Flashing, a Gnex, Basebands, and YOU

[dancing-bass]

Yes, you. I'm kinda hoping you're kind enough to share some wisdom, knowledge, experience, or some similar sort of goodness with me.

OK, GSM Gnex. Flashed from Yakjuux 4.0.2 to Takju 4.0.4. Seems better on battery life, and reception issues are noticeably better. I was thinking about rooting/ROMing, but I'll have to dig some more and find out what all I'm getting into with that. So, in the meantime I was thinking about flashing a different baseband/radio to my otherwise stock-but-unlocked Gnex.

I'm on Rogers (Canada), and according to my phone, my baseband is I9250XXLA2. From the little bit of reading I think the first 2 letters are the country.... and XX seems to indicate Europe. Would I get better reception (which in turn improves handoff, switching from 3G-4G, Wireless to Wifi, etc.) by finding a North America (or maybe even a Rogers specific) baseband?

Or do I need to go over to XDA? (Not a snub on AC, I love this site! I just really don't like XDA - seems pretty hostile to noobies like me!)

So... what to you guys know? Have you swapped out a baseband? I'll probably be using Wugg's tool to do it...

 

[Centinel]

Yes, the XXLA2 baseband is meant for Europe. I didn't have very good reception with it, so I flashed the UGLC1 radio using ClockworkMod Recovery because that's the most current one meant for North America. I'm in the States, but I assume it would work just as well for you in Canada.

If you want to use Wugg's toolkit, you can get a copy of the UGLC1 image file from this link. Extract the .img file from the zip file and you'll have the radio image file the toolkit will ask you for.

I recommend using CWM to flash the baseband, however. It's not difficult, and getting some experience in the recovery console will serve you well down the road. You'll be able to make changes even if you're not around your computer. If you're feeling adventurous, here are the steps:

1) Download the UGLC1 radio from this link. Do NOT extract the .img file as if you were going to use the Wugg toolkit. Place a copy of the zip file in your phone's sdcard folder.
2) After CWM is installed using the Wugg toolkit, turn your phone off.
3) Hold down both volume buttons and the power button to bring up the bootloader.
4) Now that you're in the bootloader, use the volume buttons to scroll through the menu options and the power button to select. Choose "Recovery Mode."
5) Now you're in the recovery. The control scheme is the same as the bootloader. Go to Install zip from sdcard -> Choose zip from sdcard. Find the baseband file you copied in Step 1 and select it.

That's it! You can also flash a ROM by following the same basic steps.

 

[dancing-bass]

Maybe a silly question, maybe not... (actually 2)

I've read that sometimes swapping a baseband can screw with your SMS service? Is this true (and if so, how would I know and how would I fix it?)
And, to use CWM do I have to be rooted? (I'm not at the moment, merely unlocked the bootloader. Although rooting is something I want to try out later at some point)

***EDIT***

Ok, so I flashed a fresh copy of 4.0.4 takju and rooted. Still showing the same baseband (which I expected). I'll do some playing around and see if a different radio makes a difference, and whether or not it affects SMS.

(And again, for information purposes, on Rogers. Stock baseband is XXLA2, first baseband I'll try is UGLC1. Hope it all goes ok!)

 

[dancing-bass]

OK now I'm stuck. SMS fails to send (no idea if I'm receiving them or not), even on a fresh-flashed, factory stock image (yakju). I'm getting pissed off! no idea what to do now. Help?

seriously considering finding a stock 4.0.2 Yakuux (Current Rogers OS I believe), re-locking, and forget about customizing for now.

 

[Centinel]

The XDA thread recommends following the instructions on this page of the CM wiki if you have SMS problems.

Beyond that, I couldn't say. My phone works well with UGLC1.

EDIT: You could also try flashing a different baseband. The XDA baseband thread has a bunch of them available, and some of them specifically mention Canada.

 

[dancing-bass]

Well reflashed stock yakju 4.0.4 a few times, and finally broke down and re-did the APN settings. for once i had some foresight to actually copy them down someplace OTHER then the phone itself. So later this weekend I'll try a few different basebands. I figure with the proper APN settings on hand I should be ok.

Again, I'll keep you posted.

 

[dancing-bass]

Well I just flashed UGLC1. I double checked the APN settings, and nothing appears to have changed there, so I'll have to wait and see for the rest of the day to see how it performs. Before/After dB numbers appear to be pretty similar (+/- 2dB) but I did notice that it switches back and forth between Airplane mode and regular is MUCH MUCH faster. That tells me it will handle hand-offs between towers, and between wifi and network better. (Which should help battery life a bit).

Not sure why I had such issues the other day. (Maybe not enough coffee???).

Will update either later tonight or tomorrow with how things go. Even if the signal strength doesn't boost a whole lot but the hand-off and searching time is reduced.... that will make me happy. Now if only I could transplant the PHYSICAL antenna from my old BB.... that thing had reception pretty much anywhere (yes, it was CDMA and not penta-band. You know what i mean though!)

PS, I even took the leap and did it through CWM. Shockingly easy. Painless even!!