Hello XDA forumers,
This is my first post, so be gentle
I was sick and tired of poor signal and performance of my sx56 phone for about 2 years. I ran into this forum over past weekend, was amazed and started to fiddle around with various ROM images.
I tried several but beleive it or not, Special Edition ROM put together by these people was the best. Right now my device has a RSU from ATT upgrade of WM2003. I didn't touch it. And with the SER i get an awsome performance and signal strength. So first of all, great job guys.
I would just live with this ROM forever, but curosity has gotten the best of me.
So the question for the fathers of SER is: how did you do it? Did you simply take O2 ROM and cooked it with some other applications. Did you make any coding changes to the RIL? I cooked several versions of PPC 2003 ROM from stefan's kitchen, but couldn't get my phone perf to get quiet there. Was that, that 2002 was just a better OS? Microsoft screwed something up in 2003?
I have got quiet a few questions on my mind!! as you can tell!!
I would like to develop a similar special room that is based on 2003 system. my reasons for insisting on 2003 is that .net applications work with it (e.g. voice command).
Thanks for all your work. love you guys!!
err, damn newbies.. I thought the information about my phone would populate from my profile: Here is what i got now on my phone:
SX56, ATT, ROM 3.17.03 (Special Edition ROM 1.2) RSU A.33.03
I hate WM2003, too! The SER by XDA-developers was a marvellous thing! But there are a few reasons to give 2002 up:
- it is VERY slow with application handling comparing to WM2003 :!:
- as you mentioned, no .NET there...
- IE supports older versions of JS
- worse Phone, SMS interfaces. No new "connecrion/phone status" bubble, that allows to connect to GPRS, for example.
- in general, most programmers today aim the WM2003 (even though some of their apps work with PPC2002PE, too)
On the other side:
- it takes less space (both RAM and ROM) :!:
- some people (like me) like older interfaces (especially "connections" tab in settings!)
- it was not this buggy (multiple windows in IE didn't close itself without my permission, could turn off LCD to play music with less battery consumption)...
- I expected few more things to be supported in WM2003...
bob, thanks for your reply and insightful thoughts.
My question still remains, why do i see better signal strength with Special Edition Rom 1.2 compared to WM2003. It is puzzling me. This is a questions directly for SER developers? What did you do to get a better signal reception? or WM2002 was a better os for radio reception?? Is the antena graphic signal is bit magnified than what it is?
I mean you guys wont beleive, i actually have my phone back after 2 years of mucking around with it. I can actually make calls and recieve calls in the area that i live. Now it still roams over to cingular, but even get a full bar signal with cingular. I was ready to drop the whoe pocket pc phone thing and now .. well.
I request and hope attention from the SER guys. I would like to make or participate in making Special Edition for WM2003. I love the OS; hate the signal that i get with it.
I don't think they changed anything in OS code, possibly tweakers, included in SER did. There was GPRSconnection thing, that allowed not to disconnect from GPRS on power off...
Concerning signal strength, do you feel you loose signal more often or it is all about how many lines it shows on taskbar? In addition, did you change PDA's ROM only or GSM ROM, too? (in these machines there are three ROMs: PDA, GSM/GPRS and bootloader)
SER2003: I think there will be no SER2003 - noone needs it. You can get whatever you personally need in ROM kitchens. If you want to help, you can suggest something LumpiStefan should add.
I have only been playing with the OS part. Didn't touch bootloader or RSU.
that is somewhat correct that i have been measuring the signal strength by the number of bars shown. It is now confirmed that the delta of bars between Special Editition ROM and WM2003 is at-least 2 bars, with device sitting at exact same spot.
BUT I put SER on and used the phone for 1 whole day. It had a great performance. As I said, i was able to make calls from ares where i have never been able to before. I am today trying a phone with a well cooked version of wm2003 from stephan's kitchen, and i am have issues so far!!
question remains: What is it in SER that improved signal so greatly. :?
I'm from Toronto Canada and use my SX56 on the Fido network here. I'm also receiving very poor signal strength, even in downtown Toronto. Should I drive outside the city, forget it. I still carry around my Nokia 3390 just in case I need to make a call while driving home.
I'm using the A.30.09 ENG rom, along with A.33.03 radio version. I'm wondering if anyone has knowledge of a better radio version than this. I've gotten quite good at bootloading my new roms into place, but I'm wondering if there's an easy way of just doing the radio version?
Lastly, and I have to ask this question because of my lack of knowledge, but in respect to the bands (800/900 - 1800/1900), is there a way to force the phone to use any certain band for it's connectivity to the network? Which one is generally stronger? Does the phone automatically seek out the strongest signal from any of the bands and then use that?
I just wanna push my phone to the limit and get the best reception possible.
Thanks for any and all replies!
I had A.30.09 from ATT RS 3.25 (i had 4.21 before but i've changed it to improve radio performance. Unfortunatelly reception remained the same) and i had no reason to comply. All indicators shows poor reception but i had no problems with using my MDA (good voice quality and no dropped calls).
using this software http://www.pocketgear.com/software_detail.asp?id=14491
i checked reception and I had about 95 dBm indoor and 80 dBm outdoor (for MDA minimum strength is 113 and max is 51).
After month or 2 i have changed ROM into 4.1.16 from T-mobile and all seems to works much better!
No i have 80 dBm indoor and 70 outdoor!!! That's what I call great improvement. Unfortunatelly I faced another problem now - today my MDA 2 times (one during measurements ) lost reception at all and I had to restart radio modul to get signal again. I have totaly no idea why this had happend but I'm affraid i cant use this rom anymore Offcourse this new problem may be caused by something diffrent (like strange software form lumpistefan kitchen ) so I'll try to deactivate as much software as possible and use my unit for several days from now on.
If U can try software mensioned above and share with me some conclusions I'll be greatfull. Thx in advance.
Havent really seen this talked about lately... is anyone still getting it where the internet drops connection on the hour every hour with 3.16? Is there a work around for this yet, or is this as I suspect a "bug" with the test rom and is possibly meant for this to do it until an official release?
i have the 3.16 rom but *knock on wood* havent had any problems with it yet....been using it for 2 weeks so im not too sure.
I've had the same problem and apparently a fews others too. But I don't think enough people are having issues to warrant a "fix". Sucks to be us...
I've seen similar behavior (although with not such regularity that you're reporting.) From what I've read here and at ppcgeeks.com it sounds like an issue with the radio rom and not with any of the builds. I'm hoping that a new radio rom is released soon that will eliminate this behavior.
Of course I'm tethered right now posting this so it's not behaving too badly for me.
I have also found that some websites (when tethered) will not open at all for me. Yahoo mail and hotmail are the two the immediately come to mind. They resolve in DNS, I can ping them but they won't open in my browser when I'm tethered.
Yeah, when I use the 3.27 radio I have internet problem. It cannot keep connection so I will have to restart connection often. This cause me trouble with corporate VPN so it cannot use WinMo 6.1 + 3.27 radio. I wish I can use WinMo 6.1 with 1.40 radio, but I think it isn't possible, maybe. WinMo 6.1 is no crash at all in one week... so stable, but WinMo 6.0 crash five time a day. Still, can't use 6.1 cause I can't use my VPN.
We need a better radio, I think radio is trouble with internet. Maybe use 6.0 WinMo and 1.40 radio instead. Until work around anyway.
Hiromitsu
illuminarok said:
Yeah, when I use the 3.27 radio I have internet problem. It cannot keep connection so I will have to restart connection often. This cause me trouble with corporate VPN so it cannot use WinMo 6.1 + 3.27 radio. I wish I can use WinMo 6.1 with 1.40 radio, but I think it isn't possible, maybe. WinMo 6.1 is no crash at all in one week... so stable, but WinMo 6.0 crash five time a day. Still, can't use 6.1 cause I can't use my VPN.
We need a better radio, I think radio is trouble with internet. Maybe use 6.0 WinMo and 1.40 radio instead. Until work around anyway.
Hiromitsu
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
WM6.1 runs fine with 1.40 radio if you use the 2.17 ROM as base
dcd1182 said:
WM6.1 runs fine with 1.40 radio if you use the 2.17 ROM as base
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wish I know how to cook a ROM so I can do that lol
I know this might be a long shot but do you think the radio version and the earlier models of the Mogul could have the effect... I ordered and got mine the first day it came out.... maybe the newer ones are coopertaing better with the new radio? This is a far shot as I would think all the parts/chipsets are the same...
Got mine in late summer. With the "stock" 3.16 beta streaming audio is almost impossible. In both Resco and Mundu radio I can't stream for longer than a couple minutes before that wicked "buffering" message appears.
Before I was using my Mogul with few interruptions for 8 hours a day since we're not supposed to stream on the office network. I'm hoping for a fix soon since the stock 2.17 doesn't seem to want to flash over 3.16.
PRL 60711 seems to have helped the streaming problem. Funny I've been running it on my air card for weeks now.
Yes prl 60711 fixed my 6800 too.
Fix streaming issue or losing internet connection on the hour?
Hello everyone,
I'm starting this thread following my replacement of the standard radio (1.02.25.19) that comes with the UK Touch Pro with the Cingular Rom (1.02.25.31), thanks to MrVanx for the suggestion and to Olinex for the great HardSPL 1.90 (all these in Raphael Wiki here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=419746, except MrVanx of course).
EDIT: By the way, if you're new to this radio game, replacing the radio only DOESN'T erase your memory (as long as it's extracted of course, and despite what updateRUU will tell you), so you can go back and forth very easily, no fastidious reinstall needed.
Following some questions by Athanaso77 in the HardSPL thread, I thought we could share our experiences here about the different radios we try, give feedback and try to see if problems / improvements are general or specific to each phone.
MrVanx has started a more general thread somewhere for feedback about different ROMs/Radios/Protocols (link needed!), so if you're not specifically interested in finding the ultimate T-Mobile UK radio, please post there!
As most (EDIT:many) T-Mobile UK users, I've experienced dropped calls when on 3G and not so good reception in 2G/3G (at least compared to my Vario III/Tytn II), which has prompted the quest [EDIT: along with bad Wifi performance)...
I haven't been able to fully test the 1.02.25.31 radio yet, but here are my first impressions:
- Slightly improved 2G/3G reception
- Not tested yet the dropped calls issue
- Slightly degraded data speed (around 10%) but not sure yet
- Had a problem initially with GPS fix (became longer with TT7) and I'm still testing this. I initially got better results by setting the GPS to Other NMEA GPS, 56700bps, COM4, but it's not consitent so I'm not happy yet.
For those (like Athenaso77) who want to play with the GPS settings in TT7:
from your main TT7 screen, click on the GPS signal strength on the lower right corner, then on the signal strength again on the right (below battery), then configure. You can chose Internal GPS, Other BT GPS or Other NMEA GPS (all three should work and can affect the strength of the signal/lag issue/time needed to get a fix). When asked for speed, select 4800 (default) or 57600. When asked for Com Port, always select COM4 (these should be the default settings in the External GPS app in EDIT:settings/system/external GPS), you can have a look there but don't m*** up with the parameters there, it's the shortest way to a hard reset!).
Please don't ask generic questions about TT7 in this thread (there are plenty on this subject), unless it's related to the performance of the GPS with a new/different Radio.
I'll post a more detailed report in a little while after more testing.
Please let us know about your specific experience. Also before any feedback/question, please give your radio number at the time, as your signature may change....
PS: Any suggestions to make this thread more useful are welcome!
To be honest I am still using the radio that my device was supplied with (1.02.25.19) because I haven't had any problems. Nearly always got H in my bar where ever I go in my local area (bearing in mind I live in the bottom of a valley), only had one or two dropped calls at the most in the month I have been using it, GPS works fine for me, always get a lock quickly and never noticed lag that is out of the ordinary (even going at questionable speeds on the motorway )
It may just be that I am in a great signal area (North Kent btw, if your interested) but I am more than happy with the radio in my phone!
EDIT: It may also be pertinant for people to oost what ROM they are using, as it could be a combination of ROM and Radio that produce a good result! Mine is currently DCSTouchPro-v13 WWE
Great to hear that at least it worked out of the box for you!
As I said, I'm comparing with my Tytn II/Vario III (same area, Salisbury/Wiltshire).
Although the 3G signal was good (not as good as my Vario III), I missed 2 or 3 calls the first day so promptly switched to forced 2G.
The Wifi reception (is it the Touch Pro or the shipped ROM, I don't know) was appalling with the initial ROM, which is also what prompted my quest for a better radio, as I hope the TP can do better than that!
I compared it with my Vario III (before I sold it!) in real time, and I couldn't connect in some rooms where the Vario III had always been absolutely fine (and still was until its last day).
Haven't tested Wifi coverage with the new radio yet, but I will report....
Only have a long fix problem with TT7 since I changed the radio. Not tested the lag yet to see if it's still there, but I think this is more a TT7 software issue as I believe it's fine with TT6 (although not tested on the TP yet).
Out of interest as as everything seems to work for you with stock radio
1) which version of TT7 are you using (I'm using Black VGA repack 3)
2) what are your GPS parameters (in TT7 and in the External GPS app)?
3) do you use QuickGPS or not?
4) are you happy with wifi cover/signal strength and stability?
It may help us less lucky people to improve our experience...
Manni01 said:
Great to hear that at least it worked out of the box for you!
As I said, I'm comparing with my Tytn II/Vario III (same area, Salisbury/Wiltshire).
Although the 3G signal was good (not as good as my Vario III, I missed 2 or 3 calls the first day so promptly switched to forced 2G).
The Wifi reception (is it the Touch Pro or the shipped ROM, I don't know) was appalling with the initial ROM, which is also what prompted my quest for a better radio, as I hope the TP can do better than that!
I compared it with my Vario III (before I sold it!) in real time, and I couldn't connect in some rooms where the Vario III had always been absolutely fine (and still was until its last day).
Haven't tested Wifi coverage with the new radio yet, but I will report....
Only have a long fix problem with TT7 since I changed the radio. Not tested the lag yet to see if it's still there, but I think this is more a TT7 software issue as I believe it's fine with TT6 (although not tested on the TP yet).
Out of interest as as everything seems to work for you with stock radio
1) which version of TT7 are you using (I'm using Black VGA repack 3)
2) what are your GPS parameters (in TT7 and in the External GPS app)?
3) do you use QuickGPS or not?
4) are you happy with wifi cover/signal strength and stability?
It may help us less lucky people to improve our experience...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I do use QuickGPS and I have made sure A_GPS is turned on (by default it was disabled), but I haven't been able to try TT7 yet because I haven't got any maps! iGO8 seams to work fine but the only real testing I did was with google maps, just making sure I kept up, and I let it auto detect the settings.
As for WiFi I don't really use it extensivly, as my office doen't have it and if I am at home I just use my computer but it seamed to be quick enough. I did use it in a pub for a good hour (checking film times, restraurants in the area, general browsing stuff really) and it never dropped out on me, although it did slow down on occasion.
As for dropped calls (i.e straight to answermachine) I can honestly say I haven't had any, the first couple of weeks I still had my old contract running so only 3 people had the new number, so I would have known if someone had
tried to contact me and been unable to. According to T-Mobile I am in the highest level of coverage so maybe I am just lucky in that respect. Like I say it could also be a combination of the ROM, DCS's stuff is very quick and I am very impressed with it
This makes more sense then. The GPS Fix / Lag is only an issue with TT7 on the TP. Google Maps fixes in about 10s (and can be used to improve your fix with TT7) but I'm trying to improve TT7 native response.
The Wifi is specifically a COVERAGE issue. If you're next to the router, or away with no walls, no problems. But I used to be able to get a good signal with my Vario III one or two floors down (I stream TV on my Touch Pro with my Slingbox Pro), and I'm really struggling with the TP (doesn't connect, or loses the connection constantly). I'm not telling you in which room I'm using it most but it's really annoying to suffer such lack of performance compared to the Vario III. Again, this was tested with same router, and simultaneously with Vario III, so I know it's a TP issue.
I may give a new ROM a try once I've decided on the radio...
Manni01 said:
This makes more sense then. The GPS Fix / Lag is only an issue with TT7 on the TP. Google Maps fixes in about 10s (and can be used to improve your fix with TT7) but I'm trying to improve TT7 native response.
The Wifi is specifically a COVERAGE issue. If you're next to the router, or away with no walls, no problems. But I used to be able to get a good signal with my Vario III one or two floors down (I stream TV on my Touch Pro with my Slingbox Pro), and I'm really struggling with the TP (doesn't connect, or loses the connection constantly). I'm not telling you in which room I'm using it most but it's really annoying to suffer such lack of performance compared to the Vario III. Again, this was tested with same router, and simultaneously with Vario III, so I know it's a TP issue.
I may give a new ROM a try once I've decided on the radio...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Fair enough, I thought it was a general GPS issue as opposed to a program specific issue. As for wi-fi I was in the pu so I have no idea where the signal was broadcast from, athough I can say it was a traditional building with incredably thick stone walls by todays standars, so even one room over would have had an effect.
Good luck with your search, if I ever take the plunge for the TT7 maps I will let you knwo how I get on!
Okay, I've done more tests, and here are my first conclusions for1.02.25.31 with stock WWE ROM:
- 3G dropped calls doesn't seem to be an issue anymore, although I need more time - more calls! - to see if it's definitely gone (I usually have 3/4 bars in 3G, and almost all 3G calls were dropped with stock radio).
- 3G data seems to be 10% slower than with stock, but that could be T-mob's mood
- Wifi seems definitely more stable. I used to have trouble connection right next to the router, the new radio is rock stable. From further away (weak signal like 1/2 wifi bars, router in loft , TP in ground floor), it also seems to connect more easily and keep the connecting for longer, where stock used to lose connection every few seconds. It doesn't displays more bars by the way, it's just more stable in borderline locations.
- I have setup my GPS for 4800bps/COM4 in both TomTom and in the external GPS app in settings/system, using "other NMEA GPS" in TT7, and with A-GPS switched on (using Schapps ACT) I get a hot fix in 10-30s consistently, which is good enough for me. I'll have to wait until tomorrow to find out about a cold fix!
So all in all, quite happy with the new radio, which is for me a definite improvement over stock. Now I need to check if the lag in TT7 is still there...
well, I think I'll go for it. I haven't so much had an issue with dropped calls....it's being able to receive the calls in the first place!!.
I also wonder if this will address the data connection issue I've had (push email works fine 90% of the time, if I try to collect my pop mail it connects immediately, but no internet until I do a soft reset.!!)
are there some simple instructions in the wiki about doing the Radio upgrade from the SD card?
Re the data connection, did you uncheck the proxy in your t-mobile connection settings? I had a problem with exchange initially, which was related to a wrong proxy being used by default.
yup..the proxy is unchecked.
it just seems odd that I can't connect to the internet using GPRS etc, but if I connect to my pop3 account ot check email..it works imediately....back to internet explorer...no connection. yet push email works fine too.
surely if my pop3 email connction works when required, and push email works, then connecting to the web via IE should work too??...but no...sometimes it will, sometimes it wont.
well, I now have all the bits I need to update my radio....but....I don't think I will!!
all the instructions I've read are aimed at people who have done it all before and understand the terminology. One day I'm going to sit and write some idiot proof ones.
twisted-pixel said:
well, I now have all the bits I need to update my radio....but....I don't think I will!!
all the instructions I've read are aimed at people who have done it all before and understand the terminology. One day I'm going to sit and write some idiot proof ones.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i dont think there will ever be a more idiot proof one than "install hard-spl first!!!!" the rest is just download blah blah blah and run customRUU
theclueless said:
i dont think there will ever be a more idiot proof one than "install hard-spl first!!!!" the rest is just download blah blah blah and run customRUU
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
perhaps, but the wiki mentions 'flashing' to hardSPL....to me 'flashing' implies ROM replacement!!
twisted-pixel said:
perhaps, but the wiki mentions 'flashing' to hardSPL....to me 'flashing' implies ROM replacement!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the procedure is fairly harmless... as long as you follow the instruction (download, extract, click, run, wait)
ok..getting VERY nervous...connected my device...waited for it to finish it's sync, ran the HardSPL exe, it asked me on my device if I wanted to enter bootloader mode, I clicked yes....the screen faded and now it's been sitting with a blank screen for 25 mins!! the backlight is slightly on, but nothing on the screen and although it's connected to my pc still...the sync light is out, and it's not charging...what's gone wrong???
strange, when i ran it, it was actually disconnected via active sync, as i cant browse the device in my computer anymore
Ill try to keep this brief, as I am disappointed that I couldn't solve it myself! I am on Tmobile USA, with an HD2 Leo. I'm currently running KBWR 6.5 rom, with MattC Leo froyo android, latest build. I just loaded this rom and OS today, where about two months ago I first did Miri6.5 rom and Darkstone froyo 2.2. The Darkstone build never had working 3g, so I finally ditched it.
Problem now is, I first booted the phone on this new setup today, and was on the "edge" network, but not 3g. Now, for no apparent reason, I have no net connectivity. Also, I do experience the "sleep of death" once in a while. Not cool. Any ideas? I did not change radios, as calls were perfect, and like I said, the edge network was running fine, and I'm ok with just that.
Like I said, PLEASE help me =$
-Clark
(I'd label my skill with this sort of thing as intermediate... Not so great. Any assistance would be appreciated...)