Help Signal goes from solid 4G to no data (gray triangle)

[jkc120]

I have this happen several times a day. It happens more in areas where my signal is low but in my home (I'm 100 yards from a 4G tower) I get full bars and it still happens. I don't believe it is a problem with the tower b/c I'm sitting right next to my Xoom and that will continue to have data connectivity when my GNex goes down.

I haven't called customer service for an exchange b/c I don't want a refurb. I'm hoping 4.3 and/or whatever update VZ sends out will fix these issues.

I encourage anyone having this problem to call 611 and report it. Also please star the google issue I linked in. The only way Verizon is going to take this seriously is if we report it to them.

Luckily with Costco I have 90 days to exchange. I know not everyone is as lucky and would possibly get a refurb, though.

 

[syntrix]

For anyone else having the problem, please star this google bug report I just filed.

Not sure if it will help, but I figured it was worth a shot:

Issue 24345 - android - Samsung Galaxy Nexus (CDMA/LTE) radio drops all data and voice - Android - An Open Handset Alliance Project - Google Project Hosting

Starred, but a little misleading on the usb lines, guessing usb charging and disconnected. I'm the second star, yay.

Might want to consolidate and edit the first post, I had to really read/scan to try to find the google report, which I then quoted.

 

[jkc120]

Starred, but a little misleading on the usb lines, guessing usb charging and disconnected. I'm the second star, yay.

Thank you sir!

As for the usb, at the time nothing was unplugged when that happened. I was wondering if internally the LTE modem is connect via USB? Dunno the specifics of this architecture. Though that seems weird.

Might want to consolidate and edit the first post, I had to really read/scan to try to find the google report, which I then quoted.

Good point, I'll add it to the OP

 

[Caveman419]

I was having the same issue with my Nexus but with 3G and not 4G. The data would only drop from blue bars to grey when i was using 3G. Sometimes the data would come back in a minute or two and other times up to 3 hours. I took it to a Verizon Corporate Store a week and a half ago to swap it out for a new phone. The CSR told me that the first action would be to put a new SIM card in and see if I notice any improvement. If I saw no improvement, I had until the 15th to swap it out. There was absolutely no change, so I took it to the same Corporate Store today. A different CSR told me that I could not swap it out, they would order me a replacement through the warranty. I asked if this would be a new phone and was told that it would be a refurbished one. I then spent fifteen minutes arguing back and forth that I would not accept anything less than a new phone. The CSR next to clocked in and agreed with me that I was still within the extended holiday return window and it is a manufacturer defect so they did swap it out. I have had it since about 10:30 this morning and have not seen any evidence of the issue. My original phone was manufactured on 11/19/2011 and I purchased it on 12/17/2011. This new model was manufactured on 12/03/2011. My original was rooted and had the updated radio. I tried several ROMs and all performed the same in that department. I do have the new one rooted and am running AOKP build16a.

 

[finn5975]

I was having the same issue with my Nexus but with 3G and not 4G. The data would only drop from blue bars to grey when i was using 3G. Sometimes the data would come back in a minute or two and other times up to 3 hours. I took it to a Verizon Corporate Store a week and a half ago to swap it out for a new phone. The CSR told me that the first action would be to put a new SIM card in and see if I notice any improvement. If I saw no improvement, I had until the 15th to swap it out. There was absolutely no change, so I took it to the same Corporate Store today. A different CSR told me that I could not swap it out, they would order me a replacement through the warranty. I asked if this would be a new phone and was told that it would be a refurbished one. I then spent fifteen minutes arguing back and forth that I would not accept anything less than a new phone. The CSR next to clocked in and agreed with me that I was still within the extended holiday return window and it is a manufacturer defect so they did swap it out. I have had it since about 10:30 this morning and have not seen any evidence of the issue. My original phone was manufactured on 11/19/2011 and I purchased it on 12/17/2011. This new model was manufactured on 12/03/2011. My original was rooted and had the updated radio. I tried several ROMs and all performed the same in that department. I do have the new one rooted and am running AOKP build16a.

I am in a similar experience to yours. My first two Nexus phones, both which wrre manufactured on 11/21, had complete drops frequently. I live in a solid 3G area. I would notive anywhere from 3-5+ times a day. Since i received this replacement manufactured on 12/6 it has yet to happen (knock on wood). Could there have been bad batches? Just grabbing at straws...

 

[hlsilver]

I think its possible there were bad batches. Since I turned 4G back on (Thursday night) I have noticed the issue 10 times or so. It's strange though that every time I've noticed this I not only have lost data but I've lost EVERYTHING, voice included. Deffinitely not something to just pass off and try to live with. Now is where I start to regret saving a few extra $ by buying from Radioshack. Going to see if they'll give me a replacement or something today.

However I tend to notice this when I pull my phone out after an hour or so of it being locked, and I've noticed it the last 2 days both mornings when I woke up. Could be that JuiceDefender was turning my data off after x amount of hours causing about half of the times I've noticed the issue, but that still does not account for the other half of them. Although the phone is telling me that there is no service at all, so maybe that's not the issue. Deleting JuiceDefender now to see if that cuts back on some of my data loses.

 

[GOOSEgdgt]

JKC120 you description of the problem is spot on with what I am experiencing and I also purchased my phone from Costco. I am leaving the house and will try two things, first I'll ask them to swap the SIM card and if they do I will see if it fixes the problem, if it doesn't I will ask them to swap the phone. My build date is 11/16/2011. Will let you guys know what happens.

 

[Sandroidfan]

See once in a while would be fine. But on Wednesday, in the time it took me to drive to/fro the VZW store, it happened 6-7 times. In the span of maybe 45 minutes to an hour. Almost every time it happened I had 3 or 4 bars of 4G and speed tests were insanely fast.

Authentication problems make sense, but I have a friend with a Nexus only a couple miles away and his never does this (he streams music all day and it never stops). That's why I'm wondering if it's not just a bad SIM card. But I don't know why a bad SIM card would cause the radio to crash as I'm seeing in the logs.

Have you tried replacing your SIM card yet? It seems to fix the 4G issue for some folks. And I saw someone got better reception by simply re-installing the same SIM firmly seated. I'm not sure if mine is that bad to try tricks like this though.

 

[Caveman419]

I am in a similar experience to yours. My first two Nexus phones, both which wrre manufactured on 11/21, had complete drops frequently. I live in a solid 3G area. I would notive anywhere from 3-5+ times a day. Since i received this replacement manufactured on 12/6 it has yet to happen (knock on wood). Could there have been bad batches? Just grabbing at straws...

When you make a call in 3G do the bars turn from blue to grey? I know in 4G they stay blue because you can still access data while talking, but what about 3G.

 

[jkc120]

Have you tried replacing your SIM card yet? It seems to fix the 4G issue for some folks. And I saw someone got better reception by simply re-installing the same SIM firmly seated. I'm not sure if mine is that bad to try tricks like this though.

Not yet. I spoke with a tier2 tech today, and she said she did something to refresh me on the towers? She said over time, you get "bumped down" on the towers (dunno what that means). She's going to call me back soon to check. FWIW, it has not dropped since she did this, but it is a random problem, so it may not be fixed. Time will tell

She did say if this doesn't work she will put a note in my account to swap my SIM card at the local VZW store. And if that still fails, I guess I'll have to go to Costco and swap the phone out again (if they have a new shipment in, I took their last one when I swapped it out the 1st time).

 

[jkc120]

Off to swap my SIM...coincidentally, my phone decided to drop voice and data at the exact time the rep attempted to call me back. And it happened 2 more times after that. Spoke to tech support again and they said to take it to the VZW store to swap the SIM card. If that still fails, they said to get it replaced. :/

 

[jkc120]

Off to swap my SIM...coincidentally, my phone decided to drop voice and data at the exact time the rep attempted to call me back. And it happened 2 more times after that. Spoke to tech support again and they said to take it to the VZW store to swap the SIM card. If that still fails, they said to get it replaced. :/

SIM card swap did not help. It happened 2 times within 30 minutes of leaving the VZW corporate store.

Off to Costco tomorrow to swap it out I guess.

 

[finn5975]

When you make a call in 3G do the bars turn from blue to grey? I know in 4G they stay blue because you can still access data while talking, but what about 3G.

In 3G once the phone begins to process the call the bars turn grey and the 3G disappears. Once you hang up, the 3G returns and the bars turn blue again.

 

[finn5975]

SIM card swap did not help. It happened 2 times within 30 minutes of leaving the VZW corporate store.

Off to Costco tomorrow to swap it out I guess.

I think going back to Costco is a good move. Had I not had a freak occurrence that prevented me from returning my 3rd Nexus, I wouldn't have had the chance to see it's true glory. I have had a nearly perfect experience since receiving this insurance replacement.

I would get so frustrated seeing so many people talking about how they never experienced any of the issues others were having like data drops, grey triangles, horrid pics, etc. I had nothing but problems for three straight phones so figured it had to be....the phone. But with the one I have now, manufactured on 12/6, it has been perfect. Not one drop, strong 3G hold, superfast downloads, great picture results, even the volume sounds good. So, maybe a swap will get you where you need to be. I hope so. I am so happy now that I am too paranoid to root in fear of ruining a good thing

 

[hlsilver]

I had 2 drops today but I can confirm they were not due to the device, as a friend with a Nexus had the drops at the same time. Also deleting juiceDefender seemed to help as I don't have that turning off my data randomly. I figure I'll give it another week or so before I go to radioshack. Hopefully won't have problems enough to lead to that.

 

[jkc120]

I had 2 drops today but I can confirm they were not due to the device, as a friend with a Nexus had the drops at the same time. Also deleting juiceDefender seemed to help as I don't have that turning off my data randomly. I figure I'll give it another week or so before I go to radioshack. Hopefully won't have problems enough to lead to that.

So you and your friend both have the Nexus and both of them dropped at the same time? Or was it a phone other than a Nexus?

 

[jkc120]

If you are having this problem and have your Nexus rooted, can you please do the following (curious to see if the same message I'm seeing is happening on your phone(s) as well):

- install terminal emulator from the market if you haven't already
- install busybox from the market if you haven't already
- run terminal emulator and once in the blue window with the $ prompt, type in: su and hit enter
- SuperUser will pop up asking you to allow/deny the super user request. allow it.
- Now run the following: logcat -b radio -b system -v time -d | grep 'SILENT RESET START'

The radio log (ring buffer) rotates fairly often, so you'll need to run the logcat command as soon as you noticed the data drop off.

What I'm actually doing is running terminal emulator and running the logcat command with -d and redirecting to /sdcard/radio.txt and leaving that running so even when the log rotates, I'll have the previous info. Then I open another window in the terminal emulator app and run a script to do the grep above on the /sdcard/radio.txt file. This method allows me to check periodically if I've had any drops. It comes in quite handy since otherwise the only way I'd know is if it happened while I was trying to use the phone

 

[jkc120]

Well, just now data dropped again. But instead of coming back again, instead my phone ate through 15% of its battery in like 10 minutes. The signal was gone (red in the battery info). Airplane mode toggle didn't help, had to reboot. Different problem, but perhaps related or another symptom of a bad radio?

 

[SeattleYanksFan]

Well, just now data dropped again. But instead of coming back again, instead my phone ate through 15% of its battery in like 10 minutes. The signal was gone (red in the battery info). Airplane mode toggle didn't help, had to reboot. Different problem, but perhaps related or another symptom of a bad radio?

I don't know, but I just wanted to say I am sorry you are experiencing such trouble after finally deciding to jump back to the Galaxy Nexus. I did want to chime in and say that I know for a fact there are Galaxy Nexuses out there that don't have the issues you're dealing with, as neither I nor anyone else I know deals with this, so it may just be a matter of swapping it out as you mentioned above.

 

[jkc120]

I don't know, but I just wanted to say I am sorry you are experiencing such trouble after finally deciding to jump back to the Galaxy Nexus. I did want to chime in and say that I know for a fact there are Galaxy Nexuses out there that don't have the issues you're dealing with, as neither I nor anyone else I know deals with this, so it may just be a matter of swapping it out as you mentioned above.

Well I went to costco. The guy gave me some attitude and told me it was "normal". I politely told him i was following verizon tech support's instrucrions. This one has a little more banding and some color hues at low brightness but not a big deal. Time will tell if this one will have the same issue. But so far it's ok, knock on wood!

*edit* still has not dropped! But this screen definitely has issues similar to my first one. It has banding and purple tint in the middle of the screen and yellow tint on the sides, almost exactly like my original Nexus. The banding is pretty obvious even at 40% brightness on non-gray screens. I dunno if I'd be able to swap this one or not since the banding and color hues aren't really affecting the usage of the phone. Obviously I'd rather have a working radio AND a good screen, but I guess if I had to choose between the two I'd rather have the solid radio.

This one's build date (as shown on the bootloader screen) is 11/16.

So maybe the first few batches had more screen issues and then the ones I got from Costco that were made in late December were from a batch with bad radios. Sheesh, is it too much to ask to get one that doesn't have a defect of some kind?

 

[SeattleYanksFan]

Well I went to costco. The guy gave me some attitude and told me it was "normal". I politely told him i was following verizon tech support's instrucrions. This one has a little more banding and some color hues at low brightness but not a big deal. Time will tell if this one will have the same issue. But so far it's ok, knock on wood!

*edit* still has not dropped! But this screen definitely has issues similar to my first one. It has banding and purple tint in the middle of the screen and yellow tint on the sides, almost exactly like my original Nexus. The banding is pretty obvious even at 40% brightness on non-gray screens. I dunno if I'd be able to swap this one or not since the banding and color hues aren't really affecting the usage of the phone. Obviously I'd rather have a working radio AND a good screen, but I guess if I had to choose between the two I'd rather have the solid radio.

This one's build date (as shown on the bootloader screen) is 11/16.

So maybe the first few batches had more screen issues and then the ones I got from Costco that were made in late December were from a batch with bad radios. Sheesh, is it too much to ask to get one that doesn't have a defect of some kind?

Does your screen have these issues with the brightness all the way up? If not, just keep the brightness around 80%-100%. Grab a spare battery and charger, and unless you're on the move all day, you should never really have any issues. I don't know why people buy phones with these beautiful screens only to leave the battery on 30% brightness for an extra few minutes of battery life.

But I do agree, it's ridiculous how poor quality control is these days, but it's not just the Galaxy Nexus, it's almost everything out there these days.

 

[jkc120]

Does your screen have these issues with the brightness all the way up? If not, just keep the brightness around 80%-100%. Grab a spare battery and charger, and unless you're on the move all day, you should never really have any issues. I don't know why people buy phones with these beautiful screens only to leave the battery on 30% brightness for an extra few minutes of battery life.

But I do agree, it's ridiculous how poor quality control is these days, but it's not just the Galaxy Nexus, it's almost everything out there these days.

Yes, the band I see is visible even at full brightness and even on my wallpaper (not a solid color).

And...what's worse is this Nexus with its bad screen also seems to have the data drop issue. My data is gone as of about 30 minutes ago. And has not come back. It took 11 hours, but it finally had the same modem reset issue. Guess it's not happening as often with this one, or I've been lucky. I'll have to eat my words in the other thread about it being a coincidence that this phone stopped the signal disappearing thing.

I guess I'll see how many times it drops over night.

 

[Caveman419]

I am in a similar experience to yours. My first two Nexus phones, both which wrre manufactured on 11/21, had complete drops frequently. I live in a solid 3G area. I would notive anywhere from 3-5+ times a day. Since i received this replacement manufactured on 12/6 it has yet to happen (knock on wood). Could there have been bad batches? Just grabbing at straws...

Since I exchanged my Nexus on Friday, I have not had any issues with dropping data. The first phone was manufacured on 11/19 and the new on 12/03. There might be something with batches having more bad versions than good.

 

[jkc120]

Since I exchanged my Nexus on Friday, I have not had any issues with dropping data. The first phone was manufacured on 11/19 and the new on 12/03. There might be something with batches having more bad versions than good.

No drops last night. So 1 drop in 24 hours vs. 15 in 24 hours. Definitely the radio in this one is better. But, it has screen issues. Guess I'll see what Costco has to say.

 

[Caveman419]

No drops last night. So 1 drop in 24 hours vs. 15 in 24 hours. Definitely the radio in this one is better. But, it has screen issues. Guess I'll see what Costco has to say.

I had to fight with the Verizon CSR to replace my phone. It took almost 15 minutes of arguing with him. He kept saying that it was a warranty issue and he would order a refurbished replacement. I told him it was a defect and still within my replacement window. It is funny how people here in these forums know more than the Verizon CSRs in the stores. The one that I bought my original Nexus from did not say anything when I popped up and told my wife that I should get a part-time job here selling phones (he obviously knew that his knowledge of the phone was minimal and I had done far more research).