New OTA on Verizon Support

[FrankXS]

Ugh, so after my (non-consensual) update to Gingerbread last night, my phone's being all wonky with data today. It tells me it can't scan for wifi (??) and it won't connect to 3g data at all (and I normally left my phone in 3g to save battery unless I needed 4g).

4g does seem to be working. Wifi was working last night before I turned off the phone. (I turn off my phone at night; when I turned it on it told me there was an update for my phone-- the one it already installed!! Gee, thanks. I hit "OK" but it [of course] didn't do anything else)

I thought it was maybe Juice Defender (figures, I just bought Ultimate from Amazon and now I got the GB update forced; is JD still incompatible with GB?) so I disabled it and restarted but still the same problems.

Anyone else?

If this turns into "do a factory reset to clear everything up" I think it's time to root....

Thanks, Verizon! I was 100% happy with my Bolt before this update.

JD is not a good idea on Android Froyo and higher. There is similar functionality automated and built-in. When you use an external process controller you will confuse the OS. Nine times out of ten, after JD kills a process the OS will open it back up. Never ending cycle. Battery killer. If you'd prefer to keep JD, just set it so that it does not auto-kill stuff. Use it as a monitor of sorts and make your own decisions. I'm assuming you can do that -- I've never used it. Just FYI... "Watchdog" from the Market is very good and acts as simply a monitor to alert you to your specifications -- leaving the decisions up to you. Good app.

As far as program "wonkyness", do the Applications | clear cache/data trick and try again. There are a number of programs that will act "wonky" due to old cache/data that is not consistent with the new OS.

-Frank

 

[Buzzy42]

JD is not a good idea on Android Froyo and higher. There is similar functionality automated and built-in. When you use an external process controller you will confuse the OS. Nine times out of ten, after JD kills a process the OS will open it back up. Never ending cycle. Battery killer. If you'd prefer to keep JD, just set it so that it does not auto-kill stuff. Use it as a monitor of sorts and make your own decisions. I'm assuming you can do that -- I've never used it. Just FYI... "Watchdog" from the Market is very good and acts as simply a monitor to alert you to your specifications -- leaving the decisions up to you. Good app.

As far as program "wonkyness", do the Applications | clear cache/data trick and try again. There are a number of programs that will act "wonky" due to old cache/data that is not consistent with the new OS.

-Frank

Thanks for the info; JD's worked fantastically for me (it doesn't really auto-kill stuff at all, it just controls radio usage-- I think for a heavy phone user it might be counterproductive but if the phone sits idle a lot of the day it does help with battery life) but I have disabled it entirely and restarted so it's not the cause of my data issues right now. (unless it really dug in deep and needs to be entirely uninstalled but I'm not quite ready to do that)

I haven't had any total program issues (yet) although a few have needed me to re-log in, like the Amazon app store (and none of my Amazon apps would work until I did that). Is there a general system data/cache I can clear somewhere? (like some sort of cache for the radio that might causing it to get confused looking for 3g?)

 

[FrankXS]

I haven't had any total program issues (yet) although a few have needed me to re-log in, like the Amazon app store (and none of my Amazon apps would work until I did that). Is there a general system data/cache I can clear somewhere? (like some sort of cache for the radio that might causing it to get confused looking for 3g?)

Occasionally, if clearing the individual program's cache/data doesn't help, it helps to uninstall and reinstall. I've have none of these issues after upgrading from Froyo to GB, but a number of people here have reported it.

As for the radios, yes, the radios are different than the Froyo radios. So, that could account for the difference in behavior, in your case. I say in your case because it is very dependent on your environment whether the new radios are better or worse. The only way I know of to change radios is to root. Not positive about that, but pretty sure. You might want to give it more time with the new radios and see how they work overall. There is no cache to clear when it comes to radios. For me, I've seen an improvement in radios since initial release for MR1 (yes, even MR1), MR2 and now GB (MR3?). I guess the "patch" to GB a lot of us just got might be called MR4 but there were no new radios for that patch.

-Frank

 

[McFrost69]

I have 605.3 and I continue to get the Service Unavailable message :'( here in a Wyoming blizzard.

You must be in Laramie or Cheyenne. We only got a skiff of snow Tuesday morning in Cody.

I've been on Gingerbread for about three weeks with no problems, and I've seen a big increase in my battery life since then. I received the 605.5 OTA last night and it installed with no problems, too. It had been a while since I had synced my T-Bolt, and in doing so, I noticed that the Verizon autoplay bloatware did not activate! Hooray! Is this part of the 605.5 update or was it Gingerbread? Either way, I'm not complaining.

 

[Buzzy42]

Occasionally, if clearing the individual program's cache/data doesn't help, it helps to uninstall and reinstall. I've have none of these issues after upgrading from Froyo to GB, but a number of people here have reported it.

As for the radios, yes, the radios are different than the Froyo radios. So, that could account for the difference in behavior, in your case. I say in your case because it is very dependent on your environment whether the new radios are better or worse. The only way I know of to change radios is to root. Not positive about that, but pretty sure. You might want to give it more time with the new radios and see how they work overall. There is no cache to clear when it comes to radios. For me, I've seen an improvement in radios since initial release for MR1 (yes, even MR1), MR2 and now GB (MR3?). I guess the "patch" to GB a lot of us just got might be called MR4 but there were no new radios for that patch.

-Frank

I was hoping maybe it was just a weak signal at home (which honestly never happens but thought maybe it was a fluke) but I never saw 3G come on at all on my way to work, or now that I am here... so either this new radio REALLY sucks for me or something in the update went horribly wrong; if nothing else I might have to root just to get the MR2 radios back.

4g snaps right into place so at least it's not totally dead/adrift without data.

I think my next step will be the battery/SIM pull...

 

[FrankXS]

I was hoping maybe it was just a weak signal at home (which honestly never happens but thought maybe it was a fluke) but I never saw 3G come on at all on my way to work, or now that I am here... so either this new radio REALLY sucks for me or something in the update went horribly wrong; if nothing else I might have to root just to get the MR2 radios back.

4g snaps right into place so at least it's not totally dead/adrift without data.

I think my next step will be the battery/SIM pull...

A battery/sim pull is always a good place to start.

The problem is that you (we) don't know what is really best... 3G or 4G, in that specific situation. I'm sure there are times when a strong 3G signal works better than a weak 4G signal. That is exactly the type of radio/tower negotiations that new radio software is aimed at fixing.

So, maybe the phone is right! Or, maybe it just makes you (us) feel better to see 4G on the top bar. How do we know if we know better than the phone? It's not black and white. That's why I say to give it a while and evaluate real operation.

As far as "dead adrift without data"... right on! Again, this is the type of thing that new radio software is designed to fix. I'd rather have a stable 3G signal than a confused radio adrift without any data at all. I guess it comes down to, be careful what you ask for, you may get it

-Frank

 

[steve_ma]

I had the initial GB release and was great with it except VM. My TB auto updated to 605.5 last night. Lowell, MA.

Sent from my ThunderBolt using TapaTalk

 

[Buzzy42]

A battery/sim pull is always a good place to start.

The problem is that you (we) don't know what is really best... 3G or 4G, in that specific situation. I'm sure there are times when a strong 3G signal works better than a weak 4G signal. That is exactly the type of radio/tower negotiations that new radio software is aimed at fixing.

Well, my problem is I force 3G during the day when I'm not actively using the phone to help battery life, and it kicks itself down to 3G during some parts of my commute that don't have 4G coverage, and now there's NOTHING. The only time I get data is when it's specifically set for LTE/CDMA instead of "CDMA Only".

So I don't think it's quite a simple "preferring 4G" issue as much as "My phone doesn't see 3G at all anymore".

 

[FrankXS]

Well, my problem is I force 3G during the day when I'm not actively using the phone to help battery life, and it kicks itself down to 3G during some parts of my commute that don't have 4G coverage, and now there's NOTHING. The only time I get data is when it's specifically set for LTE/CDMA instead of "CDMA Only".

So I don't think it's quite a simple "preferring 4G" issue as much as "My phone doesn't see 3G at all anymore".

It's hard to evaluate the TBolt's control of the radios when you're manually controlling them yourself.

-Frank

 

[Buzzy42]

Sadly, no change after battery/sim pull (left them out about 5 minutes, is that long enough?).

Still sees 4G instantly; but if put to CDMA Only, there's nothing. (I'm stuck at work but this is what I was seeing at home, and when I could check on my drive in when I left-- if it was in 4G it was 4G or nothing; in 3G there's no data)

(I have to be able to kick it into 3G only for battery life; I am in a pretty strong 4G area except some parts of my commute [which I can't easily be playing with the phone but I stream radio so I know when it drops].. the fact it won't connect to 3G at all is the issue)

 

[FrankXS]

Sadly, no change after battery/sim pull (left them out about 5 minutes, is that long enough?).

Still sees 4G instantly; but if put to CDMA Only, there's nothing. (I'm stuck at work but this is what I was seeing at home, and when I could check on my drive in when I left-- if it was in 4G it was 4G or nothing; in 3G there's no data)

(I have to be able to kick it into 3G only for battery life; I am in a pretty strong 4G area except some parts of my commute [which I can't easily be playing with the phone but I stream radio so I know when it drops].. the fact it won't connect to 3G at all is the issue)

What app are you using to set your phone to 3G? The built in one? You might want to check out the <hidden> menu to see if it's set the way you expect...

Dial *#*#4636#*#* (or download "Phone Info" from the Market if you don't want to dial)
Go to Phone Info, scroll down to Set preferred network type, and check what it is set to. Just a thought. There are different kinds of 3G.

Also, check out Menu | Settings | About | Network and see if you are set to CDMA EVDO RevA or EVDO eHRPD.

-Frank

 

[RescueEMT911]

Hello, I had the exact same problem here, when my phone updated, it was almost impossible to get a 3G signal, I would either have 4G or no signal would be on my phone most of the time. I live in Buffalo,NY and 4G just went live October 20th. so it was driving me nuts not knowing if it was my phone itself or if something was wrong with the 4G. So I called Verizon and talked with a tier 2 tech supervisor who had me do this fix:

*WORK AROUND :

1. Open Dial Pad - Dial: ##778 Send

2. Select: EPST Edit mode, Password: 000000

3. Select: Modem Settings

4. Select and modify Rev. A to ENABLED

5. Touch "Menu" and select "Commit Modifications"

6. The device will reset in 10 seconds.

For me, after doing this I am extremely happy with my phone! It goes into 4G without a problem, and goes right back to 3G now without any problems. Funny enough my parents house (1 mile away) has strong 4G signal and my house only gets 3G..so everytime I would get back to home I would be stuck most of the time with NO G..lol.. Hope this info helps someone!

RescueEMT911

 

[FrankXS]

Hello, I had the exact same problem here, when my phone updated, it was almost impossible to get a 3G signal, I would either have 4G or no signal would be on my phone most of the time. I live in Buffalo,NY and 4G just went live October 20th. so it was driving me nuts not knowing if it was my phone itself or if something was wrong with the 4G. So I called Verizon and talked with a tier 2 tech supervisor who had me do this fix:

*WORK AROUND :

1. Open Dial Pad - Dial: ##778 Send

2. Select: EPST Edit mode, Password: 000000

3. Select: Modem Settings

4. Select and modify Rev. A to ENABLED

5. Touch "Menu" and select "Commit Modifications"

6. The device will reset in 10 seconds.

For me, after doing this I am extremely happy with my phone! It goes into 4G without a problem, and goes right back to 3G now without any problems. Funny enough my parents house (1 mile away) has strong 4G signal and my house only gets 3G..so everytime I would get back to home I would be stuck most of the time with NO G..lol.. Hope this info helps someone!

RescueEMT911

Yep! That's another gotcha. A lot of folks did this trick way back when the TBolt first came out and then forgot how it was set. Whatever works, just remember how it is set In case you ever need to change it back to the default.

 

[Buzzy42]

What app are you using to set your phone to 3G? The built in one? You might want to check out the <hidden> menu to see if it's set the way you expect...

Dial *#*#4636#*#* (or download "Phone Info" from the Market if you don't want to dial)
Go to Phone Info, scroll down to Set preferred network type, and check what it is set to. Just a thought.

-Frank

I just use the built in CDMA/LTE switch in Network Mode...

In Phone Info, the setting was CDMA+LTE/EvDo Auto. I just switched it to CDMA Auto (PRL) and the Network Type switched to "CDMA-eHRPD" but no data connection. The signal strength is going between -66dBm and -76dBm, not sure what range it should be.

Interesting-- it just got 1X data. That's the first time I've seen that since the upgrade... (and Network Type went to CDMA - 1xRTT)

I switched it back to CDMA+LTE/EvDo auto and it took a bit but it reconnected to 4g. Now if I switch back to CDMA Auto (PRL) it switches back to 1X.

(just to mention this again, as recently as yesterday I had no issues holding a 3g signal anywhere; 4g was kind of off and on but when I had it forced to 3g it was fine, so I don't think this is really a signal strength issue)

I would assume we would've heard by now if 3g data was dead in Los Angeles...

 

[natehoy]

Sadly, no change after battery/sim pull (left them out about 5 minutes, is that long enough?).

Still sees 4G instantly; but if put to CDMA Only, there's nothing. (I'm stuck at work but this is what I was seeing at home, and when I could check on my drive in when I left-- if it was in 4G it was 4G or nothing; in 3G there's no data)

(I have to be able to kick it into 3G only for battery life; I am in a pretty strong 4G area except some parts of my commute [which I can't easily be playing with the phone but I stream radio so I know when it drops].. the fact it won't connect to 3G at all is the issue)

If you can't connect to 3G at all and you've tried a SIM/Battery pull, about the only step left is to contact Verizon and see if the upgrade might have somehow messed up the SIM. They should be able to issue you a new SIM card with very little fuss or bother.

There are some (new in Gingerbread?) options that probably won't help, but what the hey... Instead of using LTE ON/OFF and other aftermarket apps, it appears that we have the option to turn 4G on and off in the native firmware now. Go into setup, wireless&networks, and you'll see a section called "Mobile networks" that allows you to change the network mode from LTE/CDMA to CDMA-only and back. If you're using the "call the odd number and use the hidden menu" trick, you might want to try doing it in the menus now. Maybe that's part of the problem? Probably not, but you never know.

You might want to play with the "enable always-on mobile data" setting as well. Though I think that might affect connectivity for some background apps (I'm not entirely sure, I had it set on and just turned it off for giggles). I think on is the default, but if you have this off you might want to turn it on.

I'm in a 3G-only area and the phone works great on 3G here. Before these latest radios, I had a struggle frequently when I went from WiFi to 3G or 3G to 1x or whatever, I'd have to toggle to "airplane mode" several times a week to regain data connectivity. Since the latest Gingerbread, swaps from various data source types have been completely transparent to me.

But, again, I'm not in a 4G zone (though I leave LTE/CDMA on to let the radios do their thing the way they want to). Just for grins, I switched it to "CDMA-only" just now and I'll go find a dead zone in the building for a minute to see if I experience difficulties.

 

[Buzzy42]

Hello, I had the exact same problem here, when my phone updated, it was almost impossible to get a 3G signal, I would either have 4G or no signal would be on my phone most of the time. I live in Buffalo,NY and 4G just went live October 20th. so it was driving me nuts not knowing if it was my phone itself or if something was wrong with the 4G. So I called Verizon and talked with a tier 2 tech supervisor who had me do this fix:

*WORK AROUND :

1. Open Dial Pad - Dial: ##778 Send

2. Select: EPST Edit mode, Password: 000000

3. Select: Modem Settings

4. Select and modify Rev. A to ENABLED

5. Touch "Menu" and select "Commit Modifications"

6. The device will reset in 10 seconds.

For me, after doing this I am extremely happy with my phone! It goes into 4G without a problem, and goes right back to 3G now without any problems. Funny enough my parents house (1 mile away) has strong 4G signal and my house only gets 3G..so everytime I would get back to home I would be stuck most of the time with NO G..lol.. Hope this info helps someone!

RescueEMT911

THANK YOU! That fixed it... Now I'm seeing 3G perfectly when I force it and it seems to bounce back and forth to 4G just fine. I wrote down the original setting -- eHRPD -- just to be safe. (when would I need to switch it back? Is Rev. A a slower 3G or something?)

 

[FrankXS]

THANK YOU! That fixed it... Now I'm seeing 3G perfectly when I force it and it seems to bounce back and forth to 4G just fine. I wrote down the original setting -- eHRPD -- just to be safe. (when would I need to switch it back? Is Rev. A a slower 3G or something?)

That's great that you found a fix. What this might be is that the eHRPD circuit in the Tower is not working right. Every once in a while you can set it back to see if it maintains, or not. Early in the 4G rollout there was a lot of trouble with this. But wasn't aware of recent issues. At least not on nationwide bases. I guess there can always be local issues.

However! Rev A enable is the default. Maybe yours got switched somehow?

-Frank

 

[FrankXS]

That's great that you found a fix. What this might be is that the eHRPD circuit in the Tower is not working right. Every once in a while you can set it back to see if it maintains, or not. Early in the 4G rollout there was a lot of trouble with this. But wasn't aware of recent issues. At least not on nationwide bases. I guess there can always be local issues.

However! Rev A enable is the default. Maybe yours got switched somehow?

-Frank

After further research, back to the early days after release of the TBolt, I think the default is actually eHRPD. Not positive becuase I have no idea if the various updates might have changed this default (i.e. MR1, MR2, MR3, etc).

Here's a mega-thread from those days... There was an issue with 3G becuase the eHRPD network was down. Just food for thought.

http://forums.androidcentral.com/ve...blems-3g-data-dont-hard-reset-read-first.html

-Frank