losing cell network randomly - Captivate General

Lately I have been randomly losing all service, both voice and data. I'm pretty sure that it occurs while moving through an area/building where there is no service, then returning to an area where there should be service. But I'm not 100% sure this is only condition in which it occurs.
The problem is that the service is not coming back automatically. I have to reboot the phone. I've waited for up to 2 hours with nothing.
Any thoughts/suggestions on how to fix this?
I'm running stock, with rooting and sideloading enabled.

Cycling flight mode usually works and is way faster than a full reboot.

MillionManMosh said:
Cycling flight mode usually works and is way faster than a full reboot.
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Click to collapse
Does nothing for me. Forgot to mention that. Cycled many times last night with zero luck.
I basically become an Unregistered Device, if I remember one of the errors correctly.

My even hang on setting to airplane mode - and must reboot to fix, and then disable airplane mode...

so there is nothing I can do to force the phone to re-register with the network?

I have found not a way

seems like I might be taking a trip to ATT to do an exchange. Can't have this happening.

You will be foolish to do so. It is not a hardware issue! I have it on another modem and rom. But happens only when I have my phone in areas without bad reception for a long time.

Mine happens during periods of brief connectivity.
That said, I stopped in at ATT just to see what they would say.
They suggested that my SIM card was going bad. I seriously doubt this had anything to do with it, but what the hell. The card I had was from my previous phone as I was too lazy to stop in and swap cards when I bought the phone.
New card, so far no loss of signal. Has only been 4 days though. After a few weeks, I'll know better if this worked or not.

Related

[Q] Random rebooting, not shutdowns.

I'm having a rather specific and odd problem with my captivate(s), three of them to be exact. First I bought the phone, upgrading from an Iphone 3g, and the first day it was great, the second day, in the evening, I noticed that it started this strange rebooting loop. The phone doesn't seem to power off because I don't see the Galaxy S symbol it just merely goes black then comes back and searches for the network, finds it, then a few minutes later goes black again, returns, search for the network, and so on. It keeps doing that over and over again. So I tried a factory reset the next morning just to make sure it wasn't a problem with any apps installed. The same rebooting loop happened. So I called a rep and dropped by the ATT store and they said it might be the sim card, which was very very old (still said cingular) so we swapped it. Same problem the next day. Okay so I went and I replaced the whole phone. The second day with Captivate #2, this rebooting loop occurred again. The reps told me that I might have gotten two bad ones and to exchange it again, so I did. And yet again I have the same problem. So here are some quick facts about the problem that I have learned. Total time span has been about 3 weeks.
-The most important thing to know about this issue is that the only thing that prevents the phone from going into this rebooting loop is if I enable flight mode, no network connectivity. I believe wi-fi is okay but whenever I disconnect from ATT's network it stops rebooting.
-Occurs more frequently at night/evening (only happened once in the morning)
-Is not affected by signal strength, full bars, low bars.
-Is not affected by installed apps (Had done factory resets and with my third captivate all I did was put the sim card in and put it in my pocket)
-Is not affected by battery status, low or full
-Doesn't seem to matter if I have a lot of things running or nothing running, the loop starts when I'm browsing, texting, in a call, or just locked in my pocket.
-Does not seem to be affected by charging source (wall, car, laptop, ps3/xbox)
Another thing to note is that I had an Iphone 3G with an unlimited data plan before this. The Captivate upgrade was done on another line on my family plan then given to me with a 2gb data plan. After talking to multiple reps over the phone, they said they had the wrong IMEI number (I have no idea what that means) but that leads me to wonder what else is wrong and is it a problem with the Captivates or ATT itself?
I really need some feedback because I'm about to just give up on this phone, which is heartbreaking because I fell in love it. My 30 days is approaching and if I am indeed returning it, it'll have to be very soon. What do you guys think?

Poll: Phone Issues Poll Data Dropouts and 1-Way Audio calls

I am having issues and wanted to see if anyone else has this problem. Verizon already sent me a new phone and I already have the same problem with it. They told me they will take up to 15 days to investigate the issue. I think its a software or possibly hardware issue, not a network issue.
I get data dropouts - NO 1X, 3G or 4G! Cant use GPS and any apps requiring data connection. It happens every so often and sometimes have to restart my phone.
1-Way audio calls - Person calls me or I call them, I can hear them talking but they can't hear me
Who else is having any of these issues, please choose a poll option from above and leave a comment if you wish.
I voted Rooted, Stock ROM no problems, but when I was Stock I also had no problems.
I am rooted with stock ROM and get the same dropouts as you. Restarting my phone seems to fix it and if that doesnt then pulling the battery out while the phone on does. Annoying that I have to do that but at least I get my data back.
I'm not rooted yet. I have experienced a few data drops. Toggling airplane mode works to get data back. Once, however, I toggled airplane, and the phone couldn't seem to disable the radio. Did a reboot to fix that.
I'm having data drops quite frequently and its becoming pretty annoying
I'm rooted with stock Rom I hope Verizon might be able to help
Stock, with data drops, but not how you describe. I voted before I read your post. My data problem is no 3G. I haven't been in a 4G area yet and if I'm not on wifi, there is no data connection.
Kjjb I'm also having the no 3g problem as well I started a thread about but I haven't gotten a response yet
Rooted, custom ROM and have occasional data drops. Annoying.
ybtc said:
Kjjb I'm also having the no 3g problem as well I started a thread about but I haven't gotten a response yet
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can we link to other forums here?
http://forum.androidcentral.com/htc...blems-3g-data-dont-hard-reset-read-first.html
http://androidforums.com/htc-thunderbolt/307102-3g-doesnt-work.html
Couple of different temporary fixes described there.
I am going crazy here. All day yesterday constant drops in all data types. No bad phone calls, but only talked with a few people yesterday. Today my data drops continue non stop. Has happened 3-4 times already.
I am going to call VZW and *****. They said it would take up to 2 weeks to diagnose my problem. That puts me outside the return window and I already sold my dInc.

[Q] complete signal loss

Iv had the AT&T One X since the 4th and so far I love it! I haven't had any wifi issues or bootloops or anything, the only problem I'm having is the phone will randomly lose signal completely (0 bars, little x next to the signal) and wont get it back unless I put it into airplane mode and turn it back off, or reboot the phone. In the 6 days Iv had it it's lost signal 3 times, once on the road where I normally get at least 3-4 bars, and the other 2 happened at some point over night while I was asleep. Has anyone else been having this problem? Also do you think it's a software/radio problem that can be fixed in a update, or would it be hardware in which case I should take it to the store and exchange for a new one.
I've had this problem myself. Had the phone for 19 days now and I think it's happened to me 3 or 4 times.
I can guarantee it's fixable with a software update, even if the problem is hardware-related. At the very least, the software could detect the lack of signal and automatically cycle in and out of airplane mode to fix the problem without user interaction. But I'm sure whatever fix we get will be much more reliable than that.
WHEN we get the fix is another question...
Thanks for the reply. I figured it might be a software issue since you can cycle airplane mode and get it back and I don't really want to take it down to the AT&T store for an exchange in fear I wined up not able to set up gvoice or start getting wifi issues and the like lol. so far the signal drops are far and few in between making it an annoying issue rather than a critical one, and I read we've got root now so even if HTC/AT&T twiddle their thumbs and pretend nothings wrong I'm sure the community can save the day lol
I would swap it out Azure. My first HOX did exactly this, and I saw it reported elsewhere on a number of other devices. To me that says it's most likely a bad radio flash on some handsets. I suppose you could try and flash the RUU that was posted, as it most likely includes the radio as well.
I got tired of all my calls going directly to VM without ringing. And not being able to send out texts. My replacement works much better (or rather, how it should've from the beginning).
agentdr8 said:
I got tired of all my calls going directly to VM without ringing. And not being able to send out texts.
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Click to collapse
Was this problem intermittent?
My phone has been doing this randomly, except it never went to voicemails, just hung up after like 30 seconds.
Wondering if I should switch it out also.
Had this problem for a day. Took my phone to the at&t store and they changed out the sim card and I haven't had a problem since.
Sent from my HTC One X using XDA
usfslacker said:
Had this problem for a day. Took my phone to the at&t store and they changed out the sim card and I haven't had a problem since.
Sent from my HTC One X using XDA
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Click to collapse
I never thought about the sim card being a possible problem...might run up to the store when I get the chance and swap my sim out and see if that fixes it, if not I'll just swap the device out and hope all's well
The CSR actually swapped a new micro sim first, since the one provided via online sales was an older one (most likely from the iphone 4/4s batch). It didn't seem to fix the problem though.
And yeah, the problem was very intermittent. One second it would be working fine, and the next it would show the "x". Sometimes the bars would come back immediately, other times it wouldn't until I rebooted or cycled airplane mode. Luckily it happened while I was at the store; it's much easier to convince a sales rep to swap a phone when they can witness the issue(s).
Yeah it's only happened to me twice since I got it on the 4th... it'll be very hard for me to convince them that there's an issue haha... maybe I'll head down there if it happens at a time when I'm not in class or something. I'm sure if I mention returning it/their policy I'll get a swap.
agentdr8 said:
The CSR actually swapped a new micro sim first, since the one provided via online sales was an older one (most likely from the iphone 4/4s batch). It didn't seem to fix the problem though.
And yeah, the problem was very intermittent. One second it would be working fine, and the next it would show the "x". Sometimes the bars would come back immediately, other times it wouldn't until I rebooted or cycled airplane mode. Luckily it happened while I was at the store; it's much easier to convince a sales rep to swap a phone when they can witness the issue(s).
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Click to collapse
next time my phone drops signal I'll take it into the store and see about a sim swap in hopes that'll fix the issue if not then I'll reluctantly swap the unit out (I've grown rather attached to this one xD)
**EDIT**
strange...woke up today and my phone completely lost signal again, normally there's a few days between each event but this is the first time it's happened twice in a row =\
So it happened again, I'm going to go get it switched... but it says on the Mobile network section of settings, "Disconnected because service is unavailable."
There is clearly almost full signal strength, and I have never been without service where I live.
I was expereincing constant network drops all of yesterday due to an outage. However, it's back to normal for me today. So it may be possible there's an outage near you as well.
I think it is more AT&T than your phone. I was in down town buffalo at a swim meet with 5 bars of hspa+ on my blackberry bold that has a great radio. I had data but it was slow dial up slow. There were maybe 100-200 people at the meet and it was at a community college. The only other time I had this was when I was in a car that was driving by the buffalo bills stadium. Voice worked but I had no data. I guess too many people using their cell phones.
Definitely not AT&T, my SE Xperia x10 worked perfectly fine, never had any trouble with signals.
I also encounter the intermittent signal drops on my 4 days old AT&T one x.
It seems to me that the One x doesn't hold signal as good as the iphone, my 4 and 4s usually get around 2 bars in some really remote locations of the building I work. But the One X just drops signal completely. I'll see if I can do a sim swap like some others suggested.
I'm starting to think it could be an issue with lte phones because the same thing was happening to me on my galaxy note with 2 different sim cards and 2 different devices and now it's happening on my hox
Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2
it has happened to me 3 times in 5 days. All 3 times I was either:
1. in a poor reception area and it came back on its own, i did not have to use airplane mode.
2. was using BT streaming in car and using car charger, once car charger was unplugged, signal came back.
One X has issues
Definitively problems with the phone.
I have three.
They just drop signal completely. One will work, the other will not. Only way the signal will come back is if you turn the phone on and off again. I love everything about this phone....except it isn't a very good phone.
Also, typically when I turn the phone back on, that is when I get my text messages. Nice.
Yeah I figured out it happens when I lose signal (a couple buildings on my schools campus don't get reception), and then the signal won't come back until I reboot or airplane mode.. this is after a sim swap.
Oh and do I need the box my phone came in to swap it?
Sent from my HTC One X using XDA
I have had this issue as well being on the Rogers (Canada) network. I started a thread as well and my theory is there may be a hardware issue reading the SIM cards.
Every now and then I get a "preparing SIM" message pop up on my screen. Also, I lost signal once and in frustration I slapped the phone into my palm VOILA! signal came back full.
This is the second One-X I've gotten from Rogers so there may be a design flaw somewhere. The problem is this behavior only pops up intermittently and cannot be recreated at will. This makes troubleshooting very difficult and practically unprovable in the eyes of providers.
Hopefully there are more reports of this problem and the carriers push back on HTC to resolve the problem.

[Q] Network Signal In and Out with Reboots

I searched and did not see anyone else experiencing this issue. I have a Black 32 GB stock rooted. It worked fantastic for about 2 weeks and then all of a sudden I noticed the following:
Day 1: No SMS received. I was on WIFI and had network signal in the notification bar but did not receive SMS that were sent to me.
Day 2: No Cellular Signal. I looked at the APN and it had disappeared. I attempted to add it again and reboot the phone and it wouldn't add. The phone began rebooting on its own and continuing with a bootloop after running for about 10 seconds it would reboot again. It did this throughout the day. I called Google and they had me do some soft and hard resets. After the soft reset the phone would connect right after startup then disconnect after 2 seconds and reboot itself. I hard reset the phone and relocked the bootloader and reinstalled factory recovery and it is still doing it.
Google has given me authorization for an exchange but I was just wondering if anyone had any ideas because I'd rather not be without a phone for 2 weeks.
BTW I am on Straight Talk
I had a similar issue
I had a similar issue. After a month of functioning normally, my Nexus(rooted using CFroot, stock ROM, T-Mobile) lost the ability to get reception. First, it showed network signal, but cell access was not functional. A few hours later, bars dropped to zero, and it seemed like I could only get reception in the strongest signal areas. I would get signal sporadically when driving, but never when I was stationary. The phone never had problems with rebooting though.
After spending a day trying to fix it, factory reset, relock, flashing a factory image, I called Google, and they warranteed the phone.
nebrando said:
I searched and did not see anyone else experiencing this issue. I have a Black 32 GB stock rooted. It worked fantastic for about 2 weeks and then all of a sudden I noticed the following:
Day 1: No SMS received. I was on WIFI and had network signal in the notification bar but did not receive SMS that were sent to me.
Day 2: No Cellular Signal. I looked at the APN and it had disappeared. I attempted to add it again and reboot the phone and it wouldn't add. The phone began rebooting on its own and continuing with a bootloop after running for about 10 seconds it would reboot again. It did this throughout the day. I called Google and they had me do some soft and hard resets. After the soft reset the phone would connect right after startup then disconnect after 2 seconds and reboot itself. I hard reset the phone and relocked the bootloader and reinstalled factory recovery and it is still doing it.
Google has given me authorization for an exchange but I was just wondering if anyone had any ideas because I'd rather not be without a phone for 2 weeks.
BTW I am on Straight Talk
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Click to collapse
flmz said:
I had a similar issue. After a month of functioning normally, my Nexus(rooted using CFroot, stock ROM, T-Mobile) lost the ability to get reception. First, it showed network signal, but cell access was not functional. A few hours later, bars dropped to zero, and it seemed like I could only get reception in the strongest signal areas. I would get signal sporadically when driving, but never when I was stationary. The phone never had problems with rebooting though.
After spending a day trying to fix it, factory reset, relock, flashing a factory image, I called Google, and they warranteed the phone.
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Click to collapse
It just seems so much like a software issue as opposed to hardware that it surprises me they are willing to warranty it... but I guess I'm not the expert.
How long did it take you to get your replacement phone?
nebrando said:
It just seems so much like a software issue as opposed to hardware that it surprises me they are willing to warranty it... but I guess I'm not the expert.
How long did it take you to get your replacement phone?
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Click to collapse
I got a replacement phone pretty quickly. The phone shipped the day after I ordered the replacement, but YMMV.
Why do you think it was a software issue? The problem persisted after I switch back to a factory image. The replacement phone, running the same software does not have the same issue.
flmz said:
I got a replacement phone pretty quickly. The phone shipped the day after I ordered the replacement, but YMMV.
Why do you think it was a software issue? The problem persisted after I switch back to a factory image. The replacement phone, running the same software does not have the same issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That makes sense that it was a hardware issue. I guess it could be a faulty radio or something. I'm glad to hear you got your device shipped so soon. Did you end up having to pay shipping?
I ran a nexus 5 for about 4 days and went through two of them both having issues holding a signal. Both phones would start with LTE and then drop to 2g go to 3g and then 4g back to no bars and then 2g and 3g. I was stock all the way and I wish the nexus 5 worked better. It could be a software issue as when I took the OTA to 4.4.2 it became worse. All the areas I was in while this happened were areas that were supposed to be strong for 4g and LTE.
That said I I need a phone that is a bit more reliable even though I'm on T-Mobile. I switched to the LG G2. It has a better antennae and doesn't keep bouncing between modes when in various areas.

Cellular/call signal drops off when wifi is on

I just started playing with my wife's new idol 3 phone. everything is great so far with the exception of when wifi is turned on I noticed that cellular signal turns off and on sporadically. When wifi is off, the cellular signal never drops.
Updated!!!!!! ALCATEL THANKS!!!
The WiFi and Cellular signal issue is gone!! New update is great.
I have not noticed that. I leave my Wi-Fi on and connects when home without issue. I've check cell signal levels regularly on new phones. My first impression with this phone is that the cell reception is excellent.
igotroot said:
I just started playing with my wife's new idol 3 phone. everything is great so far with the exception of when wifi is turned on I noticed that cellular signal turns off and on sporadically. When wifi is off, the cellular signal never drops.
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Click to collapse
I've noticed that a couple times as well. I assumed it was my SIM card as I changed carriers the same time I got this phone. It's not a deal breaker for me as I actually don't use the phone for calls much anyway. But yeah, it needs to be fixed. Just waiting for the next update.
Great, i thought maybe it was her phone in particular. I mean, I accepted the current update thinking that would solve the issue, but it didn't. Same story.....when wifi is on, the cellular signal turns off, on, off, on....maybe within 5 second intervals. Im shocked many people haven't complained about this.
if it wasn't for your response I was going to return the phone back to Amazon and exchange it for another one.
other than that I think the phone is excellent for the money and since my wife really isn't into development and rooting, for her this is the perfect replacement for her defective S4. however I would still like to be able to install a custom recovery at least.
My issue isn't anywhere near as bad as yours I would say. If yours is turning on and off a lot them you may want to replace it. I notice mine turns off once a day for a few seconds but I'm sure it does it more and I just don't see it.
Shodan5150 said:
My issue isn't anywhere near as bad as yours I would say. If yours is turning on and off a lot them you may want to replace it. I notice mine turns off once a day for a few seconds but I'm sure it does it more and I just don't see it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've used my phone to tether a few times and noticed the cell signal drops now and again....there is an app but I can't remember the name..something like "connection stabalizer" that toggles airplane mode on and off when it detects a dead connection....it might do the trick.
I have never experienced any of my previous phones do that, so i will most likely be sending it back for an exchange from Amazon.
igotroot said:
I have never experienced any of my previous phones do that, so i will most likely be sending it back for an exchange from Amazon.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have never experienced this either. Have you tried a factory reset yet? I may try that in a couple of days and see what that does for me.
Well see, before i took the latest update the problem existed.........then, after the latest update the issue still exists. So i don't think a factory reset will do it but i will before i actually mail it out.
I reset the phopne and installed a mobile network detect app that notifies me when the signal drops. we'll see what happens.
I have no job so I have the time to blow
I am having the same problem. I am losing the signal repeatedly. It goes to no service then comes on to two or three bars even when I am in the exact same location.
So far so good. 6 hours later and no signal loss yet. On another note, the reset fixed an issue I forgot to mention. when downloading from the play store the download would start and immediately get stuck at 66kb. I would have to start and stop the download two to five times before the app actually downloaded. I just finished installing all my apps without an issue.
Borghi said:
I am having the same problem. I am losing the signal repeatedly. It goes to no service then comes on to two or three bars even when I am in the exact same location.
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Click to collapse
Borghi, so your WiFi is on when this occurs too huh?
I will lose signal when on WiFi with LTE enabled. Switch to WCDMA/GSM and it doesn't happen. Weird. Going to factory reset this weekend when my new SD card comes.
Mes3 said:
I will lose signal when on WiFi with LTE enabled. Switch to WCDMA/GSM and it doesn't happen. Weird. Going to factory reset this weekend when my new SD card comes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow so maybe this is a 100% Idol 3 manufacturing issue that demands for a recall.
Me returning the phone for another one is futile. I mean who doesn't want to keep their phone on LTE???
It might also just be a firmware issue.
Mes3 said:
It might also just be a firmware issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
True.....
It's been 28 hours and as care as I know I still have not have a dropped cell signal after the factory reset. If you have an issue will the cell radio try a factory reset first before returning it.
Shodan5150 said:
It's been 28 hours and as care as I know I still have not have a dropped cell signal after the factory reset. If you have an issue will the cell radio try a factory reset first before returning it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With the phone connected to Wi-Fi?
igotroot said:
With the phone connected to Wi-Fi?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mostly. Wi-Fi was off about 6 hours while I was sleeping. I'm using Network Signal Info Pro to tell me when I lose signal. I know it works cuz I turn on airplane mode and it notified me. I carry the phone around the house so I don't miss a notification. So far in 33 hours still no signal loss.

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