My wifi Nexus 7 shows mobile signal level icon

Rarry

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The Nexus wouldn't boot a while ago and went back to Asus. They sent it back after replacing main board but now it showed a zero mobile signal on the status bar and settings has items for 'Mobile Networks' and 'Mobile Plan' with, of course, no information as this is a wifi only tablet. It went back again but they've returned it in the same state. Is it the wrong ROM that's been loaded? What's the best way to get it back to normal?
 

B. Diddy

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Welcome to Android Central! That's odd--I wonder if they replaced the motherboard with one from an LTE-capable Nexus 7. But since you don't have access to a SIM card slot, you wouldn't be able to use it anyway. It probably won't affect performance. If you want to be sure, keep the device in Airplane Mode, which should disable any attempts by the device to access mobile data. You can still turn on wi-fi, Bluetooth, and GPS while in Airplane Mode.
 

Rarry

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Thanks, I've been reading here a while but got around to registering now I have something to ask.

It works ok but not happy that Asus have screwed it up somehow. Even less happy that they sent it back that way a second time. It's devalued like that so I'd like it back the way it was and Asus don't seem to be able to fix it. What could be wrong? Can I tell from build number or something or should I take off the back and see if it has a sim card slot now?

I"ve had two Nexus 7's and had three faults. One was replaced from new (no wireless charging) and two times had to go back to Asus UK, (audio channel out, and not booting) and they've sent it back faulty three times, so I'm getting wary of them now and fed up having it disappearing. The last time of not fixing it was only a week but two other times they took over a month.

I've read up on adb console, and wug's nexus root kit. Will one of these help me fix it?
 

B. Diddy

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I'm afraid I can't answer that. Your issues with Asus would have to go through them--see if you can contact someone from customer relations there, and keep trying to escalate. Or find out the email address or Twitter handle of the Asus CEO or regional president, and let them know what's been going on.
 

Rarry

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I'd prefer to try fixing it myself if I can. Just need some advice on the best way to go about it. How would you tell the difference between a wifi and an lte tablet from looking at settings and status etc?
 

Rarry

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Ok, I got it sorted myself and it was the ROM that was wrong as I'd suspected. I used the utility from 'Wugfresh' called Nexus Root Toolkit and it worked great. It was a big hassle getting my XP notepad to talk to the Nexus, that took ages, but it's useful to know you don't need a fast PC to to this. Apparently USB hassle with Windows and Nexus is normal but having downloaded USB drivers and eventually persuaded it to connect using MTP it all started to work, but it was a pain trying to figure it out. Wugfresh has tried to include as much info as possible so do take notice of the driver guide, step 1, which explains what you need for setup. I started to 'get it' after the fourth or fifth attempt of getting it to communicate. (It really is neat that you keep getting pop-ups reminding you what's happening and asking have you done the previous step ok and what might be wrong if it doesn't work.)

It's called Root toolkit, but it will reflash back to stock settings as well as rooting which I don't need. Once I loaded the Nexus with the right ROM the unwanted mobile stuff had all disappeared and everything was as it should be. I let it boot up and load load my apps and then used the utility again to make a backup. I don't know quite what is backed as I haven't used it. Still, it's not so hard to reload the ROM now I know how, so I can do that if I want anyway.

So having got this far I saw that Mr Wugfresh's util would also load a dev version of Android L, so I thought I'd give that a go and get to see it a few weeks earlier than waiting for the update, and that worked fine too, so that's now what I'm running and it seems great.

I'd done reading before and downloaded SDK and images and various stuff but this Toolkit doesn't need any of that and will download just what's needed as you go along. (Though you can pre-download the ROM image if you want to, which might be easier if you have a slow connection) So bottom line is many thanks (and some millibitcoins donation) to Wugfresh, his toolkit has saved my Nexus from having to go back to the dodgy repair shop at Asus again. :)
 

B. Diddy

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So Asus actually flashed the wrong ROM on your device? That's pretty boneheaded, unless they did it on purpose for some reason, like if they knew it would work better than the correct ROM. I'd contact the Asus repair center and let them know they screwed up--maybe they'll review their process.
 

Rarry

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Yes it's really dumb. Especially as the second time it went back was just for the ROM problem. All they did was reflash it with the same again. They didn't even use the up to date ROM as they'd put it back to 4.4.2 instead of 4.4.4 which was OTA several weeks ago for the LTE model. (My wifi Nexus already had 4.4.4 when I sent it in for the original boot problem but they downgraded it to 4.4.2 with LTE ROM.) Yes I did write and complain that they'd just loaded the same one again and they advised me to to a factory reset! Seems like they don't know what they're doing.