[Q] Wifi Bars Remaining Gray - Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hey All,
I'm experiencing a weird issue, and I'm hoping someone can help me out. Yesterday, I moved from Shanghai to an apartment building in Chicago. Internet is included in my new building--just need to provide your own router. I have a Netgear N600 router from a few years ago that I plugged in, and everything fired up properly and looked great. But I noticed that my wifi bars remained gray with no Google Services sync. I have a Nexus 7 and a Nexus 4, both rooted and running CM 10.1.2. The only mod I have on either is LTE enabled on the N4.
I hadn't used this router in over a year, so I did a factory reset and went through the setup wizard again. I also checked for a firmware update, but there wasn't one available. The reset didn't solve the problem. If I flip my wifi off on the N4, I immediately connect to T-Mobile 4G data, and all of my Google Services sync. When I turn wifi back on, I reconnect to my router, and my Google Services sync stops. I can force a per-app sync by going into Gmail, Google Voice, etc., but there is no background sync.
Any thoughts about what might be the culprit here? And suggestions on what I might to try fix it? I would appreciate any thoughts or ideas.
Thanks.

Okay, I spent several hours trying to troubleshoot this yesterday, and I haven't resolved the issue yet, but I think I've narrowed things down.
I tried a different router, and I had the exact same issue. I ran another factory reset on each router, and neither improved. Google services continue to work fine outside of my apartment. So I figure that has to indicate that the problem is in the service being provided by my building.
I called to see if this was a known and if there is a way to set things up to avoid the problem, and I was told that there is a firewall, and that they need the port number and protocol in order to allow access. Does anything know this information for Google services?

It doesnt matter if the symbol is either blue or gray. If you remain to have a good connection you can ignore the symbol.

mrjraider said:
It doesnt matter if the symbol is either blue or gray. If you remain to have a good connection you can ignore the symbol.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The problem is that my services are clearly not syncing. Gmail and Google Voice notifications don't come through unless I open the apps and refresh, for example.
I found a thread that listed TCP ports 5228 and 14259. I'm going to have those ports opened up to see if this resolves my issue. I'll report back in case anyone else ever experiences this problem.

Hmm it is weird.. Let us know what you can discover

mrjraider said:
Hmm it is weird.. Let us know what you can discover
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
TCP ports 5228 and 14259 were just opened up, and my wifi bars immediately turned blue on my N4. At the same time, I heard several notification alerts on my N7 in the bedroom.
Looks as though, if you have a firewall, those ports do need to be opened up for Google services to sync.

Interesting! Thanks for sharing

Related

[Q] Why is Google Talk constantly losing connection on mobile data?

Just bought my SGS2 yesterday and flashed it to KI8 and rooted it with CF-Root. Didn't actually test it before flashing but for some reason Google Talk keeps losing connection and signs in very often. Has this got something to do with the modem version losing data connection or is it happening because of some power-save setting?
Today I flashed KI4 and Google Talk has dropped offline a couple of times already. Is my device flawed?
Any suggestions on different modem versions and/or firmwares to try out? Maybe a separate GTalk client?
Has anyone had issues like this? I tried to search the forum but most topics cover connection problems via WiFi and not mobile data.
That happens to me when I don't have a strong connection. I say it's probably a carrier issue.
Then it must be a local issue. My friend has the same phone and same operator, but lives about 150km away from me and his GTalk stays connected.
Is there a way to monitor and/or log the data connection with some software?
I have also run into this problem since rooting. I can't even find google talk on my phone to disable it.
mratlndmrk said:
I have also run into this problem since rooting. I can't even find google talk on my phone to disable it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For me it didn't matter if the phone was rooted or not. Wierdest thing is that even if my buddies see me offline, I receive messages immediately when they send one.
Quick update: I found out a way to make signal bars turn green when connected to Google services. Now I can sometimes see that the bars are gray when turning the screen on. So it's clear that my phone disconnects from Google in longer standby.

[Q] WiFi stops working even with full signal strength.

This is the second time this has happened to my Prime and I have no idea what could cause it. I found one other topic with a similar problem but no solution.
Anyway, last night, everything was working fine. Today, I get home and it connects to my WiFi just fine with full signal strength but when I go to my browser, YouTube or anything that uses the network, it says there's no connection. I restarted the tablet, hotspot and everything multiple times and it will work for a minute or so before stopping again. I haven't installed any new apps recently or made any changes to anything. Everything else on my WiFi network works perfectly.
The last time this happened, I did a factory reset on the tablet which didn't work at all. But the next day it decided to start working fine again. So we'll see if it decides to come back again, but is there any way to fix this when it does happen? Or preferably, prevent it from happening?
Could be having trouble getting an IP from your router.
Having said that the Prime's ability to maintain a connection is hopeless.
I have a Linksys E4200 which blasts a signal 100 metres across the road which my son can pick up.
I can be sitting in the next room and my Prime loses the signal from the same router.
The signal isn't the issue I don't think, it has full bars and other than these two problems, I've never had an issue with WiFi performance.
It's probably worth noting that the WiFi isn't COMPLETELY dead, once in a while, a webpage will come through. It's just that most of the time it just times out before it ever receives a page. I just did a factory reset again which did nothing to help. It timed out when trying to connect to my Google account...but worked on the second try. The Asus homepage timed out when I opened the browser, made it to Google but searching timed out. I was barely able to download TitaniumBackup from Play...just VERY slowly.
Asus tech support was useless as expected...they basically said to factory reset and if that doesn't work to RMA it. I guess if it's not working tomorrow, it's getting RMA'd...
Bandin03 said:
The signal isn't the issue I don't think, it has full bars and other than these two problems, I've never had an issue with WiFi performance.
It's probably worth noting that the WiFi isn't COMPLETELY dead, once in a while, a webpage will come through. It's just that most of the time it just times out before it ever receives a page. I just did a factory reset again which did nothing to help. It timed out when trying to connect to my Google account...but worked on the second try. The Asus homepage timed out when I opened the browser, made it to Google but searching timed out. I was barely able to download TitaniumBackup from Play...just VERY slowly.
Asus tech support was useless as expected...they basically said to factory reset and if that doesn't work to RMA it. I guess if it's not working tomorrow, it's getting RMA'd...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
At one point i was having similar issues. i had to delete the wifi network and recreate it to get it working. My buddy also had the issue with his droid and the only fix was to use a static ip.
justPorter said:
At one point i was having similar issues. i had to delete the wifi network and recreate it to get it working. My buddy also had the issue with his droid and the only fix was to use a static ip.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you know how I can set it up as static IP? I'm using an Android phone with WiFi Tether as my hotspot.
It seems to be working fine for now...I'm posting from my Prime. But it worked yesterday for a few minutes then stopped again so it seems to be intermittant problems. I'm debating even sending it in for RMA because with my luck, it'll get there, work fine when they test it and they'll just send it back with no problems found with a couple of Prime-less weeks for my troubles.
Something weird though, my WiFi icon in the status bar is gray when it's usually blue. But it's still working for now...what does a gray icon mean?
Bandin03 said:
It seems to be working fine for now...I'm posting from my Prime. But it worked yesterday for a few minutes then stopped again so it seems to be intermittant problems. I'm debating even sending it in for RMA because with my luck, it'll get there, work fine when they test it and they'll just send it back with no problems found with a couple of Prime-less weeks for my troubles.
Something weird though, my WiFi icon in the status bar is gray when it's usually blue. But it's still working for now...what does a gray icon mean?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
gray means is connecting/scanning for wifi. it should only work when the icon is blue.
justPorter said:
gray means is connecting/scanning for wifi. it should only work when the icon is blue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Weird, it's working perfectly but the icon is gray...this thing just loves to do weird things.
Are you on a stock rom?
justPorter said:
gray means is connecting/scanning for wifi. it should only work when the icon is blue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think this is true. I believe blue just means the device is in current communication with google servers, e.g. syncing emails. The grey/blue is no indication of success of wifi connection as I understand it.
hairdewx said:
Are you on a stock rom?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, ROM. Completely stock, just rooted.
Bandin, I'm on a C4 and this happened to me about 20 minutes ago.
I was using my Epic 4G Touch ICS FE16 leaked rom using wifi tether - not sprint hotspot.
Watching Netflix
Then it suddenly stopped....said Netflix cannot make a connection.
I quit Netflix and go to main screen and i see my wifi connection is grayed out. So i go to speed test.
Speed test tells me i have connection issues.
I goto my phone and run speedtest and I come back A-OK with 7Mb.
I've even pushed the wifi button on my dock on/off. Disconnected tab from dock select wifi off.
Shut down netflix open it up doesn't work until i do a reboot...
But...this has only happened with my E4GT running wifi tether and stock ics fe16. haven't experienced it on my routers or my neighbors.

[Q] Location and 3G

Has anyone else been having problems with their location and 3G signal?
For instance, every time an app needs my location, it says "Unable to detect current location". and the weather widget just says "Current Location". I've tried all the basics including disabling and re-nabling automatic time zone, restarting the phone, updating PRL and Profile, etc. Checked the settings in the weather widget and some settings were unchecked, but checking them didnt make a difference. It doesnt matter if its on Wi-Fi or 3G. It cannot seem to find my location. After updating the PRL (and contacting Sprint), it was finally able to find my location, but now its stuck on that location, even with a refresh. I'm 30 miles from the location its showing (as I travel across town for work).
Also, my 3G signal randomly drops every hour or so. Sometimes it comes back on its own, and other times, it does not. I have to go into options and manually disable and re-enable it.
I have an appointment at the Sprint store on Saturday, but I was wondering if you guys have found any fixes that would help me to avoid getting a new phone.
kennethbring said:
Has anyone else been having problems with their location and 3G signal?
For instance, every time an app needs my location, it says "Unable to detect current location". and the weather widget just says "Current Location". I've tried all the basics including disabling and re-nabling automatic time zone, restarting the phone, updating PRL and Profile, etc. Checked the settings in the weather widget and some settings were unchecked, but checking them didnt make a difference. It doesnt matter if its on Wi-Fi or 3G. It cannot seem to find my location. After updating the PRL (and contacting Sprint), it was finally able to find my location, but now its stuck on that location, even with a refresh. I'm 30 miles from the location its showing (as I travel across town for work).
Also, my 3G signal randomly drops every hour or so. Sometimes it comes back on its own, and other times, it does not. I have to go into options and manually disable and re-enable it.
I have an appointment at the Sprint store on Saturday, but I was wondering if you guys have found any fixes that would help me to avoid getting a new phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol man, I've got about 10 posts in viperrom thread about this same issue.
I don't have a (real) solution, but here's my take on it: My area was recently upgraded to 3G and this is the first sense rom I've used on those towers. For me, the problem has only been with Sense based widgets and apps. 4square, facebook, maps, everything else has no problem with my location (i always leave gps toggled on).
I go anywhere where the towers haven't been upgraded and BOOM, sense has my location within seconds. I think it has to do with the recent NV upgrades my area got and it not being fully completed.
For me to get correct location at home, I have to use wifi with home router, then use something that needs gps, then update the weather widget. That will normally hold it for a few hours.
Like I said, not a solution, but what I believe to be the cause of it. If I find a way of permanently fixing it, I'll let ya know.
bernechad said:
lol man, I've got about 10 posts in viperrom thread about this same issue.
I don't have a (real) solution, but here's my take on it: My area was recently upgraded to 3G and this is the first sense rom I've used on those towers. For me, the problem has only been with Sense based widgets and apps. 4square, facebook, maps, everything else has no problem with my location (i always leave gps toggled on).
I go anywhere where the towers haven't been upgraded and BOOM, sense has my location within seconds. I think it has to do with the recent NV upgrades my area got and it not being fully completed.
For me to get correct location at home, I have to use wifi with home router, then use something that needs gps, then update the weather widget. That will normally hold it for a few hours.
Like I said, not a solution, but what I believe to be the cause of it. If I find a way of permanently fixing it, I'll let ya know.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, thats what Sprint told me when I called. That they recently upgraded the towers near my home. But across town where I work, it hasnt been upgraded, and its the same problem.
I do believe that has something to do with it though. Older versions of Sense didn't take the upgrade and thus arent having any problems.
Appreciate you keeping me in the loop!
kennethbring said:
Yeah, thats what Sprint told me when I called. That they recently upgraded the towers near my home. But across town where I work, it hasnt been upgraded, and its the same problem.
I do believe that has something to do with it though. Older versions of Sense didn't take the upgrade and thus arent having any problems.
Appreciate you keeping me in the loop!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly. I'm hoping that a future OTA will take care of it. I've sent a few emails to HTC regarding the issue. I know it's nothing huge nor serious, but it's nice when it works properly.
Well, at least I know I'm not the only one then. I guess swapping the phone wouldn't do much good if its tower related.
I feel like taking it into the Sprint store, the employees would just re-do everything I've already done and tell me to come back if it happens again.
I'm with bernechad in hoping a software update will fix it.
More info on the connection issue
I just got off the phone with HTC. They did not have this issue in their database but do now. I sent them a link to this thread. They did not have a clue about what to do to fix it.
For whoever is keeping the lists of locations where this is a problem I'm in Georgetown, TX.

[SOLVED] Question about phone detecting it's location

Need a little help.
I'm Running AJ's Semi UCLE5 rom. It run's great. no problems with force closing or anything. I noticed something happening that I've never seen before.
On my home screen I run a widget (Beautiful Widget) for weather, location and it has a clock on it. It also allows for the location to be determined by geolocation, which is what I have it set on.
If I have wifi off, using "4g" data, my location is accurate. If I turn wifi on the widget says I am in Mesa, AZ which is about 1200 miles from where I actually am.
Two things that changed recently were that about 2 weeks ago I got a new sim card for my phone because the other one was old and curved and not making constant contact with the pins. Also, I recently got a new wireless router at home. My first guess was it could be the router since this only happens on wifi, but other apps on my phone (i.e. google maps) will be accurate with location when on wifi. Since the widget app I'm having the issue with was working with regular data, i thought i wasn't the app.
Any one with any idea here? would a wireless router cause this problem? The router works fine as far as I can tell otherwise.
edit: now it's looks like it's happening randomly. but still bothersome.
also regarding the app, i didn't think it would be the app because i've had it for a long time and it has never done this. it hasn't been updated in a while (and i don't do auto updating on Market apps.)
Please someone with more knowledge correct me if im wrong... But im pretty sure it uses your GPS for location and only data for the weather in that area... Maybe try clearing all app data and giving it a fresh start?
Clay
Sent from my SGH-I777 using XDA
clay101eve said:
Please someone with more knowledge correct me if im wrong... But im pretty sure it uses your GPS for location and only data for the weather in that area... Maybe try clearing all app data and giving it a fresh start?
Clay
Sent from my SGH-I777 using XDA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well through all of this the gps has been turned off. It usually finds my location using the network and by that method i can understand a wider radius and less accuracy - but 1200 miles? I have used this widget for about 4-5 months, most of the time without gps turned on, and it is just now showing this problem. I will clear all the data and report back.
edit: well, just removed the widget and wiped data on the app. When I replaced the app to the homescreen (with wifi turned on) it "geolocated" me immediately to Mesa, AZ, the incorrect city. When I plcae the widget using cell data, the geolocation is correct.
jack man said:
Well through all of this the gps has been turned off. It usually finds my location using the network and by that method i can understand a wider radius and less accuracy - but 1200 miles? I have used this widget for about 4-5 months, most of the time without gps turned on, and it is just now showing this problem. I will clear all the data and report back.
edit: well, just removed the widget and wiped data on the app. When I replaced the app to the homescreen (with wifi turned on) it "geolocated" me immediately to Mesa, AZ, the incorrect city. When I plcae the widget using cell data, the geolocation is correct.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try cryted's gps patch.... http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1447599
BROKKANIC said:
Try cryted's gps patch.... http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1447599
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think gps is the issue. over the last few hours I've been trying to narrow down the problem. When I am away from my home wifi everything works perfectly. I decided to go into my router settings to see what would happen. When i took off all of the security and made it an open wireless network the problem seemed to go away. I gave it about 30 minutes on an open network and it located me fine without gps turned on.
I don't know much about tweaking security settings on routers but i guess it's time to branch out to learn.
edit:
now, with wifi on, every time i refresh the weather widget it flips between my city and Mesa, AZ (remember they are about 1200 miles apart). I don't know. I guess my problems could be worse. at least i'm not boot looping or bricked.
I may have fixed this. When I got a new wireless router and programmed it, I gave it the same network name and password but it had newer and higher levels of security settings. The phone was still programmed with the old username and password so it picked it up automatically and logged on.
I went into the wifi settings on the phone and "forgot" the network and then re-logged in. So far it has shown it is fixed. Crossing fingers but I don't know enough about wireless routers and signals to know if this would do it.
edit again:
It is my network somehow. I have since been on two other wireless networks (neighbors) and it did not do this strange location behavior. (what I though fixed it in this post above did not)
Anyone want to give me insight as to why my router would tell me I am halfway across the country?
jack man said:
I may have fixed this. When I got a new wireless router and programmed it, I gave it the same network name and password but it had newer and higher levels of security settings. The phone was still programmed with the old username and password so it picked it up automatically and logged on.
I went into the wifi settings on the phone and "forgot" the network and then re-logged in. So far it has shown it is fixed. Crossing fingers but I don't know enough about wireless routers and signals to know if this would do it.
edit again:
It is my network somehow. I have since been on two other wireless networks (neighbors) and it did not do this strange location behavior. (what I though fixed it in this post above did not)
Anyone want to give me insight as to why my router would tell me I am halfway across the country?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, its your wireless network, go into settings and uncheck location set by wireless network. will force GPS, and be more accurate, but also cost more battery.
EDIT:
Thats location settings or some crap depending on your build.
jack man said:
It is my network somehow. I have since been on two other wireless networks (neighbors) and it did not do this strange location behavior. (what I though fixed it in this post above did not)
Anyone want to give me insight as to why my router would tell me I am halfway across the country?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you buy that router second hand or new? If you bought it new, it was probably either a return or a refurbish. What's happening is the MAC of the router was registered in Mesa by Google when their street map cars came by scanning for BSSIDs. Same thing happened to me with a used router I bought and my old router when I moved across the country. AFAIK, there's no way to reregister the MACs location other than use the _nomap optout and waiting for google to get around to updating it's database. Can't post links yet but here's some more info.
supportDOTgoogleDOTcom/maps/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1725632
tomshardwareDOTcom/news/Google-Maps-Wi-Fi-Location-SSID,14000.html
zdnetDOTcom/blog/btl/google-offers-street-view-opt-out-for-wi-fi-mapping-unethical-snooping-yet-we-must-opt-out/63456
Edit: here's a tool for geolocation of MAC addresses. blogDOTwlancontrollerDOTcom/?p=67 Search, then get the lat/long and choose show in gmaps. Mine shows my old street when I lived in a another state.
spiralout1 said:
Edit: here's a tool for geolocation of MAC addresses. blogDOTwlancontrollerDOTcom/?p=67 Search, then get the lat/long and choose show in gmaps. Mine shows my old street when I lived in a another state.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here's something weird after I did what you mentioned here. After looking at the map when searching the MAC address it put it in Manhattan, NY, at the other end of the country. Any idea?
Thanks, by the way, for the links.
wow. I finally fixed it. Yes, my router was purchased used so I guess Google had mapped it and the MAC address was still showing as it's old "home." This link showed me how to opt out of Google's MAC address mapping and within about 20-30 minutes, my location was finally showing correctly on all of our mobile devices.
http://support.google.com/maps/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1725632
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/Google-Maps-Wi-Fi-Location-SSID,14000.html
Thanks again for the help.
Glad that helped ya and especially so quickly. That **** had me stumped for around half a year before I figured out what the deal was and even then, it took well over a month for them to update my MAC in their database.

Wifi and Google Services major problem!

Hi all!
I have an international version of the S3 with a weird problem.
When I have Wifi connected my phone can't sign in to Google talk and wont receive notifications. I can browse and download stuff though.
If i switch to 3G all is well and working. I have tested on different networks and I have a galaxy tab 10.1 connected to the same wifi without problems so it's no ports in the firewall that's causing it.
If I restart the phone it works for about a day then it fails again and I have to restart the phone to get G-talk over wifi.
I have tried setting the phone a static IP, switched "Keep wifi on during sleep" on and off, tried the trick with power saving in debug menu but nothing helps.
Has anyone experienced the same and can someone maybe suggest a fix?
Best regards
Erik
I have tried IM+ and that works perfectly over wifi. The problem is that since GTalk does not work over wifi then I don't get notifications from Google Play or other apps as well. When i switch over to 3G I get all notifications at once.
herr_fisk said:
I have an international version of the S3 with a weird problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is nothing wrong with your phone. Google are having problems at the moment:
http://techwhack.com/google-talk-moment-4086/
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/gtalk-down-google-talk-instant-messenger-faces-outage/274960-11.html
So don't go do any impact testing or aerodynamic analysis of your phone, it should all come back to life soon
noccy80 said:
There is nothing wrong with your phone. Google are having problems at the moment:
http://techwhack.com/google-talk-moment-4086/
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/gtalk-down-google-talk-instant-messenger-faces-outage/274960-11.html
So don't go do any impact testing or aerodynamic analysis of your phone, it should all come back to life soon
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The problem is that it have been this way since I got the phone, not just yesterday.

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