J7 (MetroPCS 2015) Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Hotspot: All Not Working - Samsung Galaxy J7 Questions & Answers

Hi. New to the forum, hoping to resolve this issue that's been plaguing this phone for months. The phone is not allowing connections to Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or hotspot (all both ways, to and from. Won't connect to another hotspot, won't allow others to connect to it's hotspot). What's truly strange is that all will work randomly, then quit again. But it works maybe 1% of the time. This makes me believe it's not a hardware issue, but it's not proof. And other times, it will work (Wi-Fi for example) and within a few minutes it will shut itself off. Same has happened with Bluetooth. I doubt it matters, but this phone is unlocked and currently using the T-Mobile network. I'm positive I've isolated the issues to this phone. I have done weeks worth of research online, and tried everything I know to fix it myself to no avail. My skill level is moderate to noob-ish, I know plenty more than the old folks, but would bet my house I'd brick a phone trying to root it.
What I've done already (thanks to countless bits of info by Google searching):
*Have powered off/on the phone many times
*Have factory reset the phone
*Have done a "master reset"
*Have wiped the system cache partition in the boot menu
*Have booted in safe mode, problems still persist
*Have gone to system apps>device maintenance>storage>clear data
*Have gone to system apps>wifi direct>storage>clear data
Fwiw, I've had nothing but problems ever since I installed the FB messenger app (only installed briefly to place an ad), but I deleted it ages ago and will never install it again. Can't be 100% certain whether or not the issues started before or after the install, or whether it's related at all. I really like this phone and don't want to give up on it, but I'm not willing to take it somewhere and spend hundreds fixing it either. I really appreciate anyone who takes time to read and offer help. Thanks in advance!

Bump. Can anyone offer help or advice?

Related

wifi problems laggy, crashing

hi all.
As I mentioned in my other post I have been having some serious wifi problems. Basically if I leave the wifi off the phone seems to work fine. When I turn it on however, the phone becomes laggy and it does not work. After turning the wifi on from the settings page, it says it is scanning for networks. After 20-30 seconds a little bubble pops up and says "unable to scan for networks" it will continue to try and scan on and off but never is successful. The phone is better to start up with the wifi off because if on, the phone becomes almost unresponsive and I am assuming it is because it is trying to scan in the background.
I just rebooted into the recovery menu and wiped the cache and device, but no luck. Any other ideas as to why this is happening?
Little update:
I found a few other threads where people complained about the same problem. Their recommended fix involved removing the file "/data/wifi/bcm_supp.conf"
The full thread is here: http://androidforums.com/samsung-moment/46179-unable-scan-networks.html
I tried that and also did a factory reset but unfortunately have not been able to fix the problem. Does anyone else have any other ideas?
hi Scales11
I'm also having the same problem..
did the
1. factory reset
2. new ROMs - Darky 7.01, Cognition 2.3...
3. delete the /data/wifi/bcm_supp.conf file
and still no luck... and realised bluetooth isn't working either..
anyone?? please help?
If you have flashed other ROMs and still the same issue. I would say its a hardware issue.
my fix
Geekboy9:
I meddled it for hours and while others have found various odd reset/rom fixes, I concluded that it was a hardware issue which cannot be fixed.
I flashed it back to a stock rom and went to att. They agreed that it didnt have any water damage and gave me a number to call about getting a replacement. Since the phone was less than a year old and its failure was not due to my use, the replaced it with a refurb. All in all the refurb seems fine, even after I rooted and flashed the cognition rom. I would recommend you do the same.

So many issues...can anyone solve any of them?

I have a LG G2x, got it when it first came out, dont want to buy a new phone really, but this thing is a plague.
the issues didnt matter before because i strictly used it for a very occasional phone call or txt and that was it, but now I'm using it more, and all its problems are too much to deal with. below is a list of issues with details I believe are relevant, if anyone has any suggestion for any of them please share.
Currently running:
Android version 2.3.3
kernal 2.6.32.9
build GR140
software version LG-P999-V21e
Issues:
1. Computer doesnt recognize phone (Can't go into USB Mass storage mode):
-when I plug the phone in, it charges, but no USB signal in the notification bar
-no "enable mass storage mode?",
-turned on/off mass storage mode in settings
-turned on/off usb debugging in settings
-used various (20+) usb cables, no change
-used various (10+) computers, no change
-used various USB ports on each computer, no change
-Installed various versions of LG Drivers and LGs update tool (every version I could find) into my PC
The phone originally went into mass storage mode fine and without trouble. within a few weeks of owning the phone I was given notification of an update and downloaded it, all was fine (I assume this was 2.3.3 from 2.3.2, not sure, wasn't familiar with android back then and didn't know these things). A couple months later I got another notification of a new update and downloaded it. When it was done I couldn't notice any changes, and I believe (its been years) the version stayed the same (2.3.3, LG-P999-V21e) After reading the last few days, it looks like my phone should have been able to upgrade to V21y and I had LG support verify this, but it never did (partially failed update?), using the check for update in my phone yields a never ending "checking server for update", and I'm unable to use the LG update tool because my PC cant recognize my phone.
This stops me from easilly accessing my phones files to share between my pc, plus I cant root or install any other android versions, nor can I even get the latest update for the stock version.
2. Random freezes
From what I can tell the phone stays on but the screen goes out (might be wrong, but I'm sure I heard a phonecall come in once when It did this), the only fix is to pull the battery and put it back in. Supposidly this was fixed in the 2.4.4 update, but I cant get it...so... yea.
3. SMS Messages (sometimes) come in multiple times.
This only recently started in the last 6-8 months, and is occuring with multiple people over multiple networks. Sometimes txting will be completely normal, but other times (random from what I can tell) I'll get the same text 2, 3, 4, 18 times over the course of an hour. It drives me nuts when someone says "sup" to me over and over again for an hour strait. cleared all my messages, cleared cache etc, factory reset, even got a new sim and called tmobile, nothing fixes it.
4. GPS SUCKS:
-cleared data/cache and uninstalled google maps updates
-reset various settings
-gone into hidden menu and altered various settings for the GPS (and set them back to the default ones)
-used various gps testing apps
-added Google to the SLP server list
-tried all combinations of data/wifi/roaming being enabled/disabled
Basically, I recently got data on my phone (never needed it) and tried to use GPS when going somewhere I'd never been to before. The first try googles nav sat there saying "searching for GPS..." and never found me, which I thought was weird because when I open the app it would put me exactly where I'm at, it just would instantly lose me for good. After a few days I realized SOMETIMES it would pick me back up, so I could travel with GPS, it would tell me where to go, lose me, I drive blind for 5-10 minutes, then it'd pick me up again long enough to give me the next turn, or tell me how to get back if I traveled off course.
Unacceptable.
So thats when I started reading and tinkering with settings. I've been able to make it so it -always- finds me within 10 seconds, unless I'm moving. If I'm in a car it will constantly lose me and re-find me (most of the time it can find me within 20-30 seconds, but sometimes it still completely loses me). It's better, but not right, and still only barely useable as a GPS guide for driving. The only fix I've seen that I havent tried yet is editing gps.conf, because I need root access to do so, and I cant do that because of issue #1 and can't find a "one click app/website" that works for my phone and software.
5. Performance in general kind of sucks
-factory reset
My phone was running very, very poorly, but that turned out to be due to 2 years of use, I did a factory reset on it and it sped up significantly, but it still manages to hang really bad in weird ways, maybe I just dont understand how android handles its memory. I can use an app perfectly fine, but if I continue to use it (say for 30+ minutes) my phone will begin to freak out. lock up, not respond, screen shut off, sometimes it even does a "soft restart" as i call it, the screen turns black but not off, then 5-10 minutes later it comes back on and acts like it was shut off completely. Not sure if theres a known performance issue with this phone or if this is just hardware limitation, figured I'd mention it.
==================================
The two issues I really want/need fixed is GPS stability, and mass storage mode. I can even do without mass storage mode, but I really, really want the GPS to work if nothing else.
Thank you in advance for anyone who can help, if I can get this thing to work right I think I'll have a lot of fun tinkering with the android OS.

If I perform a full factory reset of my ROM, will i lose root and carrier unlock?

I didnt root or unlock it myself.... im pretty sure i wiped all data before flashing the rom i have on there now, but i cant remember for sure....
seems to be the only way to truly fix my extremely messed up WIFI situation... (wifi kills my phone completely... regardless of whose internet as i tried my neighbours and got the same error). i did a restore to last year but it only fixed it for a day... if im gonna restore to a year ago again, i figure i may as well do a full fresh install, since its crapping out still anyway
i have something called superuser (i know is root access), and something called stk which ive read is sim toolkit, in "system/app" they are both apk's. "superuser.apk" and "stk.apk"
also, will my custom recovery be gone? as far as i remember that is how i flashed my ROM last time... but its been so long i cant remember...
Let me try helping since myself new on forums:-
There are two types of phone resets available- 1.Factory wipe from settings of phone/from custom recovery (cwm/twrp) or 2.Complete wipe performed such as in upgrading os version of android (like i did lollipop from jellybean). The complete wipe is done in custom recovery only under mounts and advance option in cwm and then wiping cache,system,data and everything else. If you do so,you will be losing everything installed in your phone EXCEPT Root and Custom recovery.
Back to your question, if you perform factory reset,NO,you don't lose root. If you do complete wipe from recovery,still you don't lose root of your phone UNLESS you fix the root on reboot.
Choose the reset carefully before installing any rom,read their steps,if they ask full wipe or just factory reset and dalvik cache.
Hope it helps.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using XDA Free mobile app
you cannot unroot yourself thru factory reset
Pawprints1986 said:
I didnt root or unlock it myself.... im pretty sure i wiped all data before flashing the rom i have on there now, but i cant remember for sure....
seems to be the only way to truly fix my extremely messed up WIFI situation... (wifi kills my phone completely... regardless of whose internet as i tried my neighbours and got the same error). i did a restore to last year but it only fixed it for a day... if im gonna restore to a year ago again, i figure i may as well do a full fresh install, since its crapping out still anyway
i have something called superuser (i know is root access), and something called stk which ive read is sim toolkit, in "system/app" they are both apk's. "superuser.apk" and "stk.apk"
also, will my custom recovery be gone? as far as i remember that is how i flashed my ROM last time... but its been so long i cant remember...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Factory reset WILL:
Remove all apps and their data
Contacts that are not on the SIM card
(In some rare cases) Pictures, music...
Factory reset WILL NOT:
Remove carrier unlock
Remove root (but may remove superuser app)
Remove the recovery
In case that superuser app is gone, just install that same superuser app from Google Play and update it if it asks to do so.
Ok, let me ask this, to ask if its even worth me doing....
last night i did the same restore to a year ago... except this time while i still had wifi i had downloaded both avast and AVG
I can with both now, and my phone says its clean...
but yet the problem is recurring now, and wifi, 4g, tethering..... basically any function that connects me to the world outside completely craps out my phone...
i thought the restore, and especially he restore and downloading antivirus would fix it, or at least be able to tell me WHAT the problem is... avast will scan the wifi network, but of course this test now freezes up just the same cuz it has to turn on wifi to do so.... while it was still working this test did execute just fine with no errors....
its as soon as internet is connected... for 3g or even my router, it will read it without the internet feed plugged in. but plug that in and it all goes to crap again. Id just hate to do a full fresh install just for it to all go to crap *again*....
ive scanned all computers on the router and those come back clean/no viruses... i tried i different router with internet, same error. i tried the neighbours connection.... same thing again.
this is really baffling.
so i feel more comfortable doing a factory reset....... but i guess im wondering is will it help me??? at all????
whatever this is is clearly not an infected device as some on another forum had thought.... something *else* is going wrong....
Pawprints1986 said:
Ok, let me ask this, to ask if its even worth me doing....
last night i did the same restore to a year ago... except this time while i still had wifi i had downloaded both avast and AVG
I can with both now, and my phone says its clean...
but yet the problem is recurring now, and wifi, 4g, tethering..... basically any function that connects me to the world outside completely craps out my phone...
i thought the restore, and especially he restore and downloading antivirus would fix it, or at least be able to tell me WHAT the problem is... avast will scan the wifi network, but of course this test now freezes up just the same cuz it has to turn on wifi to do so.... while it was still working this test did execute just fine with no errors....
its as soon as internet is connected... for 3g or even my router, it will read it without the internet feed plugged in. but plug that in and it all goes to crap again. Id just hate to do a full fresh install just for it to all go to crap *again*....
ive scanned all computers on the router and those come back clean/no viruses... i tried i different router with internet, same error. i tried the neighbours connection.... same thing again.
this is really baffling.
so i feel more comfortable doing a factory reset....... but i guess im wondering is will it help me??? at all????
whatever this is is clearly not an infected device as some on another forum had thought.... something *else* is going wrong....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Factory reset fixes all problems that were not made with root. You will not lose root either. For a total fix just wipe everything and reflash rom.
Right now im trying a different router, which doesnt have any windows XP machine plugged into it, and i made it extremely secure. even changed the default username and password to get onto the router itself (never bothered with the other one, the one i had been routinely using)... I did a complete reset of this router before even connecting to it with my phone, after it was secured. the other regular one still has everything else connected to it. this one is literally a separate connection, which i named "phone test" lol.
if it makes no difference, total fresh install is my last resort. if it *does* make a difference however... then something in my other regular router is messed up that cause my phones connections to freeze up - but that avast or AVG wouldnt detect (thats the only weird part)...
i even did a scan of my external SD card the other day, thats clean too.
time will tell, im approaching the 24 hour mark with this new setup. if by tomorrow its freezing up again, its not the router. but if its still working, ill have extreme suspicion that it was in fact, the router, probably something dealing with my XP machine thats plugged into it (well, normally anyway).
Time will tell...
im also trying to remember which apps i had updated before any problems started in case there are any corrupted updates i installed, without knowing it. (legit from play store, but still, ive heard that doesnt always mean totally safe, cuz anyone can make them)
Dude, wipe data, cache, system, reflash rom on your phone. BUM, problem fixed.
I still may, but i wanted to play around with the routers first to see if i could fix the problem.... that way id know i wouldnt be fully wiping for no apparent reason. if in a week or so things have been fine and i try connecting to the old regular router... than ill know its something on there infecting my phone... id rather not have a fresh install crapping out on me.
You can do a nandroid backup and then reflash everything. That way if you screw something up or the problem is not fixed you can restore in minutes.

Strange wifi crash - reboot

So been running c59 Android 11 for a couple of weeks. All working pretty well when today i noticed my device was not on Wifi..
I went to wifi settings the phone locked up and crashed - rebooted.
Same thing is occuring except now i have a little Sim icon and an X in where the celluar signal is.
I still can recieve calls though no network access at all!
Just tried aeroplane mode and now its stuck and i cannot turn off aeroplane mode..
tried the reset network settings.. no change..
this phone is rubbish.
looks like another factory reset coming up...
just for anyone else who has this issue. you need to Format Data through recovery.. you lose everything. this fixed it for me.
You lose nothing because people are supposed to BACKUP their stuff.
Smartphones haven't been around since only a few weeks ago, it shouldn't come as a surprise that at some point they can fail or like in this case for some reason need a formatting.
Craphead said:
You lose nothing because people are supposed to BACKUP their stuff.
Smartphones haven't been around since only a few weeks ago, it shouldn't come as a surprise that at some point they can fail or like in this case for some reason need a formatting.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you think about it you should be able to format Application Data only and not lose your photos etc..
Even my old Nexus 4 from 9 years ago can do that..
actually every phone i have ever had could do that other than this one.
Why would the existence of personal photos cause a phone not too boot? So why would the manufacturer make you format them to reset the phone?
Just a poorly designed device really..
And for the record i did backup and do backup. Though i wanted to inform others who may have to perform this fix that they will lose data.

Phone downloaded apps by itself, even without data enabled.

Hi all.
I have searched quite a bit and have found no answer to this problem yet.
So the phone is fresh from factory reset. Phone is pre-owned. Never connected to any wifi network and the wifi always remained off. Same goes with mobile data, never turned on. What's even more interesting is the sim is a prepaid simcard with no credits and no data. The simcard is intended to receive text and calls. (No cost to receive calls or sms). So data leak from that isn't possible either.
I have seen hidden downloaders from carrier that downloads bloatware by itself before. But this is the first time I've ever seen it self download apps without any data connection.
The built-in data usage counter still shows 0. The phone has never connected to anything. But now several bloatware apps just showed up. And those apps do work and storage used has increased. I noticed this around 24 hours after the reset.
Can someone please explain what is going on?
Do phones have secret functions to access data undetected by wifi or carrier?
The phone manufacturer is a one of the major brands and probably the largest that don't have access to GMS.
WishTime said:
Hi all.
I have searched quite a bit and have found no answer to this problem yet.
So the phone is fresh from factory reset. Phone is pre-owned. Never connected to any wifi network and the wifi always remained off. Same goes with mobile data, never turned on. What's even more interesting is the sim is a prepaid simcard with no credits and no data. The simcard is intended to receive text and calls. (No cost to receive calls or sms). So data leak from that isn't possible either.
I have seen hidden downloaders from carrier that downloads bloatware by itself before. But this is the first time I've ever seen it self download apps without any data connection.
The built-in data usage counter still shows 0. The phone has never connected to anything. But now several bloatware apps just showed up. And those apps do work and storage used has increased. I noticed this around 24 hours after the reset.
Can someone please explain what is going on?
Do phones have secret functions to access data undetected by wifi or carrier?
The phone manufacturer is a one of the major brands and probably the largest that don't have access to GMS.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Some devices have system apps that can be "uninstall", but they don't actually uninstall completely because the uninstalled apps are stored in a hidden partition. But, once uninstalled, if the device is factory reset, the apps automatically reinstall themselves from the hidden partition, similar to when resetting a PC to factory defaults. I had a tablet that would do this, the apps were definitely uninstalled but would reinstall from the hidden partition when I would factory reset the device, then I would have to uninstall those apps again. This would happen every time I did a factory reset.
Droidriven said:
Some devices have system apps that can be "uninstall", but they don't actually uninstall completely because the uninstalled apps are stored in a hidden partition. But, once uninstalled, if the device is factory reset, the apps automatically reinstall themselves from the hidden partition, similar to when resetting a PC to factory defaults. I had a taste would do this, the apps were definitely uninstalled but would reinstall from the hidden partition when I would factory reset the device, then I would have to uninstall those apps again. This would happen every time did a factory reset.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the answer.
Yes I understand that part of uninstall. But the difference here is those apps never returned fresh from factory reset. It returned hours after using the phone. The first few hours of using the phone, those apps doesn't exist, doesn't even show up on the free space count. It wasn't until the next day those apps appear.
I did suspect what you said too, but I can't explain why it waited at least 18-24 hours delay before installing itself and show up on the phone. If that was the case, it should have appeared right after the reset.
WishTime said:
Thanks for the answer.
Yes I understand that part of uninstall. But the difference here is those apps never returned fresh from factory reset. It returned hours after using the phone. The first few hours of using the phone, those apps doesn't exist, doesn't even show up on the free space count. It wasn't until the next day those apps appear.
I did suspect what you said too, but I can't explain why it waited at least 18-24 hours delay before installing itself and show up on the phone. If that was the case, it should have appeared right after the reset.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I considered that also. The only other thing I could imagine is that maybe you installed something and then whatever that was installed the additional apps.
Questions of a hidden Google mesh network come to mind after reading this. I guess it's theoretically possible via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth between devices. I don't know.
So after trying to gather more information.
I believe it is installed from some "hidden partition" by some hidden app installer.
The reason is.
1. No data of what so ever is connected.
2. The installed app version is old, as in few months before the official release.
What is intriguing is.
1. The delay before installing this app (and through an installer), rather than just install it fresh from reset.
2. It doesn't appear to be consuming and storage, as if this hidden partition cannot even be seen. Once the app appears, the storage usage increases.
zpunout said:
Questions of a hidden Google mesh network come to mind after reading this. I guess it's theoretically possible via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth between devices. I don't know.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I actually believe it is a thing. I vaguely remember that my brand new iPhone detected and recommended my current location region without even inserting a simcard or connecting to wifi yet. The kicker is, phone was purchased in another country that is separated by vast ocean and several time zones.
To this day I still can't figure out how did the iPhone know that. I suspect that the wifi routers broadcast more than just SSID to any device that is not connected. Or it could be from another iPhone. Maybe some similar bluetooth tech that predates "Airtag". This was about 3-4 years ago, likely it was the X.
WishTime said:
So after trying to gather more information.
I believe it is installed from some "hidden partition" by some hidden app installer.
The reason is.
1. No data of what so ever is connected.
2. The installed app version is old, as in few months before the official release.
What is intriguing is.
1. The delay before installing this app (and through an installer), rather than just install it fresh from reset.
2. It doesn't appear to be consuming and storage, as if this hidden partition cannot even be seen. Once the app appears, the storage usage increases.
I actually believe it is a thing. I vaguely remember that my brand new iPhone detected and recommended my current location region without even inserting a simcard or connecting to wifi yet. The kicker is, phone was purchased in another country that is separated by vast ocean and several time zones.
To this day I still can't figure out how did the iPhone know that. I suspect that the wifi routers broadcast more than just SSID to any device that is not connected. Or it could be from another iPhone. Maybe some similar bluetooth tech that predates "Airtag". This was about 3-4 years ago, likely it was the X.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Location is detetmined by more than just mobile data and Wi-Fi, it also uses the regular cellular part of the radio. The cellular part of the radio works even without an active SIM. That is why the emergency location and emergency call features work even without the device being activated on a network so that you can make emergency calls and your location can be tracked in emergency situations so that you can be found if you need help or rescue.

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