Samsung Galaxy S5 Tracfone - Wifi keeps scanning, connecting and then disconnecting.

[Magnetom1]

As of the last two days i've been having an issue with my Samsung Galaxy S5 tracfone in which the wifi keeps scanning for networks, connecting, disconnecting and repeating every few seconds. This is making it very difficult to browse the internet and use apps like spotify on my phone, i haven't had this issue with my PC or any other devices and i even rebooted the modem. I started scouring the internet for fixes and i saw a fix that helped many, where you disable Smart network switch, it was already disabled for me and i've also re-enabled and disabled it and still had no effect. I've turned the phone off, removed the battery for a few minutes, i've messed around with alot of settings, and wifi settings and still nothing seems to remedy the issue and i'm at wits end, some people claimed after an Android update this issue cropped up but i've yet to find anything that fixes it.

Android Version: 4.4.2

Running apps to include default apps and

Facebook Messenger, Facebook and Spotify. Had the phone for around two weeks or more now and yet these issues have only started lately and i can't think of any software changes or updates that have happened to warrant it, and i'm not sure if it's just the phone having a defect or what.

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! Which network is it connecting to and disconnecting from? Your home network? Are you intending to connect via wi-fi, or are you trying to use mobile data, and the wi-fi connection keeps interrupting?

 

[Magnetom1]

Welcome to Android Central! Which network is it connecting to and disconnecting from? Your home network? Are you intending to connect via wi-fi, or are you trying to use mobile data, and the wi-fi connection keeps interrupting?

I'm trying to connect to my home wi-fi, the only available wifi network. I have mobile data turned off. Since i had the phone, it was connected just fine and functioning normally, this problem is a recent occurrence.

 

[B. Diddy]

Does this happen even when you've manually turned the wi-fi radio off?

 

[Magnetom1]

Not when i turn it off

 

[B. Diddy]

Try wiping the cache partition: https://support.t-mobile.com/docs/DOC-28492

 

[Magnetom1]

Try wiping the cache partition: https://support.t-mobile.com/docs/DOC-28492

That seems to have done it, it also helped my battery life out by the looks of it, thank you very much. Will post back if it starts acting up again, cheers.

 

[Magnetom1]

As a follow up, the problem returned and i did a hard factory reset, which still didn't work, so i contacted Tracfone, did yet another factory reset through the settings menu to no avail and now i have to send the phone back for a replacement. I guess it was just a defective bit of wifi hardware, i'll never buy another samsung galaxy phone.

 

[B. Diddy]

Sorry to hear that. I would've suggested booting into Safe Mode next, to see if something you installed was causing the problem. Also, if you just got the phone a couple of weeks ago, it was presumably used, which increases the possibility that problems will arise.