Help My Nexus One has slowly died :(

[ksc6000]

I happily bought my Nexus One 3 weeks ago from someone on craigslist. I checked out the phone, everything worked, and it's been absolutely great. I'm in the Detroit metro area and have T-mobile. I bought it, rooted it, installed cyanogen's 5.0.5.3 ROM and installed the overclocked-undervolted kernel, and it's been heaven. I'm in love with this phone. Then I drove with my dad to Tupelo, MS, on Sunday the 11th and throughout the drive the signal would disappear and come back, repeatedly. I figured this to be because of T-Mobile's terrible coverage. While in Tupelo, I hardly EVER got a signal...even for calling, forget about data. I knew this would be rectified when I got back to Detroit. Today I flew back to Detroit, and finally got 3G again and full signal and I was ecstatic that I could finally USE my phone again! Well that didn't last, now I'm at home (where I normally only get a GPRS signal), and I'm not getting ANY signal, whereas my sister and mother who are sitting next to me, who are on the same family plan with T-Mobile with me, are getting full GPRS signals on their blackberry phones. I've rebooted the phone multiple times, wiped and re-flashed the cyanogen ROM...no luck. I've even put in my sister's SIM card into the Nexus...still no signal. Meanwhile my sister and mother are getting full signal on their phones, even if its just GPRS. I'm bummed PS > No, the phone is NOT in airplane mode

 

[inspiron41]

=( tried calling HTC?

 

[daffyduck]

Restore the phone completely back to stock after wiping everything......

If that doesn't change things, then you may have a hardware problem.

 

[MartinS]

You may have seen that HTC are honouring some claims for hardware faults at their discretion on rooted phones. You could be in luck for a replacement.

 

[SnotF]

i would also try pushing a new radio to the phone if a full restore doesn't help.

 

[ksc6000]

Hi everyone, So it seems my phone isn't dead, but the problem isn't fixed Btw, I can't call HTC because I didn't buy this phone from them, I bought this phone used, and I don't have that person's contact anymore...also I did flash the orignal stock rom, and update the radio (tried 3 different radio images)....none of it helped unfortunately. My Nexus One will work fine when I'm in an area of good signal, namely where I get 3G. But when I'm at home, no dice. And the reason this is really frustrating is because everyone else in my house, on the SAME carrier, with the SAME plan, is getting a full signal. This really sucks because not only is the phone useless as a phone, but the phone runs hot (31 degrees C at idle, instead of 24 C at idle, which it what it always was before), because it's always looking for a signal (and I know this because Call Standby, which used to be 3% of battery use, is now the highest battery drain). And until I left for the trip, this was not a problem at all. So my only conclusion is that while in Tupelo, MS, the antenna/radio fried a bit, constantly looking for a signal for 4 days straight, and so now it can only pick up signals if they're very strong. Either way, I'm gonna have to sell it to someone who wants it for repair parts, and go back to my old blackberry pearl 8100

 

[Roze]

oh man >_< sorry to hear that : < that's why I don't buy used gadgets.

 

[QrafTee]

Hi everyone, So it seems my phone isn't dead, but the problem isn't fixed Btw, I can't call HTC because I didn't buy this phone from them, I bought this phone used, and I don't have that person's contact anymore...also I did flash the orignal stock rom, and update the radio (tried 3 different radio images)....none of it helped unfortunately. My Nexus One will work fine when I'm in an area of good signal, namely where I get 3G. But when I'm at home, no dice. And the reason this is really frustrating is because everyone else in my house, on the SAME carrier, with the SAME plan, is getting a full signal. This really sucks because not only is the phone useless as a phone, but the phone runs hot (31 degrees C at idle, instead of 24 C at idle, which it what it always was before), because it's always looking for a signal (and I know this because Call Standby, which used to be 3% of battery use, is now the highest battery drain). And until I left for the trip, this was not a problem at all. So my only conclusion is that while in Tupelo, MS, the antenna/radio fried a bit, constantly looking for a signal for 4 days straight, and so now it can only pick up signals if they're very strong. Either way, I'm gonna have to sell it to someone who wants it for repair parts, and go back to my old blackberry pearl 8100

I'd call HTC anyway, sometimes all they need is the serial to see whether it's "covered" under the manufacturer's warranty regardless of who bought it.

 

[danimar]

As you're saying that when there's 3G you don't have a problem, but only with 2G I would suggest you to make the following check:

Dial *#*#4636#*#* once done click on the first menu (it says Telephone information or something like that, I'm sorry I've got the menus in Spanish and I'm lazy to change them )
Inside the first option scroll down until you see a drop-down list listing network types. Make sure that "WCDMA only" is NOT SELECTED, as that could be the reason why your phone is not using GRPS when 3G is not available. You should set this drop-down to "WCDMA preferred".

Hope it helps!

 

[ksc6000]

Hello again,

danimar, I tried what you said, but it is already on WCDMA preferred.

QrafTee, I talked to HTC, and they can't tell simply by the IMEI if it's covered or not, because the phone is rooted. He said you'll have to send it in, and the repair people will determine whether it can be repaired free of charge or not. If they charge me, they will let me know to authorize it...I feel like if they charge me $100 or less for the repair, I'll probably go for it, if it's any more than that, I'm gonna tell them to keep the phone and forget about it.

I'm using my old Blackberry Pearl 8100 right now, and it's SUPER hard to go back to an old phone, but maybe its best to just stick with feature-less phones and not get too attached when something like this happens

 

[ksc6000]

I took QrafTee's advice, and sent the phone in to HTC.

This is what they told me. I could go two routes: Replacement or Repair. Naturally I'd just want them to send me another certified working phone (refurbished, they don't send new ones). However, with this option, since I wasn't sure if I was under warranty or not (having unlocked the bootloader and rooted the phone, and the customer service guy said they could only determine that once the phone was with them), if they determine that you are NOT under warranty, you will get a replacement, but the cost of any repairs that are needed to the unit you send in, you WILL pay for them, no matter what. If they determined that I am still under warranty and that they can help me free of charge, then obviously this would be the best option. But not knowing if I'd be charged, and how much I'd be charged, I took the repair option.

With the repair option, they give you the option whether you want to authorize the charges once they know how much it will cost (if they can't do it for free). Then you can decide if it's worth the money they're saying, or you can tell them to just send it back, in which case they'll just charge you 28$ for the diagnosis and shipping cost to ship it back. I took this option worried about them telling me that I'd have to pay 300$ or something crazy for the repair if I took the replacement option.

I sent it in on Friday the 16th, and I got a mail from HTC on Monday 10 AM the 19th, telling me they had received the phone. Then at 5 PM I get an email from them saying it's been shipped back. That's it, no other info. I thought, how can they fix it that quick? Or did they mistakenly not even look at it and sent it back with a batch of repaired phones? Or did they just send me a replacement?

I got the phone yesterday the 20th at noon, and opened the package, and it was in fact my phone (it still had the screen protector I'd put on it, albeit they'd completely ruined it, because it had moved and now had all these large air bubbles and dust in it).

I powered it on and the bootloader was locked again, and completely returned to stock. I was at my house at this time, where I've been getting the signal problems (while everyone else at my house, with the same carrier and same plan have been getting full GPRS signal). I pop in my SIM card and YES! It was working, and working well. Made a few calls, walked all around the house, and the calls were clear and strong.

Now at this point, it was a bittersweet feeling, because while my phone was working, I was afraid to root it again. I guess I felt that somehow rooting my phone and intalling Cyanogen's mod 5.0.5.3 must have done it (though I had that ROM on for a while before my trip, when it got messed up). But then I coudln't handle the slower speed, the lack of quicker pulse trackball notifications, wireless tether, titanium backup...and so on. So I rooted my phone, installed cyanogen's mod, downloaded all the apps I had.

Except ONE thing. The only thing I can remember doing before my phone's signal started getting weak was installing an overclocked+undervolted kernel to the phone. I know they say that when your phone is in a weak area, it requires more power to work, so maybe undervolting it is what was doing it, but this doesn't make sense, as I reflashed the cyanogen mod without the kernel, and the stock rom and neither helped. Wouldn't they overwrite the kernel with the kernel's in the ROMs? Either way, that was the last thing I did to my phone before it started messing up, so while I put on every app (including setcpu) back on my phone, I didn't put the kernel on it.

So far so good, it's been a whole day, and it's worked fine at my house. All I can say is I'm enjoying my phone again. Thanks to all of you, and I hope this thread helps out someone else in a similar predicament.

 

[QrafTee]

So far so good, it's been a whole day, and it's worked fine at my house. All I can say is I'm enjoying my phone again. Thanks to all of you, and I hope this thread helps out someone else in a similar predicament.

Congrats on the working phone.

 

[Teknologic]

Aha.. So there might just be some issues lurking for the undervolted kernel after all... This was one of the main reasons I was going to root, I want more battery life

 

[Roze]

So far so good, it's been a whole day, and it's worked fine at my house. All I can say is I'm enjoying my phone again. Thanks to all of you, and I hope this thread helps out someone else in a similar predicament.

I always love a story with a happy ending Good to hear that your Nexus is running smoothly as it should!

 

[unquick]

Grats on the working phone.

Good to hear some positive stories about HTC customer service.

 

[dextroz]

Congrats on getting your phone to work! Very useful information! I will be reposting a link to this thread in XDA as well to spread the word of caution.

 

[dextroz]

I took QrafTee's advice, and sent the phone in to HTC.

Except ONE thing. The only thing I can remember doing before my phone's signal started getting weak was installing an overclocked+undervolted kernel to the phone.

Do you recall which UV kernel you had installed? It would be great to have that down as well.

 

[ksc6000]

I believe it was this kernel.
Kernel 2.6.33.2 – OC-UV (1.113GHZ) – Nexus - Droid Basement

 

[dextroz]

BTW, how did you know that they resent you the very same phone you had earlier and not another refurb - the screen protector? Do you think they reapplied it to another phone and sent it to you?

 

[Roze]

BTW, how did you know that they resent you the very same phone you had earlier and not another refurb - the screen protector? Do you think they reapplied it to another phone and sent it to you?

Each phone has a unique IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) number that is found under the battery cover. You can check your IMEI by entering *#06# into the keypad.

 

[ksc6000]

Well I posted this on xda forums and someone said they most likely opened up the phone and put in a new radio or something and thats why my screen protector was all messed up. Unfortunately I didn't record my IME number so I cant tell if it is a new phone or the same one

 

[Roze]

I'm not sure...but you can check your Nexus' invoice statment to see if it has the IMEI number listed.

 

[chaz_uk]

I'm not sure...but you can check your Nexus' invoice statment to see if it has the IMEI number listed.

It's also printed on the box (if he has it). It'll be interesting to see if he has a different phone, especially as it has a relocked boot loader!

 

[Kage_]

It's also printed on the box (if he has it). It'll be interesting to see if he has a different phone, especially as it has a relocked boot loader!

I've read in a couple of places where people have gotten back there devices, verified by the IMEI, that had been rooted, but when the were returned the boot loader had been returned to the locked state. So the factory must have some method of locking them.

 

[chaz_uk]

I've read in a couple of places where people have gotten back there devices, verified by the IMEI, that had been rooted, but when the were returned the boot loader had been returned to the locked state. So the factory must have some method of locking them.

That is good to know, thanks! I've not rooted mine as it already does enough for me but it's nice to hear that HTC have honoured warranties on handsets with unlocked bootloaders more than once.