Hi folks, I've had the AT&T samsung galaxy sII i777 for some time now and i've loved having android capabilities in comparison to the iPhone which i almost went with. I'm having one problem though; I cannot seem to even get a solid connection or establish a call around my part of town, even though other AT&T phones have no problem at all! My sister for example, has a new iphone. And while she gets bad service, she can at least make a call without any problem. For me, it will instantly end my call upon dial, give me a no-service prompt, or will just hang/stall on the dialer app. Very VERY frusterating to say the least.
My theory is that my android keeps trying to search between different networking types to find which type of connection will be ideal (edge, 3g, 4g etc), but won't stay on a service long enough while switching between different types to actually do anything. I've tryed many different modems, but with zero luck. Lately, i've given up on the project and have just been staying on the default one's that comes with the i777 AOKP package updates. And just to be clear, I am running the i777 aokp rom, not the ported i9100 to i777 AOKP rom.
Before i even rooted and flashed the sucker, on the default stock rom, it seemed to run way better than it is right now. I know custom roms are expected to have bugs, but AOKP has been out for some time, and even on the latest builds, i've had lots of apps (mainly the browser) crashing on me constantly. I've been thinking about just completely formatting the SD card, and starting anew with a fresh install of a brand new rom (after doing some thorough homework on it, of course). But that brings up another question, will formatting the SD card, also format Root Access and the installed kernal?
What are the secure steps to Completely clean my SD card, and start from scratch? I definitely don't want to brick my phone.
thank you for any feedback
Your sd card doesn't have anything to do with the functionality of the phone. It will only be a waste of your time, as you will just have to put your media back on it.
Which modem do you have now? Have you tried other ROMs?
Sent from my SGH-I777 using xda premium
Your problems have NOTHING TO DO with AOKP. Someone reading this may get that idea. Whatever apps u have crash or service errors and reception are not the fault of that rom. It's a mix of at&t problems and user error or poorly written apps.
If you had noticeably better service with the stock rom but wanted the additional features the devs here provide, sounds like you'd be better off with a rom built off a samsung source rather than AOSP source. You can try flashing a different modem first (see the thread at the top of the development forum). My phone came with UCKK6, and now i'm running UCLE5 (on AOKP 6/22), which has always seemed to provide slightly better reception and data rates. I'd start there if i were you.
NegativeSpace said:
If you had noticeably better service with the stock rom but wanted the additional features the devs here provide, sounds like you'd be better off with a rom built off a samsung source rather than AOSP source. You can try flashing a different modem first (see the thread at the top of the development forum). My phone came with UCKK6, and now i'm running UCLE5 (on AOKP 6/22), which has always seemed to provide slightly better reception and data rates. I'd start there if i were you.
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That's interesting...after doing some testing, I discovered its opposite for me, or at least in the south part of my town. The uckk6 works better than the ucle5 by what seems like 20% or so. But on such a small scale with only getting 1 or 2 bars in the first place, its rally hard to tell. Its only a 10kb/sec difference unless I somehow find a strong connection in my house. My neighbors also have a large HAM radio antenna in their backyard and I think it causes minor interference with the cell towers :*(
Related
Okay, I have done the following things:
1. I have soldered the connection inside the phone. (Yes very nicely I might add as I solder a lot at work.)
2. I have the Sub-Zero build 75 kernel.
3. I am using Slim ICS Rom from the android development forum.
Why in the hell does the GPS lock on instantly sometimes, and other times I have to restart the phone 20 times before it will even thinking about locking on again?
What is wrong with this phone's GPS? What else can I do to get this GPS to work all the time. The programs that "clear the GPS data" or the phone code that does it, does not work. There is no message and no sign that it cleared anything. The "secret code" program just crashes of course, when I try to use the GPS clear data.
Is there anything else I can do, besides throwing this phone against the wall. I actually NEED the GPS sometimes because I travel a lot, and I can't even rely on this phone.
Here is how I understand this:
Since we never got an official release for gingerbread we won't be getting one for ICS either. The problem is that all releases for our phone for GB+ are hacked together from the source released for the other phones in the Galaxy S family. Also, since the actual guts are slightly different between models, we don't have the actual Samsung drivers for these releases on our phone.
Another problem is that the GPS chip they used on this phone sucked and was sub par at best when released. Most vibrant owners had issues.
The only way to guarantee the best GPS performance on this phone is to stick with the stock Froyo firmware. Everything else is hit or miss since we got the step child phone off the Galaxy S family.
I was lucky enough to buy my vibrant several months after release, so my GPS was revised by then and better than the release models, but it still flakes out on custom ROMs sometimes.
For now, I am on Slim 3.5, and sub zero 80 kernel.
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GlobeSpy detailed this in his post here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1550327
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I flashed the yags and experia GPS fixes, made sure to install angryGPS and faster fix.
Angry GPS settings changed to MSBASED, cold start, and Xtra=off.
In supl settings, I selected Google server.
In Fasterfix: selected custom and set to us.pool.ntp.org
After rebooting the phone, open GPS test and let it lock birds.
After that, I can exit out of GPS test and run navigation. GPS will lock later in day too.
The same settings worked on the stock slim kernel to, so sub zero isn't a requirement, but I have made it work on both kernels. In my expewrience the stock Slim kernel worked better for GPS.
Hopefully this helps, but each phone is so different, the results are not guaranteed.
It really is too bad that Samsung dropped the ball on the GPS in this phone. It's the only weak bit of the device.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using xda premium
So what are the pros and cons.... I know about the partition. Are they any other issues with the conversion? If you came back from N4 what made you come back? Cos after the SD card, NFC and LTE fix what else was broken? Thanks in advance.
Googler_1976 said:
So what are the pros and cons.... I know about the partition. Are they any other issues with the conversion? If you came back from N4 what made you come back? Cos after the SD card, NFC and LTE fix what else was broken? Thanks in advance.
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Click to collapse
My main reason for doing the conversion was to get hybrid ROMs like Rootbox or PACman (which weren't available natively on LGOG at the time). To me, really the only pro is a larger selection of ROMs. This isn't necesarily a better selection, just bigger - it depends on what you are specifically looking for in a ROM as to whether this makes it worth it or not.
With the available fixes already posted, there really aren't any huge cons either - GPS works, camera works, you get full internal storage and external SD support. However, there were cases I ran across where I couldn't get certain fixes working with certain ROMs - things like touch key lights not working and the like. I'm sure they are fixable in these cases, it just takes someone smarter than me to figure out how.
I think the main reason the conversion is frowned upon is that there isn't a compelling, across-all-ROMs improvement or feature that would be available on a converted device that isn't available on the 'native' track. So why risk a brick monkeying with partition layouts and potentially dangerous N4 install scripts (apparently some of them flash using partition numbers rather than names, and this will kill ya dead - gotta read carefully. I never ran across one).
I had minimal issues when running converted ( I think I was running that way for 3 weeks or so maybe?? Can't remember). Most of the issues were things that were more annoyances, rather than real usage problems. However, as my main reason for converting was to get a hybrid ROM, once houstonn brought Rootbox to the LGOG natively, I decided to come back. I'm usually a little short on time, and it was getting difficult to keep up with all the LGOG threads, plus all the N4 ROM threads, plus figuring out how to fix the ROMs for use on the LGOG. It's easy here, a one stop shop for LGOG learning, if you will...
I suspect with the native 4.2.2 stuff running around here now, there will be a steady decrease in the amount of 'development' on conversion stuff - it seems quite a bit quieter now than it was a month or 2 ago. I'd rather stay where the action is, as that's usually where the little remaining issues get solved first.
FWIW, I had no issues either converting to, or back from, N4. The threads here do a good job of spelling out the process - it's just a matter of reading through them enough times to understand what is going on and what to expect at each step.
Thanks for writing up your experience... The main reason I asked this question was... Some of the (if not all of them) AOSP Roms have major issues like if GPS works something else will be broken and if something else worksworks other is broken. But I did not see that in N4 conversion. (At least to my knowledge) I'm just talking about just pure aosp Roms. ..is this a trurt statement I'm making? Thanks in advance.
Googler_1976 said:
Thanks for writing up your experience... The main reason I asked this question was... Some of the (if not all of them) AOSP Roms have major issues like if GPS works something else will be broken and if something else worksworks other is broken. But I did not see that in N4 conversion. (At least to my knowledge) I'm just talking about just pure aosp Roms. ..is this a trurt statement I'm making? Thanks in advance.
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Click to collapse
I can't say for certain - most of these 'tradeoff' issues, at least from what I've seen, seem to revolve around which modem you choose to run. I believe, at the moment the only 100% no issue setup is and ICS ROM with ICS modem. I believe these issues persist whether you are on N4 conversion or native LGOG setup - but I could be wrong here.
Here's the basic breakdown - somebody correct me if I'm wrong on these, I haven't run most of these setups personally:
If you run ICS modem on JB ROM, you get broken GPS.
If you run .33 N4 modem you get good GPS and Data speeds, but occasional data drops. Also, apparently you can't make outgoing calls in LTE coverage. You can fix the data connection by toggling airplane mode. This isn't a huge issue for most people, but is for me as I use Google voice and IM apps for messaging (rather than SMS) so if I don't notice the data drop and toggle, I'm missing messages.
If you run ATT JB modem on JB ROMs you get working GPS, decent data speed, and working LTE calling. All Outgoing calls drop to a background process after initiation, so if after hitting dial you need to interact with the call, you have to open the notification drawer and then click on the call to foreground it. Does not impact actual functioning of the call. Network name is reported as 'maritime' rather than AT&T.
I think there's another N4 modem that will work with LTE (.27 maybe - somebody jump in here) so that might be another option...I haven't tried it. there is one N4 modem that breaks LTE support.
I've been almost exclusively on houstonn's RootBox since coming back to native setup - so I may have missed issues with other ROMs - I do try to keep up with all the threads though. Hopefully someone else on one of the others can chime in with other issues, if there are any, that I missed. FWIW, I have never lost GPS on my device...I'm not sure why some have and some haven't...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2270319
One stop shopping for all your radio needs.
Thanks again both of you... t I wanted to know why and I think I got what I was looking for.. Anyway, I guess I will stick with my rooted stock JB for now till some of these issues get resolved. Thanks again for all your time.
Okay, so, I've done a fair amount of reading and searching about modems and RILs, including other forums, but I've still yet to find the specific information I'm looking for. (Most of the stuff that I've found relates to the i9100.) So if I missed the relevant post, I apologize, please direct me there.
That said, here's the deal. I've got an i777, which I have unlocked and am currently using on T-Mobile. I've flashed the stable CM 10.1.3 (Android 4.2.2). Its baseband is UCLE5. It's running well. I have few complaints, except for occasional low signal.
I've already seen this thread, with the different modems available: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1336958
I lost the link, but I also found a thread, possibly on another forum, where a T-Mobile user reported better performance with baseband UCMD8. I'd like to try it. I think I can manage flashing it on my own via CWM.
However, I've read in a bunch of places that it's also important to have a RIL matching the baseband version. I found a thread that gives a terminal emulator command to find your current RIL version (getprop "gsm.version.ril-impl"), and mine is "Samsung RIL(IPC) v2.0", which is apparently from Gingerbread.
So, my question is this: Should I also change my RIL? If so, 1) where would I get the appropriate RIL for the i777 with CM10.1.3, and 2) how would I install it, preferably without performing another wipe, reset and ROM installation?
Thanks in advance for your help!
NightSteel said:
So, my question is this: Should I also change my RIL? If so, 1) where would I get the appropriate RIL for the i777 with CM10.1.3, and 2) how would I install it, preferably without performing another wipe, reset and ROM installation?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You have nothing to worry about - just flash the i777 modem you want via recovery; you don't have to wipe anything, it will work fine. I wouldn't worry too much about RIL; over the two years of changing modems back and forth I've never encountered any problems regarding RIL (except for some wakelocks, but that's more to do with bad/weak signal than anything else).
To be clear, I'd still be happy for input from anyone regarding the i777's RIL, but I did go ahead and flash UCMD8. I've already noticed something new; my phone now seems to drop from H+ to 3G fairly aggressively when I'm not actually using it, then go back to H+ when I do, where since flashing CM10.1.3, it previously connected only at H+ or E. I imagine this is a battery saving measure. I'll have to see how it behaves for a few days.
Thanks for your response SteveMurphy. By the way, what baseband/RIL version do you use, if I may ask?
NightSteel said:
To be clear, I'd still be happy for input from anyone regarding the i777's RIL, but I did go ahead and flash UCMD8. I've already noticed something new; my phone now seems to drop from H+ to 3G fairly aggressively when I'm not actually using it, then go back to H+ when I do, where since flashing CM10.1.3, it previously connected only at H+ or E. I imagine this is a battery saving measure. I'll have to see how it behaves for a few days.
Thanks for your response SteveMurphy. By the way, what baseband/RIL version do you use, if I may ask?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm on UCMD8,
The reason you're seeing 3G more often is because with the newer roms you have the ability to better control your network modes. For instance, if you want to use Edge you can manually switch to 2G mode. It's possible the older firmwares (GB, ICS...) had this option but I really can't remember.
Galaxy S Backdoor
So it seems my question about RILs was unintentionally timely, as Samsung's RIL for Galaxy S devices contains a backdoor that's been verified with proof of concept.
https://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/replicant-developers-find-and-close-samsung-galaxy-backdoor
http://redmine.replicant.us/projects/replicant/wiki/SamsungGalaxyBackdoor
I'm not sure which version of Samsung's RIL they tested, or whether they tested the I777, but it seems most Galaxy phones are affected.
Hope someone gets to work on this soon.
NightSteel said:
So it seems my question about RILs was unintentionally timely[...]
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Suspiciously timely, yes.
here's another take on the back-door claim:
http://arstechnica.com/security/201...-of-remote-backdoor-in-samsung-galaxy-phones/
-Cyril
edit: and this: http://www.xda-developers.com/andro...mctr=(not provided)&__utmv=-&__utmk=122317964
My EVO 4G LTE has, with all custom ROMs, lost stability after a month or two, developing different arrays of performance quirks or problems.
I'm interested in if there's a way to test the hardware on the phone? I'm tired of switching / reinstalling ROMs.
At first I thought the problem was that the ROMs were unstable but I've chosen from the bet ones available - PACman, Viper, a couple others I can't recall right now. The phone is rooted via Dirty Racun FYI...
Currently, with Carbon, the problems consist of:
With screen lock off, when waking the phone via the power button, something on the current screen will activate, whether it's an app shortcut on the homescreen, or a function inside of an active app.
Setting for LTE / 3G will not stay on 3G (LTE coverage is spotty enough that I just don't use it)
Random crashes / resets / bootloops; occasionally the phone will freeze on the loading screen with the Carbon logo and require me to hard-reset it.
Once in a while it's ignored my alarm clock.
Usually when dialing out, the phone will hang and fail to connect / ring, and I'll have to hang up and dial out a 2nd time to connect / ring through.
With ROMs I've used in the past, the arrays of problems have been different but of similar nature. At first I was inclined to blame the ROM in use but as my phone is the common element between them, I'm interested in how I can determine if I have a lemon on my hands or what.
Thanks for reading this.
Go back to stock rooted and see how it runs.
Captain_Throwback said:
Go back to stock rooted and see how it runs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not unwilling to do that, but I have extra time this weekend to run diagnostics as well if there's any method by which that's possible? It seems to take a few weeks for problems to start developing when I install a fresh ROM.
baccaruda said:
I'm not unwilling to do that, but I have extra time this weekend to run diagnostics as well if there's any method by which that's possible? It seems to take a few weeks for problems to start developing when I install a fresh ROM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Any such diagnostics when not on a stock ROM can be issues with the custom ROM, not the device. If they occur when on stock, that helps determine hardware may be at fault.
Most of the AOSP ROMs suffer from kernel and data issues because they use the same base. You might want to try the Android 4.3 RUU as well since that's the latest we have for the device.
Captain_Throwback said:
Most of the AOSP ROMs suffer from kernel and data issues because they use the same base. You might want to try the Android 4.3 RUU as well since that's the latest we have for the device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah, thanks for this. I didn't think it would be reasonable to blame the ROMs across the board. I'll look into the 4.3 RUU.
So I have been trying various MM roms but have finally admitted defeat and gone back to stock.
For what ever reason mobile signals for Virgin (EE) by us is not great, but the OPx has proved the worst phone I have owned yet with regard to making best use of what reception we do get, (Still have OP1 and S7 owners in the house, so have comparison).
However, all of the many MM roms I tried only made things worse with either weaker signal (or that's how it appeared) or they were unable to handle the swap between Wifi and Mobile, always requiring reboot, once I left the homes Wifi in order to get mobile data working!
It's so bad that I am even considering replacing the phone, but it's hard to find anything else in budget and size with same spec.
Thanks to everyone here who builds these custom roms and all the accompanying support, but for now I will continue with stock until I miss MM facilities too much.
BobDunn said:
So I have been trying various MM roms but have finally admitted defeat and gone back to stock.
For what ever reason mobile signals for Virgin (EE) by us is not great, but the OPx has proved the worst phone I have owned yet with regard to making best use of what reception we do get, (Still have OP1 and S7 owners in the house, so have comparison).
However, all of the many MM roms I tried only made things worse with either weaker signal (or that's how it appeared) or they were unable to handle the swap between Wifi and Mobile, always requiring reboot, once I left the homes Wifi in order to get mobile data working!
It's so bad that I am even considering replacing the phone, but it's hard to find anything else in budget and size with same spec.
Thanks to everyone here who builds these custom roms and all the accompanying support, but for now I will continue with stock until I miss MM facilities too much.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's just face value which shows yellow line in battery graph as far as I can tell. I do not see any difference now. Transition from wifi to mobile data is fine here. I am using turbo at the moment. Give it a try. If you wanna switch to a new phone, moto g4 plus should be good choice.
saurabh40629 said:
It's just face value which shows yellow line in battery graph as far as I can tell. I do not see any difference now. Transition from wifi to mobile data is fine here. I am using turbo at the moment. Give it a try. If you wanna switch to a new phone, moto g4 plus should be good choice.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, sorry not sure I understand the first part of your reply.
Anyway, the truth is that apart from this recent damned data issue, this is close to the perfect phone for me (seriously couldn't go for anything as large as the g4).
I have owned the OPx since release and though mobile data was never the best, it wasn't as bad as it has appeared this last couple of weeks. I am hoping that I have had a 'perfect storm' of events that led to 2 weeks of poor data connections/transfers. Bad roms, poorly implemented, weak mobile data areas etc etc.
Therefore, I am going to continue with testing different roms and set ups and hope that I can fix the issue, because there is no other phone on the market that comes as close to my perfect phone as the X.
I second Turbo ROM but also try Validius. Using it right now I think they feed it steroids.
For me this solution worked when facing troubles with mobile data on custom roms:
(Re)install the stock rom, backup EFS in Twrp, do a complete wipe, flash custom rom, restore EFS in TWRP, reboot to rom, restore standard settings in APN / mobile data settings, reboot.
It solved my frustrating issues, hopefully it does the same for you!
muffinmanD said:
For me this solution worked when facing troubles with mobile data on custom roms:
(Re)install the stock rom, backup EFS in Twrp, do a complete wipe, flash custom rom, restore EFS in TWRP, reboot to rom, restore standard settings in APN / mobile data settings, reboot.
It solved my frustrating issues, hopefully it does the same for you!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Many thanks for replying, I had indeed seen your thread and tried the solution, though initially I didn't think it had solved my issue. However, due to there being no other phone I care for, I tried another rom and then reflashed the EFS backup.
And you know what, I think it may just have worked this time.
Thanks for your help and others.
Go try Sultans ROM. He recently switched to Oxygens RIL
RJDTWO said:
Go try Sultans ROM. He recently switched to Oxygens RIL
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Click to collapse
That's the one I'm trying and so far so good
It would be great if someone could create a flashable zip with oxygen RIL to use on any custom ROM. Don't even know if it's possible? Perhaps @RJDTWO can enlighten us, do you have the expertise? ?
Sultan's rom is the most stable regarding cell signal quality and speed. I have tried lots of roms, his rom is the only rom that comes near oxygen, every other custom rom has considerably worse lte speed and signal quality
@cokesucker it needs integration with the rom as far as i know, i think Sultan made the modifications needed for the rom to work with oxygen RIL
Folks, Ive dirty flashed the latest Rom, which I assume writes over the stoc EFS restore I had applied previous version of this Rom
Regardless, the difference in signal (as well as other areas) is noticeable.
I love this phone again, thanks everyone.
cokesucker said:
It would be great if someone could create a flashable zip with oxygen RIL to use on any custom ROM. Don't even know if it's possible? Perhaps @RJDTWO can enlighten us, do you have the expertise? ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is unfortunately not possible. The RIL itself is built with the ROM.
been on o2os, cm12, cm13 now - never had issues you describe, you can try development settings keep phone data always active could easily solve your issue since data wont never disconnect
AlexVendettA said:
been on o2os, cm12, cm13 now - never had issues you describe, you can try development settings keep phone data always active could easily solve your issue since data wont never disconnect
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried most things and thought that occasionally I had solved it by 'forcing wifi' or whatever.
However, because much I what I did was reactionary rather than trying scientifically to identify the main issues, the causes probably got lost in location, reboots, resets, etc etc.
What I can say is that for 2 days, I have been using Sultanas latest Rom and it has worked flawlessly.
Nice, good to hear Bob!
I'm using that rom too, it's a real gem!
(Oxygen EFS restoring was still necessary despite the oxygen ril though)
muffinmanD said:
Nice, good to hear Bob!
I'm using that rom too, it's a real gem!
(Oxygen EFS restoring was still necessary despite the oxygen ril though)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's interesting, I'm using "as is", and so far so good. I'm off on travels tomorrow will keep an eye on performance. Any issues and I'll restore stock EFS.