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Help Wi-Fi icon is white

Adara

Android Enthusiast
Nov 13, 2009
275
39
Well, this is curious.

The Wi-Fi icon was white this morning. Three bars, but white.

No data was doing what it should have been doing (i.e., apps couldn't connect, browser couldn't load a webpage).

Here is the curious part: My Nexus 7, sitting the exact same location, and connected to the very same network, had a nice, strong, four blue bars wi-fi signal.

I googled this (on the Nexus 7, obviously) and the problem appears to be not entirely uncommon -- but there also didn't appear to be a universally acknowledged solution.

In my case, it resolved on its own, so it's a no-harm, no-foul sort of thing. But I am a bit worried. I've come to rely rather heavily on Wi-fi at home (as the 4G isn't always reliable) and I'm not at all happy about the RAZR's Wi-Fi going white (and useless) for no obvious reason.

Anyone got any ideas on the cause or solution?
 
Well, this is curious.

The Wi-Fi icon was white this morning. Three bars, but white.

No data was doing what it should have been doing (i.e., apps couldn't connect, browser couldn't load a webpage).

Here is the curious part: My Nexus 7, sitting the exact same location, and connected to the very same network, had a nice, strong, four blue bars wi-fi signal.

I googled this (on the Nexus 7, obviously) and the problem appears to be not entirely uncommon -- but there also didn't appear to be a universally acknowledged solution.

In my case, it resolved on its own, so it's a no-harm, no-foul sort of thing. But I am a bit worried. I've come to rely rather heavily on Wi-fi at home (as the 4G isn't always reliable) and I'm not at all happy about the RAZR's Wi-Fi going white (and useless) for no obvious reason.

Anyone got any ideas on the cause or solution?

First off. The icon is blue if the phone is connected to Google's servers using that connection, and white otherwise. So basically the color of it is irrelevant to the fact you weren't getting connectivity.

the problem is almost certainly either with the network (probably not the case here since the Nexus worked just fine) or the phone's connection to it. Basically the best/easiest fix is to just restart whatever the problem is, and it should go away. So if the network isn't working, restart the router and/or modem. If the network works, but your connection doesn't turn the phone's wifi on and off. If that doesn't work, restart the entire phone.
 
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Stock ROM.

And thanks. Yeah, I figured it wasn't the network since the Nexus worked. (My plan was to restart wi-fi, then to restart the phone -- but it resolved itself. Someone else who had the problem seemed to resolve it by re-logging-in to Google (although my Weather Channel app was one that failed, and I don't believe Weather Channel requires a Google log-in, so I expect that wasn't my particular problem).

I've seen the 4G go white, and understand the Google/non-Google thing with that, but I've never had the Wi-Fi go white before.
 
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No, you have that backwards. When you can't connect to the internet, you can't connect to Google's servers (and hence the icon is white). However, your internet connection isn't necessarily down everytime you aren't connected to google's servers.
Ultimately the main issue isn't the icon, that's just once symptom and a relatively unimportant one (at least for brief interruptions). The main concern is not being connected to the internet.
 
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Updating the situation (just because I'm the OP) ...

Last night, I came home, the phone connected to my home network as per usual, and the Wi-Fi signal strength icon showed a (blue) dot (i.e., the very weakest connection).

I was standing next to my wireless router at the time. I even tapped it with my phone, as if to say, "Look, the signal is RIGHT HERE." Still a blue dot.

But, when I opened up "settings" and looked at the Wi-Fi network in question over there, it was four bars and called the signal strength "Excellent."

I should have taken a screen shot. Signal strength excellent while the icon at the top of the screen still showed a single crappy dot.

Current Hypothesis: My Wi-Fi icon is just screwed up, and not to be trusted.
 
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Conceivable but unlikely -- I'm assuming that the two instances of the RAZR misbehaving with the Wi-fi are related, and the Nexus 7 was fine when the RAZR was misbehaving the first time.

Also -- in this latter instance, the "wi-fi" settings for the phone were correctly reading the signal strength as excellent (which it was -- I tested a webpage and it loaded fine) -- it was just the icon which was giving me false information.
 
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Ignore the icon. It doesn't matter if the icon is white or blue, or shows 4 bars, or none. it matters if you're connecting to the internet.As long as the phone is still accessing the internet, the icon is not a real issue. If the connectivity is dropping out, let's figure out what the real issue is.

Oh, and it is possible that you have a tier issue that just effects the phone and not the tablet or computer. It's al
lot less likely, but possible.
 
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As long as the phone is still accessing the internet, the icon is not a real issue.

Oh, I agree. My follow-up today about the icon not matching the signal strength wasn't so much a request for troubleshooting assistance as a "look at the somewhat bizarre behavior my phone is engaging in" type of comment. My working hypothesis is that the icon isn't to be trusted -- no big deal as long as the connection is still there.

(What are these tier issues of which you speak? On my tiny widdle home network?)
 
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Oh, I agree. My follow-up today about the icon not matching the signal strength wasn't so much a request for troubleshooting assistance as a "look at the somewhat bizarre behavior my phone is engaging in" type of comment. My working hypothesis is that the icon isn't to be trusted -- no big deal as long as the connection is still there.

(What are these tier issues of which you speak? On my tiny widdle home network?)


"tier" should be "router".
 
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