[Q] Wifi Signal Bars - Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hey there,
I was wondering if it's normal that my wifi indicator usually stays completly grey even when I'm standing next to the router and connectivity is working properly?

Yep. Only goes blue when you're connected to Google servers (using Google Play, syncing calendar/contacts, etc).

MistahBungle said:
Yep. Only goes blue when you're connected to Google servers (using Google Play, syncing calendar/contacts, etc).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Even when I'm browsing the play store is stays grey,
I'm using hydrogen - ics btw, the indicators are all blue except the wifi which turns grey after the first time u lock the phone and never becomes blue again

Issue with your rom/kernel in that case. Whatever the case may be, I wouldn't worry about it if it isn't affecting the functionality of the phone. If you having problems with anything Google on your phone, then I'd worry.
If you're an anal-retentive type, ask in the forum devoted to the rom you're using, if you really want to test the phone, go back to stock & you'll see what I'm talking about.

Related

[Q] CM7 Data Woes?

Seems that my phone running fascinatemtd cm7 will sporadically lose data (but not the symbol). This is especially clear if the signal/3g stuff turns white in the notification bar. This does not happen to me on other ROMs.
Is this a CM7 bug or a radio bug? I am using latest CM7 with EC09 radio. Have also tried ED04 radio. The strange thing is if I open the browser the phone's data seems to work and the bars will turn green (or blue depending on theme) again.
****I am noticing very long awake times for Email and Google Maps app (only when latitude enabled)
Please excuse me if I don't understand this.
Your 3G icon turns white (as opposed to what ever color it usually is).
When you attempt to use the 3G connection it turns back on and works fine?
And your phone is not deep sleeping when running latitude or checking/updating gmail?
Are you just concerned about the color change or is there a data loss problem when you are actually using data or.....
If I'm not mistake it is just the radio turning off to conserve battery when not polling for data updates. Mine does the same thing when I leave wifi turned on but I am not with in range of a network (and when the phone first starts up from a restart or power on)
Maybe just a little more clarity and we might have an answer, or its quite possible I am not reading this right.
I will say my issue is one that is sort of funky and difficult to describe. Basically it seems that sometimes the radio connection will die and not sync data while the phone is sleeping. When I turn the screen on either the data bars are white or the 3G icon is altogether gone. Then I either am able to open up a browser and they turn green or I have to reboot the phone. Rebooting doesn't always work.
FYI the bars being green means that your phone has a connection to the google servers.
AuroEdge said:
I will say my issue is one that is sort of funky and difficult to describe. Basically it seems that sometimes the radio connection will die and not sync data while the phone is sleeping. When I turn the screen on either the data bars are white or the 3G icon is altogether gone. Then I either am able to open up a browser and they turn green or I have to reboot the phone. Rebooting doesn't always work.
FYI the bars being green means that your phone has a connection to the google servers.
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Click to collapse
+1. Having the same issue. Try cycling airplane mode when the icons turn white.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App
I'm activating my old Droid then gonna swap back. We'll see...
From the CM7 OP:
jt1134 said:
Known Issues:
* occassionally the radio may completely die (usually after phone has been powered off for a while) - fix: (shouldn't have to say this): pull the battery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But as has been said, the bars going white does not need to mean that there is a problem. They adjust a bit based on what the radio is talking to...
And have you tried ED05? It is available in the dev section as a standalone odin now...
AuroEdge said:
Seems that my phone running fascinatemtd cm7 will sporadically lose data (but not the symbol). This is especially clear if the signal/3g stuff turns white in the notification bar. This does not happen to me on other ROMs.
Is this a CM7 bug or a radio bug? I am using latest CM7 with EC09 radio. Have also tried ED04 radio. The strange thing is if I open the browser the phone's data seems to work and the bars will turn green (or blue depending on theme) again.
****I am noticing very long awake times for Email and Google Maps app (only when latitude enabled)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm having the same problems every time I reboot. I especially have this problem if wifi was left on and then i reboot. Wifi connects in the status bar but I have no data transfer. I have to toggle wifi off and back on again to get wifi working again and sometimes I have to do the same thing if 3g is the first data connection on when I reboot. I suppose toggling airplane mode would accomplish the same thing but who knows. Once I am stable in the OS then all of my data works whenever I toggle between 3g and wifi.
M00NEY said:
From the CM7 OP:
But as has been said, the bars going white does not need to mean that there is a problem. They adjust a bit based on what the radio is talking to...
And have you tried ED05? It is available in the dev section as a standalone odin now...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes similar problems. I overheard somebody today out and about saying their email 'feature' phone with Verizon would intermittently lose data connection. What the heck is going on?

Incorrectly using 3G when on wifi

Has anyone else noticed their Lumia using 3G when it shouldn't be e.g. at home with a working wifi access point?
Mine has done this a few times and because WP7 is so clean and simple it's pretty hard to see what's actually going on - there's no data counter. And to make it worse the data icon shows in the status bar even when wifi is on. Ideally it would show one or the other.
Yes, I notice that too. It could be a bug.
BlitterTwisted said:
Has anyone else noticed their Lumia using 3G when it shouldn't be e.g. at home with a working wifi access point?
Mine has done this a few times and because WP7 is so clean and simple it's pretty hard to see what's actually going on - there's no data counter. And to make it worse the data icon shows in the status bar even when wifi is on. Ideally it would show one or the other.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup, I think it uses 3G when the phone is locked, as the phone seems to disconnect from Wi-Fi when you lock the phone. Another bug that probably needs addressing.
Yes! This affects me too.
It switches to 3G randomly when I'm on wifi and kills my data without me realising (or shows failed page loads when I have full wifi reception).
It also turns off wifi whenever I lock phone which seems to disrupt/cancel all push messages! Push messaging just isn't working.
So is this problem unique to Lumia 800?
i've noticed this too. it'll also present me with wifi hotspots to connect to, including ones it should be connected to.
as of now, i don't know whether it's an issue with locked or unlocked handsets. my handset was bought unlocked with no branding, but i've noticed some of the bugs i'm having don't seem to happen on network locked/branded handsets.
It's not a Lumia thing, it's just how WP works. Turning off wifi to save on battery use I guess. Android has the same default setting, although it allows you to change it.
I can understand it using 3G for background processes, like you say Android does the same thing.
What I can't understand is it using 3G when I am using the web browser on the phone, and the Wifi icon is lit at the top of the screen.
Rusty! said:
It's not a Lumia thing, it's just how WP works. Turning off wifi to save on battery use I guess. Android has the same default setting, although it allows you to change it.
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Click to collapse
That's not the case actually, before the firmware update I used to get my notifications, after the update, I don't, I think Nokia did it on the firmware update.
Which firmware was this working in btw?
Oh and turning off WLAN when you have an active connection does NOT save power. It only saves power when there isn't an active connection because the 3G uses more for retrieving background data (eg. regular email, social networking updates) and *much* more for retrieving heavy data. I have tested this on numerous Nokia phones.
^ i got the opposite result - normally i have WLAN turned on at all times, because it always connects to wifi at home and at work. my battery lasted much longer (it lasted the night with 39% left, as opposed to going flat sometime in the night) with just the 3g turned on.
I noticed that wi-fi only stays on after you lock the screen if the phone is charging. Otherwise it cuts the conncetion. Very annoying indeed if you are downloading big games over wi-fi. However I get my notifications and emails just fine in any case. Remeber though, windows phone doesnt support proper push, hence why they cant get skype to recieve calls in the background. Facebook and whatsapp push always comes about 3-4 minutes later than needed.
Another thing that i have been testing for a while on various phones (nokia n9 included, not the lumia because it's too unreliable) and also got mentioned in this tread is wi-fi vs 3g consumption.
So my results are:
with 3 emails 15-30 mins sync or push for one, at least one push service eg, facebook, vkontakte whatsapp etc (where possible)
i concluded that if you just leave the phone there for a day in standby and dont use it, it drains quicker with wi-fi on. Everytime. Every phone.
However when using the internet eg. browsing for half an hour etc. wi-fi uses a lot less battery than 3g.
So only use the wi fi when you need it and switch it off for background tasks. (WP7 does that anyway, for a reason)

Any way to find out why my location icon is always 'broadcasting'?

So I understand that the GPS icon is always going to be on in ICS (super useful design), but i've noticed this morning that mine is also constantly in the transmitting state, ie: (+) ) ) ). I can't figure out why, since I don't have any apps that should be using GPS on right now. It didn't start off this way, and I haven't installed anything.
I'm just concerned that it's draining battery.
I've got my GPS enabled all the time, but the icon only shows up when it's actively in use. might be a deeper problem.
Check Facebook and any weather Widgets you gave set to use current location.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2
Nope. already had location disabled on those.
its because you have location services enabled. Once you turn all of those off it will no longer broadcast
Right, sort of. On every other phone I've seen, just having them enabled but not currently used results in just the GPS (location icon), which looks like a crosshair: (+), and then if something, like a navigation program or facebook is using your location service, it turns into (+) ) ) ) --crosshair with waves coming out of it.
Mine's always in the latter state, even when I go to task manager and make sure there's nothing that SHOULD be using it ...
NegativeOne said:
Right, sort of. On every other phone I've seen, just having them enabled but not currently used results in just the GPS (location icon), which looks like a crosshair: (+), and then if something, like a navigation program or facebook is using your location service, it turns into (+) ) ) ) --crosshair with waves coming out of it.
Mine's always in the latter state, even when I go to task manager and make sure there's nothing that SHOULD be using it ...
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Click to collapse
On the SGS3 as well as the SGS2, the crosshair icon was only on if GPS was active (i.e. navigation was on or Facebook or something else actively using the GPS) I ALWAYS had mine enabled, so that when I needed it active, I would not need to perform an unnecessary step. Sounds to me like you have either an app that is causing it to remain active all the time, or there is something wrong with your phone.
I have the same issue, it shows that the GPS is constantly in use (not just the E911 service). Any thoughts on why that is?
Are you on Verizon?
burkett375 said:
Are you on Verizon?
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Click to collapse
yes I'm on verizion. It goes away when i turn off location services, but I was wondering if i'll lose battery if those services are on

[Q] Grey WIFI icon, even I'm connected to Google servers.

Ok, everybody...
So I search A LOT for my problem over Google and everywhere, but all the problems I see goes like: "grey wifi/signal icon and CAN'T connect to Google servers".
My problem is a little bit different: I'm getting the grey icon even though I'm connected to Google servers. I can sync, I access the Play Store, browser works fine, BUT the icon is still greyed out.
Weird thing #2: this happens ONLY with wifi connection. If I turn it off, the connection instantly changes to 3G/4G and the icon goes blue.
So, what may be happening? I tried rebooting the phone and
1) sometimes it works fine
2) sometimes it's working fine and then stops working (normally when I reconnect - wifi -> 3G -> wifi ...)
3) sometimes it's not working at all
If anyone can help me solve this problem, I would mostly appreciate it.
I know this problem happens on routers set to mixed (B, G ,N) and isolated B, G or N modes should fix the problem. My problem occurs regardless of mixed or not mixed. Also, like I mentioned above, it sometimes work, sometimes not. So, can we have a pattern here...?
Thanks!
Sorry, forgot to mention: I'm using a Razr Maxx XT910 running ICS 4.0.4.

YP-G70 SGP5 USA Orange WIFI bars?

Trying to save battery, I think I shut off something (was playing with sync settings) and now constant orange bars but all is fine!?! From what i can tell, internet good, manual refresh gets mail & play store updates still work, etc. Could it be that orange just indicates that syncs to Google are off? (but indeed I set them that way). I tried allowing sync again & sync-all-now manually but they stay orange. I tried setting DNS to google-dns-servers (via rom toolkit) but still stay orange & tried reset Google accounts - this gets them to go white again but some hrs later back to orange! Seems some ip conn to google is prevented by me leaving off some sync or something and as soon as it tries to reach google the conn is prevented and voila orange indication! I tried reviewing logcat but didn't really put a finger on any entry to help isolate it. So if it causes a unforeseen background problem to leave them orange, I'd like to reverse what I might've done else just leave it as is. Anyone else see this, know what causes it to go orange? I'd prefer to leave sync off.
Model: YP-G70
Android: 4.4.4 = CM11-20140712-UNOFFICIAL-venturi
Kernel: default = 3.0.101-G70UEK18 [email protected] #1 Sat Jul 12 13:13:50 PT 2014
Build#: cm_venturi-userdebug 4.4.4 KTU84P 997e99f83e test-keys
As I know it, when the device has sync on and is successfully "connected" to Google, signal turns blue (in JellyBean) / orange (KitKat). Even when sync is on, if Google is unreachable (e.g. here in China ), it won't go orange. As for when it exactly goes orange... Back in the JellyBean times, when Google is accessible, signal turns blue just seconds after I turn WiFi/3G on, without me having to do anything.
Sent from Google Nexus 4 @ CM11
Found this below among many articles about this, though no clear root cause and many other issues can be involved too.
In my case, I think I turned off some google service to save battery, that I am so far ok with being turned off. Here's a guess at this = My turning this off causes some subsystem to never make the conn to google in the first place. Some other subsystem checks for this conn to google and sees it's not present. It doesn't know I turned it off manually in another part of the system and simply proceeds to turn the wifi bars orange color to indicate conn to google not found present.
Everything else wifi works for me, and I am aware I have to now manually check for updates & notifies because of this - so at the cost of some background automation. Just not sure exactly which setting or combined settings I made caused this or what the exact check dependencies are to make this orange color indication. While the android manual below and article it came from confirms orange means some services not normally connected, it also doesn't go into what the exact conns are it's checking for to make this determination.
Seems in KK now, orange means no-google-conn & white=good - a change from ICS where blue=good and grey=no-google-conn.
(found this in article http://forum.xda-developers.com/google-nexus-5/help/3g-wifi-icons-color-indicating-t2517867)....
From Android-Quick-Start-Guide.pdf
Quote:
In Quick Settings only, white bars in the Wi-Fi or
mobile signal indicators indicate the signal strength
of a normal Internet connection, while orange bars
indicate that some web services may not be functioning
normally. For example, sometimes the mobile signal bars
turn orange briefly when you turn on your device, until a
full connection is established.
Just a quick update - for other reasons, I reflashed cm11 fresh (full wipe) and restored apps from TB backups. The white bars came back to normal but also poor battery life did too. Also noticed after sleep now the bars would remain orange but airplane mode toggle would get them to go white again. Tried to mess with settings again to save more battery life but not so good battery & constant airplane mode toggle compelled me to switch to carbon ROM as a new try out.
This now also has white bars but they come back to white on their own after sleep in carbon ROM & the few battery saving settings get the battery life to pretty good. So going to stick around with carbon for a while for now - many more settings in carbon too if that appeals. As for orange bars root cause still not sure exactly but at least carbon seems to recover back from sleep to white bars on its own without airplane toggles.
Sent from my YP-G70

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