to 4g EVER and the 3g comes and goes and never stays connected for more than 10 minutes while in use. I've NEVER even come CLOSE to reaching my plans provided 2.5GB of data, so I know that's not the issue. The phone has never been dropped, or wet, as I am always very delicate with my phones. I have never placed it too close to the TV...
I contacted Boost mobile. They gave me a long list of things to try. I have tried EVERYTHING: making sure the mobile networks is checked, preferred network setting CDMA/LTE, soft reset, clear browser cache, update PRL, profile update, software update, firmware update, ##72786#, and even did a factory reset. Nothing helped. Boost said there was nothing else they could do for me, and that I needed to contact samsung.
Samsung said the only way for them to find the problem is for me to send them my phone, and wait 2 to 4 weeks for them to revise it and send it back. That's not an option as I need my phone monday through friday for my job. (UPDATE: I got so irritated with this problem that I went ahead and bought an LG Volt, since I didn't have the money to buy another galaxy. It's nice but I don't like it as much. I'm still afraid to send the Galaxy into Samsung. They have expressed to me that if they can't find an issue(just my luck), or if they find the issue to be my fault(IE I put the phone too close to a credit card magnet or some dumb crap like that), then they will charge me not only for the parts and labor, but for the return shipping... and we all know that they'll charge me way more than the phone is worth.
I was just wondering if anyone else has had this problem, and if there's anyway to fix it without having to send my phone in to samsung? I have been told, also, that I could try reflashing the phone to it's original firmware and software, but I am afraid of screwing the phone up since I've never done anything like that before.
Thanks!

First off, Welcome to the forms.
Secondly, you came to the right place. On this form you'll find crazy people like me who like to do custom flashing updating all the technical stuff. And then there's section of the form where people just want a normal phone and just want the basic troubleshooting tips. As with any user will have to search through the forms because there's a high likely chance that someone already has or had your issue just at different time.
There could be multiple reasons as to what you're experiencing. First off I think you should confirm and verify that you will do live in a good 3G or 4G location so that any further test can be actually validated. Secondly if you're not being able to connect to data it seems that you need to reactivate your phone by getting back on the boost/Sprint network. A full factory restore with data wipe and then updating over the air with firmware, PRL, reboot should work. Make sure you are set to use LET, under mobile data, and that you have enabled Automatic connections to the tower. Reactivate the phone again, if still not connected, reboot.
If you're still not having connection and I think you probably need to do a reflash via ODIN. This is pretty much what Samsung would do I'm except they have their own proprietary tools. Here on XDA we just have great developers.
Good luck.
Thanks button if this helped.

ChocaHermosa said:
I bought my s3 in March of this year, and everything was working just fine until May. It's an awsome phone and I love it. However, since May, my phone no longer connects to 4g EVER and the 3g comes and goes and never stays connected for more than 10 minutes while in use. I've NEVER even come CLOSE to reaching my plans provided 2.5GB of data, so I know that's not the issue. The phone has never been dropped, or wet, as I am always very delicate with my phones. I have never placed it too close to the TV...
I contacted Boost mobile. They gave me a long list of things to try. I have tried EVERYTHING: making sure the mobile networks is checked, preferred network setting CDMA/LTE, soft reset, clear browser cache, update PRL, profile update, software update, firmware update, ##72786#, and even did a factory reset. Nothing helped. Boost said there was nothing else they could do for me, and that I needed to contact samsung.
Samsung said the only way for them to find the problem is for me to send them my phone, and wait 2 to 4 weeks for them to revise it and send it back. That's not an option as I need my phone monday through friday for my job. (UPDATE: I got so irritated with this problem that I went ahead and bought an LG Volt, since I didn't have the money to buy another galaxy. It's nice but I don't like it as much. I'm still afraid to send the Galaxy into Samsung. They have expressed to me that if they can't find an issue(just my luck), or if they find the issue to be my fault(IE I put the phone too close to a credit card magnet or some dumb crap like that), then they will charge me not only for the parts and labor, but for the return shipping... and we all know that they'll charge me way more than the phone is worth.
I was just wondering if anyone else has had this problem, and if there's anyway to fix it without having to send my phone in to samsung? I have been told, also, that I could try reflashing the phone to it's original firmware and software, but I am afraid of screwing the phone up since I've never done anything like that before.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You could definitely flash the stock ROM and kernel to your phone via ODIN. However, the safest and most foolproof way to do this would be to download Samsung's KIES software here: http://www.samsung.com/ca/support/usefulsoftware/KIES/JSP
Once in KIES, you would plug in your phone to the USB port and, if needed, download any drivers for your phone. Then, you would follow this path: Tools --> Firmware Upgrade and Initilisation. This will give you a warning that you will lose all your stored data on the phone, and will offer you to make a backup -- a very limited backup -- of information on your phone. If you don't have any worthwhile information, I'd skip the backup and go right to stock ROM restore.
Hope this helps.

tO rcatank, I have already done all of those things. I have a new phone (which I don't like as much) that is connected to 4g almost always.
Higgs_Boson said:
You could definitely flash the stock ROM and kernel to your phone via ODIN. However, the safest and most foolproof way to do this would be to download Samsung's KIES software here:
Once in KIES, you would plug in your phone to the USB port and, if needed, download any drivers for your phone. Then, you would follow this path: Tools --> Firmware Upgrade and Initilisation. This will give you a warning that you will lose all your stored data on the phone, and will offer you to make a backup -- a very limited backup -- of information on your phone. If you don't have any worthwhile information, I'd skip the backup and go right to stock ROM restore.
Hope this helps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I download KIES onto my computer or the phone? The phone already has something called "KIES Air" on it, is that the same thing? And then one I download the KIES software and hook up my phone and go through the prompts you've provided, it does the rest itself?

ChocaHermosa said:
tO rcatank, I have already done all of those things. I have a new phone (which I don't like as much) that is connected to 4g almost always.
I download KIES onto my computer or the phone? The phone already has something called "KIES Air" on it, is that the same thing? And then one I download the KIES software and hook up my phone and go through the prompts you've provided, it does the rest itself?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, Kies Air is not the same thing. To do a stock restore, you have to hook it up to Kies on your PC via USB. Follow the steps I showed you, follow the steps on the screen, and Kies will take care of the rest.

Higgs_Boson said:
No, Kies Air is not the same thing. To do a stock restore, you have to hook it up to Kies on your PC via USB. Follow the steps I showed you, follow the steps on the screen, and Kies will take care of the rest.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1 on this

Higgs_Boson said:
No, Kies Air is not the same thing. To do a stock restore, you have to hook it up to Kies on your PC via USB. Follow the steps I showed you, follow the steps on the screen, and Kies will take care of the rest.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, thanks very much! One more question though... does it matter that the galaxy is no longer activated? I mean, obviously to test it to see if it works I'd have to re-activate it. But for this process, does it need to be activated?

ChocaHermosa said:
Ok, thanks very much! One more question though... does it matter that the galaxy is no longer activated? I mean, obviously to test it to see if it works I'd have to re-activate it. But for this process, does it need to be activated?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Without it being activated, I don't think you'll be able to receive data of any kind. In order to test 4G capabilities, you are probably going to need to reactivate.
But, to restore it via Kies, no activation is necessary.

[Q] Note 2 No service

Hello everyone.
I have been using my phone for almost 3 years with no issues but recently found out it has the insane chip. After that my phone started going mental with all the reboots and freezes but the worst of all is that suddenly it changed into ''modified'' even though I never rooted. And at the same time with that I got a ''no service''.
I can not call or message or use 4g, only wifi works.
I tried manually entering APN, didnt work
I tried bunch of video instructions on youtube, didnt work
I have no experience in things like rooting or flashing or roms but I went ahead and tried rooting with some automatic program called
Kingoroot. Then I used bunch of different programs like gs2 repair and busybox to see if its about my imei being blocked or something.
Still didnt work.
Weird thing is, my sim card works on other phones but other sim cards still dont work on my phone so I'm guessing its completely on the phone.
Are there any solutions to this because I dont want to buy a new phone while this one is still working? Also since I have no idea about what roms are and all, would be awesome if you told it more detailed.
Thanks in advance

Bump
Just rolled back to no root but weird thing is, even after unrooting it still shows modified.
Some of the solutions I've heard require me to do some software update and delete cache but cant because of the modified state.
Anyway I'm really looking for some solutions

Randomly unresponsive Samsung S10 plus :confused:

dear community
I bought a new S10 plus from a Hong Kong seller online, I had the initial screen greeting in traditional Chinese where I used my other phone to translate and chose English language (noticed that the device is probably a Taiwanese version)
First few hours were fine until June 2019 was installed.
Random unresponsiveness and strange behavior (Android status bar will pull down on its own, back and home virtual buttons do not work all the time, non responsive touch screen) This will go away if I lock then unlock and will come back again or sometimes not.
This became an annoyance as it will randomly either make the screen unresponsive or ultra responsive repeating my single touch commands which is a real pain, I hope you get the picture?
I decided to do a RESET, this all went well until it rebooted to a screen where it said something in traditional Chinese and a tick next to SIM1 (I forgot my UK sim card inside) so I clicked on next
it then rebooted and with a greeting in English!
here I went through the setting up and the wireless then it could not connect to Google (how bizarre)
I had to switch off Wifi to be able to get to final home screen, then I switched Wifi back on
Google services were installed however I was unable to add my Google account
also, the random unresponsiveness came back
I tried to hard reset, now without the sim card, same as above I could not add a Google account it does time out....
I can open a browser and open web pages no problem so there is internet connection
my main problem is that the device is not working properly and I cannot add a Google account
researched the forum and I though I might give it a try and re flash official firmware.
I made short videos of this strange behavior of the phone, where I will post them if needed.
My questions are :
would flashing an official firmware solve my problem?
which version I should flash, BRI (Taiwanese) or XEU (UK EU) ?
here is my SW ver.
SAOMC_SM-F975F_OXM_XEU_PP_0018
R58M36793AR
XEU/XEU,BRI/BRI
Many thanks for your advise!

Update:
I have flashed the OXM XEU version from this thread:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/s10-plus/how-to/asba-official-stock-fw-update-odin-t3908710
Resolved:
I can now add a Google account, the problem was that I have to insert my SIM in order for this to work
Main problem:
random issues with screen and weird behavior: as I mentioned before, I get multiple registers for one touch which is extremely annoying when trying the simplest of text typing including typing wrong passwords!
the status bar is another annoyance which will drop down randomly and unexpectedly
current version:
G975FXXU2ASF3/G975FOXM2ASF3/G975FXXU2aASF3
SW ver.
SAOMC_SM-G975F_OXM_XEU_PP_0018
R58M36793AR
XEU/XEU,XEU/BRI
any ideas?

adygadam said:
Update:
I have flashed the OXM XEU version from this thread:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/s10-plus/how-to/asba-official-stock-fw-update-odin-t3908710
Resolved:
I can now add a Google account, the problem was that I have to insert my SIM in order for this to work
Main problem:
random issues with screen and weird behavior: as I mentioned before, I get multiple registers for one touch which is extremely annoying when trying the simplest of text typing including typing wrong passwords!
the status bar is another annoyance which will drop down randomly and unexpectedly
current version:
G975FXXU2ASF3/G975FOXM2ASF3/G975FXXU2aASF3
SW ver.
SAOMC_SM-G975F_OXM_XEU_PP_0018
R58M36793AR
XEU/XEU,XEU/BRI
any ideas?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From the CSC OMC file of the UK rom get the .pit file via WinRAR.In odin put AP in AP slot,BL in BL slot,CP in CP slot and CSC in CSC slot(CSC not Homr_CSC).In pit section of Odin put the file which you got there.P.s. Use PatcheD Odin by 3B.

Hi ExtremeGrief
I did exactly what you suggested, used patched Odin by 3B from here and did extract the .pit file which in the ROM I chose reads:
BEYOND2LTE_EUR_OPEN.pit
ROM was loaded in 05:49 min/sec, however I still have the 2 issues:
1-upon fresh reset of android first setup screens will not progress to home screen unless I disable wifi (it will get stuck forever in the Checking Info screen), also I have to insert my SIM in order for me to add a Google account which is mad. so in the future if I sell my phone the next person will have hard time figuring out why they cant add google account!
2-crazy randomly popping up android status bar is back alongside with the unresponsive screen where it will get fix temporarily by pressing power button to lock then unlock, overall operation of the phone is a pain with constant random touch freezes
any other ideas on what is happening with this phone, is it hardware or software related?
shall I start RMA with the seller or try other fixes?

Are u charging ur mobile while using it??? When these touches appear?? Are you using a genuine charger... Dial *#0*# and go to touch from the menu... Swipe your finger through all the zones to check if touch panel is okay

muhammadshais said:
Are u charging ur mobile while using it??? When these touches appear?? Are you using a genuine charger... Dial *#0*# and go to touch from the menu... Swipe your finger through all the zones to check if touch panel is okay
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
no, I am not charging it while using it and the charger is a genuine one, I usually use wireless charging for my phones.
These random glitches in the status bar and unresponsive screen touch are random but they are noticeable and I have recorded a video of this strange behavior.
Now using this GSM test screen, there are no issues with the panel, all is registering okay and the weird part that the status bar is not acting crazy or showing up, also back/home buttons are working perfectly in this mode
any other ideas?

here are links for some videos I made to show the issues:
unresponsive screen video1
unresponsive screen video2
Status bar drops on its own!
these links are available for 6 days, I will refresh the links if necessary

adygadam said:
Hi ExtremeGrief
I did exactly what you suggested, used patched Odin by 3B from here and did extract the .pit file which in the ROM I chose reads:
BEYOND2LTE_EUR_OPEN.pit
ROM was loaded in 05:49 min/sec, however I still have the 2 issues:
1-upon fresh reset of android first setup screens will not progress to home screen unless I disable wifi (it will get stuck forever in the Checking Info screen), also I have to insert my SIM in order for me to add a Google account which is mad. so in the future if I sell my phone the next person will have hard time figuring out why they cant add google account!
2-crazy randomly popping up android status bar is back alongside with the unresponsive screen where it will get fix temporarily by pressing power button to lock then unlock, overall operation of the phone is a pain with constant random touch freezes
any other ideas on what is happening with this phone, is it hardware or software related?
shall I start RMA with the seller or try other fixes?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,next time you respond to my replies just quote me.Try to make the same thing that I told you to do before,but this time in Options tab in Odin 3B select:Nand Erase All,Auto Reboot and F.Reset Time.If this dors not work then it is a hardware problem but try this anyway.Maybe the seller that you bought the phone from put some malicious software on a hidden partition of the phone.Nand erase all wipes EVERY partition and writes it again.Hope this helps!

muhammadshais said:
Are u charging ur mobile while using it??? When these touches appear?? Are you using a genuine charger... Dial *#0*# and go to touch from the menu... Swipe your finger through all the zones to check if touch panel is okay
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ExtremeGrief said:
Hi,next time you respond to my replies just quote me.Try to make the same thing that I told you to do before,but this time in Options tab in Odin 3B select:Nand Erase All,Auto Reboot and F.Reset Time.If this dors not work then it is a hardware problem but try this anyway.Maybe the seller that you bought the phone from put some malicious software on a hidden partition of the phone.Nand erase all wipes EVERY partition and writes it again.Hope this helps!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did exactly what you suggested, so far so good.
I had to disable wifi to get to home screen then I re-enabled it, it did update all Google services.
my only problem now is that with the phone without a SIM, I cannot add Google account! it is stuck in the "Checking Info" screen.
any ideas?

adygadam said:
I did exactly what you suggested, so far so good.
I had to disable wifi to get to home screen then I re-enabled it, it did update all Google services.
my only problem now is that with the phone without a SIM, I cannot add Google account! it is stuck in the "Checking Info" screen.
any ideas?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Then its a hardware problem.Sorry.

adygadam said:
here are links for some videos I made to show the issues:
unresponsive screen video1
unresponsive screen video2
Status bar drops on its own!
these links are available for 6 days, I will refresh the links if necessary
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did your try clearing your cache? Normally if your had reset then you won't have to do this... But try it and see.... Shutdown your phone then pressing bixby button + vol up + power until u see recovery then clear cache.
If it's still can't resolve then get help from samsung service center.

ExtremeGrief said:
Then its a hardware problem.Sorry.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thank you for trying to help me.
this is the weirdest issue I had so far with any phone! seems that getting phones from another region and specially China is a journey into a dark tunnel!
I thought the same as you, maybe a malicious software, the phone was spanking new and it was sealed with a guarantee sticker, mind you if they can clone entire buildings they can do anything.
I have started an RMA process with the seller, whats funny is that their T&C state that they reserve the right to not honor the claim if its a firmware issue etc plus they would charge 10% off price for restocking fees.
Any other ideas from anyone?

ExtremeGrief said:
Then its a hardware problem.Sorry.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ramnkc said:
Did your try clearing your cache? Normally if your had reset then you won't have to do this... But try it and see.... Shutdown your phone then pressing bixby button + vol up + power until u see recovery then clear cache.
If it's still can't resolve then get help from samsung service center.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
yes I did the following since I had the problems:
reset settings
wipe cache
hard reset
reflash with Odin
reflash with 3B Odin
reflash with 3B Odin plus erase Nand
and now I just tried wipe cache
still cant add Google account, and also I noticed this status bar drop down quickly issue occur just once for now!

adygadam said:
Hi,
yes I did the following since I had the problems:
reset settings
wipe cache
hard reset
reflash with Odin
reflash with 3B Odin
reflash with 3B Odin plus erase Nand
and now I just tried wipe cache
still cant add Google account, and also I noticed this status bar drop down quickly issue occur just once for now!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Then probably need to make a trip down to samsung service center then.

ramnkc said:
Then probably need to make a trip down to samsung service center then.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just called the service centre near to my city in the UK, basically what he said is that I can bring the phone for them to have a look at however it being made for another region (Hong Kong/Taiwan whatever) then the software he said or parts required are difficult to get hold of and he advised me to contact the seller.
he said that probably I locked the device by mistake if I cannot add Google account.
I am going to visit them (1:30 hour drive) now to see what they can make off it.
not sure what happened nor why this all happening, for my phone software is black magic, I can happily do tinker with PCs etc and even do some basic Linux etc, I am not entirely sure what is making this phone locked and how to get rid of this or even find out if any of the hardware elements is faulty.

latest update:
I spent 3 hours round trip by car and got to the official Samsung service centre, they checked my phone and said that it is very likely the phone is genuine (not sure why they are not 100% sure) and it is designated as shipping country: Taiwan with a model of SM-G975FCKGBRI, however the product date is 1/9/2015! compared to my aging genuine UK version S7 Edge which has a product date of 1/2/2016
when I said that the phone was new in case with a warranty sticker, he said that anyone can do this including Samsung where they refurbish phones and reseal them and apply the special silver warranty sticker and goes back into sale!
upon inspection he confirmed that the right middle section of the touch screen is faulty
what is more bizarre is that he managed to log into google using their wifi connection no problem.
lastly, he said I have two options + last resort:
1-they will repair this on my cost and it could take weeks or months to get the parts for this specific Taiwanese phone (I never heard of this before specially that digitizer is just a component)
2-return it to original seller for them to replace/repair or refund
3-call Samsung care UK and try to "convince" them to take this handset and repair it eventually FOC
Now, I don't know what the Hong Kong seller has done previously to this phone if they had unsealed it then applied a warranty sticker (says Samsung etc..), what I know for sure is that I resisted common sense and ordered this phone overseas to save few bucks
to summarize, I will give up and RMA this phone maybe the seller can replace/repair etc.
thanks all for your help

ramnkc said:
Then probably need to make a trip down to samsung service center then.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
adygadam said:
latest update:
I spent 3 hours round trip by car and got to the official Samsung service centre, they checked my phone and said that it is very likely the phone is genuine (not sure why they are not 100% sure) and it is designated as shipping country: Taiwan with a model of SM-G975FCKGBRI, however the product date is 1/9/2015! compared to my aging genuine UK version S7 Edge which has a product date of 1/2/2016
when I said that the phone was new in case with a warranty sticker, he said that anyone can do this including Samsung where they refurbish phones and reseal them and apply the special silver warranty sticker and goes back into sale!
upon inspection he confirmed that the right middle section of the touch screen is faulty
what is more bizarre is that he managed to log into google using their wifi connection no problem.
lastly, he said I have two options + last resort:
1-they will repair this on my cost and it could take weeks or months to get the parts for this specific Taiwanese phone (I never heard of this before specially that digitizer is just a component)
2-return it to original seller for them to replace/repair or refund
3-call Samsung care UK and try to "convince" them to take this handset and repair it eventually FOC
Now, I don't know what the Hong Kong seller has done previously to this phone if they had unsealed it then applied a warranty sticker (says Samsung etc..), what I know for sure is that I resisted common sense and ordered this phone overseas to save few bucks
to summarize, I will give up and RMA this phone maybe the seller can replace/repair etc.
thanks all for your help
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just found out why I could not log into Google and the request was timing out!
I have my router at home setup with a DNS server of 9.9.9.9 (as I dont want Google to snoop over all my activity outside Chrome) therefore the phone was not able to connect to Google server for some bizarre reason even though my web browsers have no problem using Quad9 to resolve google services.
I set the DNS up back to 8.8.8.8 and now my phone can instantly log into google!
hope this helps someone who tinkers with their DNS settings on their routers

SIM card recognized but no service

TL;DR
Moto Z2 Play - XT1710-07
The phone recognizes the SIM card but there is no signal (no service). Tried several things, including flashing a custom ROM. I'm considering buying a new motherboard and changing it myself, but first want to know if anyone knows more about this issue or has an idea/suggestion.
Edit: As an added bonus, something that only now I realized. Now when I charge it, it gets EXTREMELY hot. Like I-can't-even-use-it hot. I used to use the phone while charging all the time, but now I can't even hold it. Seems like the problem is when it tries go past 80% charge. It gets super slow, keeps trying and gets hot. Now I don't know if it's a software problem caused by the various flashings or if it's something that would remain even after swapping the motherboard.
Edit 2: I did a full discharge of the phone and recharged it while turned off. It seems to have normalized the battery problem
Edit 3: RIP. I tried to remove the screen before deciding about buying a new board. In the process, I ended up tearing the digitizer flat cable apart. Now I don't think it's worth it buying both a new screen and a motherboard.
The full story and things I've tried
My phone was working all nice and dandy until it stopped having signal/service. Wifi works normally, but anything related to the SIM card doesn't, like phone calls or mobile data.
A list of things I've tried somewhat in order (both of time and of complexity):
* My SIM in another phone: it works normally, so the problem is not the SIM itself
* Another SIM in my phone: it doesn't work, so the problem is definitely the phone
* Using the second SIM slot
* Changing "Preferred Network Type" between the available ones (4G, 3G, 2G, including Enhanced 4G LTE Mode on and off): this one and the next two items don't really make sense to me, since these options seem to be only related to mobile data (4G/3G internet) connection, not to phone calls which is also not working, but I tried them anyway
* Manually selecting the network: Errors with "Selected network unavailable" and, after trying to register for a while, toasts another error saying "Can't connect to the network, try again later"
* Manually selecting the APN: Tried both selecting between the two options available and manually adding an APN by googling the correct info for my carrier
* Simply booting into fastboot and restarting bootloader: a video on YouTube claimed that it was a temporary solution and that I'd need to do it every time it lost signal. But it didn't even work the first time
* Disabling CQATest and then restarting bootloader (and also clearing its data/cache and removing its permissions): a lot of videos on YouTube claimed this was a solution, including for other Motorola phones. Apparently CQATest prevents the phone from working properly in some scenarios. But I think only when you de-google your phone? Not sure. All I know is that it didn't work either
* Using the phone connected to the wall charger: I think this was another YouTube suggestion, and it actually worked for a few minutes. But I guess it was just a coincidence, as it never worked again
Now for some more... "forceful" attempts:
* Factory Reset: Not sure where I saw this suggestion, but it was pretty much the next logical step. Gathered courage, backed up all my data, etc, aaand... nothing again
* Flashing another ROM: Guess it was here at XDA that I read that it was a problem with Motorola's stock ROM. That, paired with my belief that it could still be related to CQATest being installed, I again gathered more courage to flash a custom ROM. I chose LineageOS and found out that it was no longer supported, but decided to install the last official release. I also read that the problem was the Pie modem firmware, so it all seemed to be going fine since the last official release is Oreo 8.1. I flashed it and BAM it worked! ... for a few minutes and never again. I messed around with LineageOS, tried some of the previous things again, but nothing.
Then, I tried to restore my TWRP backup but it didn't work. So I searched a bit more and downloaded the Stock Pie ROM, flashed it, and closed the bootloader. And then I realized the restore probably didn't work since my backup was made using Pie and my phone was on Oreo. Maybe some files/partitions were missing? Also, when I was creating my TWRP backups, I tried creating a full system image backup but it kept erroring. Only later I realized the problem was that the USB Drive was FAT32 and the full system image was bigger than 4GB. Oh, well, now I know.
So now that I'm with my phone pretty much back on square one, I take it to an authorized repair shop. The clerk said that it was a common problem, and that sometimes it could be solved "by software" and that they'd try that. The other option was to change the whole motherboard, which they didn't do because it was "not worth it" and "almost the full price of a new phone". After two days, my suspicions were confirmed: they didn't fix it with their "by software" attempt. At least I didn't have to pay anything.
When I got the phone back, I put the SIM in again and it showed the icon as if there was signal. But when I tried to call someone, the signal disappeared again. I tried searching a bit more, went through all pages of Q&A here at XDA forums and there were like 3 posts regarding loss of signal. All without any response. On YouTube, I found some videos offering a suspicious .bat file. Upon inspection, it merely erased the modemst1 and modemst2 partitions and then wiped user data and cache. I tried it, nothing to lose. Also didn't work.
Now I'm contemplating a few options:
By watching some disassembly videos, I saw that, when opened, the phone has some parts that act like antennas. I thought that maybe those were not properly connected to the board? Maybe they got dislodged during a fall? Seems unlikely tho, since they are screwed in. I searched for a new motherboard to buy and it's a reasonable price. But I'm afraid it'll have the same problem (or develop it in a short time) since I can't find anywhere what the true cause of the problem is.
Another option is to just give up, buy a new phone and use this one as if it was a "small tablet" lol
So, do you guys have any other suggestions or ideas as to what might be the problem? Maybe a tip like "solder a wire to this spot to create a make-do antenna"? I don't really know where else to search.
If not, thanks anyway for those who read it all