Grey Signal Bars with WIFI On

[ejfiii]

Okay guys, I am on my second handset (first was used purchase on Friday, first refurb replacement was monday) with a third on the way.

The issue is very specific: when I turn on Wifi, both wifi and cell bars go grey. As soon as I turn off wifi, cell bars go blue again (and wifi bars disappear obviously. Wifi has full connection and cell radio is 4g.

After reading about it on the internet for days the following fixes do NOT work:

1. switching airplane mode on and off
2. logging into google talk
3. Turning phone off/on
4. pulling battery

I have tried rooting and running Jelly Belly, Bugless Beast and Vicious- all latest files and all since Friday (4 days ago).

Both phones have had 11.11 build date and I515.09 v.FC04 and I515.FC05 basebands. Stock is factory 4.0.4 kernel 3.0.8-gda6252b

Overall signal strength has also been horrible on both which is the other reason for the replacements.

But this problem is probably related to that and is repeatable every time I turn on wifi. I cannot have wifi on and get blue bars any way I try.

I am going to leave the next replacement stock for longer and see if the problem surfaces again. If it doesn't I may not root it which would suck because the main reason I got the phone was to run Jelly Bean.

Anyone else also experiencing this specific problem?

Thanks in advance.

EJ

 

[2defmouze]

Are you trying to connect to a secured wifi network? If its a public network or one that is insecured, often your bars will not turn blue (meaning you are not connected to Google's servers) for your own safety.

 

[ejfiii]

Yes secured, both home and work.

Further, if it was a network security issue, wouldn't ONLY the wifi bars go grey? Not the cell indicator?

 

[2defmouze]

Yes secured, both home and work.

Further, if it was a network security issue, wouldn't ONLY the wifi bars go grey? Not the cell indicator?

No, if you are on wifi then that's your data stream, and all bars will be either blue or grey.

Can't really think of anything else it might be.. considering you've tried different ROMs and your standard reboot, toggle airplane, etc. Might suggest just booting into recovery and wiping cache and dalvik, then reboot. When it boots to the lock screen let it sit without touching anything for a full minute, see if it connects. Sorry can't suggest more..

 

[voghan]

I get grey WiFi bars when I connect to my office's WiFi but every other wifi seems to work. It is strictly a router issue with that specific router. My home works fine and so does almost every other wifi spot.

 

[ejfiii]

Well crap. That sucks.

Does anyone know what ports need to be opened or how to set the firewall so this doesn't happen?

Thank you guys.

EDIT: well, I'm at a client's house and you're right, here I have blue bars on both. Although all three places- work, home and this client site- all have cisco enterprise networking gear including ASA routers. I will keep searching.

 

[ejfiii]

Well, my third replacement just got here and its doing the same thing- straight out of the box 4.0.4. I have been assured that there is nothing on the work firewall that could be causing this. In fact, when I connect to a different network at work that is wide open to the internet it still happens.

This is a newer phone with a 12.11 build and I515.10 v.FC04 / I515.FC05 baseband.

I really want to keep this phone. I'm discouraged to have this issue.

Thanks for any more help.

 

[2defmouze]

Has to be an issue with the router's involved then. I wish I knew exactly what, but I don't. You could most probably find some info by Googling... Its not an issue anyone else has and you've tried a few units so we can be pretty confident there's just an issue with the network/router.

 

[ejfiii]

Well guys, after a ton more troubleshooting, testing and network configurating, I narrowed it down to the specific WAP. Ruckus 2942 dual band wap is causing the issue. I have one here at work and at home. It is the only exact match between the two locations. These WAPs are in standalone mode without a controller which might help.

I am bringing home a different model Ruckus wap to try- this model worked fine at a client site yesterday.

Crazy stuff.

 

[2defmouze]

Word hope that works out, keep us posted!

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

[rollyfingaz]

Go into settings, apps and select the google framework service. Clear the data and force stop it then reboot.

Sent from my SCH-I905 using Tapatalk 2

 

[ejfiii]

Go into settings, apps and select the google framework service. Clear the data and force stop it then reboot.

Didn't work Rolly. Thanks though.

Well guys, after a ton more troubleshooting, testing and network configurating, I narrowed it down to the specific WAP. Ruckus 2942 dual band wap is causing the issue. I have one here at work and at home. It is the only exact match between the two locations. These WAPs are in standalone mode without a controller which might help.

I am bringing home a different model Ruckus wap to try- this model worked fine at a client site yesterday.

Well, here is another update.

I got home and it was working fine which means its not the wap after all.

Back in the office this morning and tried one more thing: set my ip address for this wifi network to static in a range that we have wide open to the internet and lo and behold, blue bars all around.

So there IS some programming on the firewall that is preventing the phone from making a connection. Since I have the solution I am not going to try to find what programming that is. I can say that the FW is a Cisco ASA 5510 if that helps.

Thanks for the help guys.

EJ

 

[JustTryIt4Fsake]

Well I have 2 phones. Ones and HTC and the other is a Nexus. The HTC works fine but the Nexus gave me grey bars as well. I havent used the Nexus for a month or so, and I remembered I changed the WiFi channel as my WiFi signal became weak for some reason. It was originally 11 and I changed to auto which selects 1 by default. So I changed it back to 11 and the Nexus bars became blue. Maybe try this next time you have an issue... that is if your modem router has this feature.

 

[ChromeJob]

Well I have 2 phones. Ones and HTC and the other is a Nexus. The HTC works fine but the Nexus gave me grey bars as well. I havent used the Nexus for a month or so, and I remembered I changed the WiFi channel as my WiFi signal became weak for some reason. It was originally 11 and I changed to auto which selects 1 by default. So I changed it back to 11 and the Nexus bars became blue. Maybe try this next time you have an issue... that is if your modem router has this feature.

I've had trouble with routers on Channel 1 too, with my Amaze 4G. Strange.

// Sent from a mobile. Misspellings happen. //

 

[oldcrow52]

my mom and i have identical tablets but we were having grey bar issues with hers but not mine. I tried your trick, it didn't work But it got me to thinking I could do this step with the other apps sooo I started removing all the apps I put on there for her. I then reconnected and voila it worked. Turns out I had gotten a solitaire game for my mom and that must of been the root of the problem. Wouldn't of thought of it without you, Thanks Rollyfingaz you saved the day and my mom is thrilled to be able to use her Kindle app again!!!!!

 

[velcrobomb]

Hey guys, Google push notification service runs on TCP ports 5228-5230. This is causing your issue with the grey bars and push notifications.

 

[ChromeJob]

Hey guys, Google push notification service runs on TCP ports 5228-5230. This is causing your issue with the grey bars and push notifications.

Um.... How? Got something to attribute this to?

// Tapatalk HD for Android - Nexus 7 //

 

[Onicas]

i signed up just to post this response hoping OP sees this (i would hope someone would do the same for me).

i have had this issue on and off when flashing ROMs and here is what i did to fix it. i had all location access settings enabled, but google now thought it was disabled. when i went into location settings, i had to click each setting a few times in order to reset it, which was a little weird. but after a few clicks i was able to enable and re-enable each location setting and my wifi and cell signals went from grey to blue.

try playing with settings like that such as mobile networks, location, and see if anything helps.

 

[ChromeJob]

Thanks, but in my original case it turned out to be an Airport Time Capsule that wasn't playing well with a Motorola modem/router. Confirmed with multiple devices.

Your experiences with fiddling settings sounds like flakey ROMs, frankly.

// Tapatalk HD for Android - Nexus 7 //

 

[Alex72720]

how do you turn off push notications?