Help Signal drops completely - HTC Desire S

[solorize]

Quick update..

I got an email back from O2, and they suggested I go to my
local O2 shop and let them have a look at the phone.

I emailed them back to say that I had earlier that day gone to
the O2 shop and am now awaiting return of my phone, hopefully
some time this week, with the problem fixed.

@Filler1959
I don't think swapping the SIM card will do any good at all, as from what
myself and others have tried this will not help as its the software version
1.47 206.2, which is the problem not the SIM.

I would suggest that you pop into your local O2 store and make them aware
of the problem, and see if they can send it off for repair, making sure you
state that you would like the software version on the phone downgraded
to 1.31.206.2 as you did not have a problem when you had this version
on your phone. It may be worth letting them know of this thread by giving
them the URL, so they can see that other people are experiencing the same
problem. The more people reporting it the higher chance we have of someone
sorting out a new Software update in the future that does not have this problem.

 

[schnide]

This thread has got a little wayward, so please allow me to clarify a few things.

@marvin123 - my internet is turned on all the time because I use it throughout the day. As this is a feature of the phone (and indeed any modern one), as well as being able to receive calls, I expect it to work. It doesn't. So it needs to work, end of story.

@everyone else - things we know are:

1) Changing the SIM is only standard catch-all advice and does not solve the issue
2) A factory reset is only standard catch-all advice and does not solve the issue
3) Sending the phone off for repair does not solve the issue; the phone comes back with a replaced motherboard and/or has been factory reset (see #2).
4) O2 (or indeed other network) stores are very, very unlikely to fix the issue. The stores are very much sales-orientated and very often not technical at all. More importantly, they are not centralised so will not have heard of this issue before [Edit: Word now may be spreading out to stores but this again may well be store specific]. They will send you to steps 1, 2 and 3 assuming they understand the issue at all. Your best option in going to a store is to have the phone swapped for a new one.
5) I have heard elsewhere that 'upgrading' to later firmware does not fix the issue - at least on previously faulty phones. I'm unaware as to whether or not phones first issued with the problem firmware or later firmware even exist.
6) Downgrading to the earlier firmware is supposed to fix the issue but this invalidates your warranty. This does however suggest it's an issue with the software, or particular phones hardware faults in working with the software. My guess is still the former but this does not explain why more people haven't experienced these problems (to our knowledge, at least - I suspect that someone in HTC knows more than has been communicated down to us).

From personal experience with O2, their email customer service is very, very poor and the customer service centers between phone and email are completely different. I think the latter might even be outsourced to India - they at least used to be. Talking to them on the phone is much better. You can see the fruits of that so far from the fact that O2Adam has posted on here with an update (thanks Adam!). He can't unfortunately call me to tell me personally because MY PHONE ISN'T WORKING PROPERLY!

On my understanding, legally, it's best to deal with O2 directly rather than HTC - not only because HTC will only likely perform the same 'fixes' but because O2 can issue a replacement handset, or an alternative handset, and your contract is with them. It's not with HTC.

 

[marvin123]

Because of my nervousness with such things, my mantra has become 'never accept any updates unless absolutely necessary unless such updates have been recorded never to cause corruption'.
I'm not trying to be clever after the event, honestly. My phone has about twice prompted me to do that FOTA update and thank goodness I applied my acquired mantra here, otherwise my phone might have been buggered as well.
I do obviously accept and do virus definition updates and those for malware etc. but never anything else, including MS updates on my computers.

 

[AeronK]

Have raised the loss of signal issue with HTC and just got this reply:

Thank you for contacting HTC. We are aware of issues regarding the update, the information has been passed on to our developers who are working on this. When update is available this will be made public. Please get in contact with your network provider for any news on fixes or updates that they may have. With regards to downgrades this can be done but there is no guarantees this can be fully implemented back to previous software. It may void HTC warrantly on the phone. I hope that this information meets with your requirements, should you have any further questions please do not hesitate to contact us again. If this response has resolved your query, and you have no further questions please close this ticket by following the link below. Upon closure of the ticket you will be invited to complete our Customer Satisfaction Survey which should take no more than 1 minute to complete.

 

[schnide]

Have raised the loss of signal issue with HTC and just got this reply:

Thank you for contacting HTC. We are aware of issues regarding the update, the information has been passed on to our developers who are working on this. When update is available this will be made public. Please get in contact with your network provider for any news on fixes or updates that they may have. With regards to downgrades this can be done but there is no guarantees this can be fully implemented back to previous software. It may void HTC warrantly on the phone. I hope that this information meets with your requirements, should you have any further questions please do not hesitate to contact us again. If this response has resolved your query, and you have no further questions please close this ticket by following the link below. Upon closure of the ticket you will be invited to complete our Customer Satisfaction Survey which should take no more than 1 minute to complete.

Hmm.. well that's progress, even if they're not really doing anything about it! May I ask exactly how they told you this? Because it's not the standard thing for them to acknowledge there being an issue - most of us have been told "Well we've not heard of this before" even though they have.

If it helps you to have it confirmed, all reports so far suggest that downgrading does do the job but it does invalidate the warranty.

 

[AeronK]

Hmm.. well that's progress, even if they're not really doing anything about it! May I ask exactly how they told you this? Because it's not the standard thing for them to acknowledge there being an issue - most of us have been told "Well we've not heard of this before" even though they have.

If it helps you to have it confirmed, all reports so far suggest that downgrading does do the job but it does invalidate the warranty.

I received it through HTC Global Contact System and email support. I referred to Forum reports by many users across most networks having this issue.

 

[solorize]

ARGGGHHHH !!!!
I have just looked at the O2 "Repair Tracking System" where I can
see the progress of my repair and I have seen the following !!!

Repair Outcome: No Fault Found (contact customer)

Current Status: Unable to Reproduce Customer Fault – customer to be contacted with options.

I bet they just put a SIM card in and got reception,
as the person at the O2 shop had typed "Total Loss of Signal" meaning
I could not get a signal at all, when I specifically stated that the signal
loss was INTERMITTENT.

If they had read my hand written notes that SHOULD have accompanied
my phone when it was sent back and also looked on this forum, then they
would know what the problem is! That I needed the software downgraded.

I guess they will not have done that, so I am unsure what other options
I have left, and what "options" they will offer me when they contact me.

Why is nothing ever bl00dy simple

 

[Psytechnic]

Deleted. I will explain in the morning.

 

[Psytechnic]

Deleted. I will explain in the morning.

 

[Psytechnic]

Deleted. I will explain in the morning

 

[schnide]

Psytechnic - I'd like to say something which I'm sure echoes the majority of users' views on your comments here.

Firstly, please do not take personally anything that's said about HTC engineers or possibly even yourself specifically if it really was solorize's phone you worked on. I'm sure you can understand how frustrating it is for them to have received the phone back saying there was no fault, and this is a reflection on the time you're given by management, not your ability to understand the technical aspects (which sounds more than capable, by the way) if you had sufficient time. I'm certain it is not a slight on you in any way. Because regardless of whether it was or wasn't this phone, I know we're all grateful for your insight.

Which leads me on to the second point - having someone from HTC acknowledge there's a problem, and even better be wanting to escalate it higher to get it fixed, is something we've not really had during all the time that our calls have been missed, texts have been delayed and other more minor faults experienced. We are more than grateful for you posting and would also be grateful for any more information you can give us.

Presumably your advice from a personal point of view would be, if we are feeling brave enough, to take matters into our own hands and downgrade the software ourselves. But I think it's understandable if from a professional point of view that you can't recommend that and we decide for ourselves.

In the meantime, thank you so much for coming to this forum and please don't make it your last visit.

 

[schnide]

And just quickly to add...

Being that the firmware you are talking about is a branded version, it may not actually be HTC, but how O2 work in their branding into the OS. I would like someone with a generic Desire S to explain whether they have been having the same problems or not. If not, you've narrowed it down to the rebranded firmware.

We have considered this possibility, but there have been reports on this thread and the other I have linked to earlier which suggest it's not network-specific. I have also seen at least one case where a Desire S has been 'upgraded' from the problematic O2 version to a later generic HTC version and still experienced the same problems..

Although it is possible that the O2 upgrade caused the original fault which stuck around, there are still other people outside of the O2 network with the issue.

 

[solorize]

@ Psytechnic,

Firstly I would like to thank you for taking time
to read and post onto the forum, and explain in depth
how and what you do to the phone when it's sent back in
for repair. it is greatly appreciated.

I am sorry if my previous post came across negative, but I
was concerned that when the person in the o2 store wrote the
description of my problem incorrectly, that when it was sent
to yourselves you would not know the exact problem I was
experiencing. So I asked her to send my handwritten notes
so yourselves would have a more in-depth detail of the fault.

I was very unsure that my handwritten notes would be sent, and
that the fault the lady in the O2 shop had written was "Total
Signal Loss" and not intermittent would mean that yourselves
may not understand correctly the problem I was having. So
was a bit frustrated this morning when I wrote my previous
post as I had seen that the repair outcome was "No Fault Found"
as I jumped to the conclusion of what I posted.

I can now see, after reading your post that you had received
then handwritten note and had read the forum, to which I am
grateful for.

I would like to apologise for the tone of my previous post
as I should not have jumped to the wrong conclusion, before
hearing back from yourselves. It is nice to see that there
are some people (especially yourself) that actually care enough
about their job's to go that extra mile to help out others, for
which I am grateful.

Once again, I would thank you for your post and explanation and
I will take your advice and will reiterate the network intermittency
after periods of long standby.

 

[billy06]

UPDATE after getting my DS back with 31 on i noticed it was laggy , as it had 31 on when i got it i knew how it should respond with 31, i then noticed that when ringing out i would hear no ringing tone, just a 20 second silence untill i could hear the person i was calling , also after accepting an incoming call a simular delay ofter resulting in the caller hanging up because i was not responding to them (i could not call then back do to the outgoing call issue), i phoned HTC again explaining the latest faults (also noting that the DS was prompting to update to 47 (i had been down that path before)), the phone was collected (i'm going to have to add that UPS man to my xmas card list), it was returned today with 1.47.206.2 , do i need to say anymore???? now back to the all calls going to voicemail when in "H" and in sleep again.

so on the phone to HTC again, booked for collection tomorrow.

i feel so sorry for the engineer knowing that all he/she could do was to put 47 on knowing that it had been in for not working with 47 on before

i have also mentioned to HTC that it would be nice if they emailed me when my device was on its way back with a tracking number for UPS.

I have now lost all faith in HTC the new device i got 2 months ago has now got visable signs of repair (scratched screws , sticker over original imei) and nolonger has a matching imei to the box i have for it.

 

[Deleted User]

One more unhappy O2 DS user checking in.

Problem definitely started since upgrading firmware to 1.47.206.2 a couple of weeks ago. Can make outgoing calls even if "No Signal" is shown (after which which a signal is shown and the phone works normally), but am missing incoming calls and texts.

Problem is independent of whether phone is connected to internet as I generally have that switched off unless I'm specifically looking something up.

Will put in a call to O2...

- Rich

 

[Psytechnic]

Deleted. I will explain in the morning.

 

[solorize]

Hi Psytechnic,

LOL yes that was my note that I wrote and thankfully it was sent to along with
my phone, as otherwise you would not known my exact problem. Which
was why I was worried that the note had not been sent.

Obviously there is no way that us as customers can talk to yourselves
directly with regards to our problems, and we rely on the person in the
shop interpreting what we tell them and writing it down correctly. Which
did not happen in my case. I have to admit that the lady was rushed off her
feet and she said they were a person down that day, so could understand
her making a mistake. But it was frustrating as I had spent quite some time
trying to work out the exact problem before I went into the shop to try
and make every ones lives easier buy trying out different SIM cards and doing
factory resets as well as researching on the forums.

I wonder if there would be a way in the future for us to liaise directly with the
repair engineer, to give more detailed report of the problems we may have, rather
than rely the person in the phone shop writing or selected in limited fault?

I guess the easiest way would be when we as customers are issued a Repair Number,
we could enter that along with our postcode on the

 

[Psytechnic]

I'm really sorry people, but I some bad news. I've been informed that if I talk about anything I do at work, procedures, policies, repair processes, I can and will be fired for breach of confidentiality...

Hi Psytechnic,

LOL yes that was my note that I wrote and thankfully it was sent to along with
my phone, as otherwise you would not known my exact problem. Which
was why I was worried that the note had not been sent.

Obviously there is no way that us as customers can talk to yourselves
directly with regards to our problems, and we rely on the person in the
shop interpreting what we tell them and writing it down correctly. Which
did not happen in my case. I have to admit that the lady was rushed off her
feet and she said they were a person down that day, so could understand
her making a mistake. But it was frustrating as I had spent quite some time
trying to work out the exact problem before I went into the shop to try
and make every ones lives easier buy trying out different SIM cards and doing
factory resets as well as researching on the forums.

All I can say is, the effort you put in is not wasted...

I wonder if there would be a way in the future for us to liaise directly with the
repair engineer, to give more detailed report of the problems we may have, rather
than rely the person in the phone shop writing or selected in limited fault?

I guess the easiest way would be when we as customers are issued a Repair Number,
we could enter that along with our postcode on the

 

[solorize]

Hi Psytechnic,

I am truly sorry to hear that you have been silenced that must be frustrating for you as well as it will be for us.

I can kind of understand why you have been gagged I guess there may be certain things your boss’s do not want you to talk about and can respect that.

I do think there needs to be a dedicated person that could liaise with the customer with regards to problems, and have a presence on a forum, just to show face and let us know that people are taking on board what we find, as I am sure it would make life easier for both parties.

Thanks again for your posts and I hope you have not jeopardised your position by just trying to help others out.

 

[pagepack]

The wifes HTC Desire S on O2 is experiencing similar issues since the last update. The signal drops completely, and the only way to get a signal is to switch the phone on and off, then it has a full strength signal.

Its definitely not an O2 network issue as I have an iPhone on O2 and that has no problems at all. Going to raise it with HTC and if they don't sort it out soon its getting returned as its not fit for purpose under UK consumer laws.

 

[pagepack]

Spoke to HTC and they admit there is a problem, but only with the O2 Desire S. They have no idea when there will be a fix. Fobbed me off with the usual, 'we will contact you when an update is available' line.

They escalated my case for what good it will do.

 

[schnide]

The wifes HTC Desire S on O2 is experiencing similar issues since the last update. The signal drops completely, and the only way to get a signal is to switch the phone on and off, then it has a full strength signal.

Its definitely not an O2 network issue as I have an iPhone on O2 and that has no problems at all. Going to raise it with HTC and if they don't sort it out soon its getting returned as its not fit for purpose under UK consumer laws.

It's not quite as simple as using an iPhone to prove it's not an O2 issue, O2 technically issued the problematic firmware, even if they only branded it - so it still could be an issue specific to O2. However, as people on other networks have reported the issue, this is what shows that's unlikely to be the case.

 

[solorize]

Hmm,

I've still not received a phone call, but checked back on the
online o2 "Repair Tracking System" and now the status has
changed to:

Current Status: Exchanged under warranty

So with that status, I guess that means that I will
be given a brand new phone?

If so does anyone (who has sent their phone of for repair)
know if this would be sent back to the O2 shop I went into
to get my original phone sent off fo repair. Or will someone
give me a call to arrange it to be sent to my home or work address?

 

[Plympool]

When the O2 shop took my phone in for repair, they asked me whether I wanted it returned to my home address or to the O2 shop for pickup.

I think it details the selected option on the receipt they gave me for the repair (I don't currently have it on me).

Hope that helps.

 

[solorize]

Thanks for the info Plympool.

After looking at my receipt it states
repair to be picked up from store.

So I guess that answers that LOL.