WiFi issues with ROOTED Froyo. Droid 1

[jntdroid]

All of these were sitting at my desktop computer. Like an idiot, I neglected to take screenshots of the builds I was on, so you'll have to take my word. However, one small hint that I'm telling the truth is the difference in the size of the "pm" after the clock.

#1 - screencap of my desktop wifi signal (adapter is about 6 inches from where I was testing the phone)

#2 - stock 2.1 (ESE81) wifi signal - same in the notification bar and in the wifi settings

#3 - stock 2.2 (FRG01B, official signed release) - notice the discrepancy between the wifi in the notification bar and in the wifi settings

#4 - SS 4.7 - just wanted to throw a 2.2 based ROM in the mix... results have been the same for all 2.2 ROMs I've run, which also include Sapphire 1.0 and UD 6/7... same results.

I've double checked the drawable-hdpi folder in the framework of each of these, and the .png's are there. I don't know if there's a problem with the files that reference those .png's or what. It appears to only be a gui issue, and nothing more, but it's still a nuisance b/c you never have a good idea (at first glance) how solid your wifi signal is - it never changes off of the lowest signal indicator. And I've tested this on other wifi networks as well. Very odd...

 

[xmguy]

I am having the same issue with the indicator.

I just manually updated to 2.2 (no root - Full version)

Never Rooted (hence never OC'd)

The Indicator has no bars. When I go into the WIFI Settings, the signal bar of the Network I'm connected to jumps up and down, but the Upper Indicator does not reflect this.

I have not done any packet tests, but I did think that when in my usual "sitting on my a$$ spot" it was choppy

I have tried to change the Radio frequency (channel) on the Router - No Good

EDIT**** My Router shows a constant STRONG Signal when the phone is right by the router (approx -47 DB)

Are you having connection issues or just a buggy WiFi indicator bar? If it was the latter I'd deal with it, see if it was corrected in the next update rumored to hit in the next couple of weeks, and if it wasn't I'd ask Verizon about it.

Mine has and has always been "buggy wifi indicator" . My WiFi works fine.

 

[xmguy]

I have Nand backups of BOTH states. rooted (by pete) Stock 2.2 AND OEM 2.1 rooted stock. I can change between them both and see a issue with WiFi.

In 2.1 the indicator never updates in the top bar from when it FIRST gets signal. No matter how get gets weaker or stronger unless "pinged" by the settings menu or a wifi app. In 2.2 NOTHING works. Wifi data is ok. but no settings menu, apps anything will make the wifi indicator show 1 bar of signal in the top bar. Settings or wifi app both show signal one second then none another and that just repeats. I'm gonna get some more pics and video to show this off.

 

[jntdroid]

I have Nand backups of BOTH states. rooted (by pete) Stock 2.2 AND OEM 2.1 rooted stock. I can change between them both and see a issue with WiFi.

In 2.1 the indicator never updates in the top bar from when it FIRST gets signal. No matter how get gets weaker or stronger unless "pinged" by the settings menu or a wifi app. In 2.2 NOTHING works. Wifi data is ok. but no settings menu, apps anything will make the wifi indicator show 1 bar of signal in the top bar. Settings or wifi app both show signal one second then none another and that just repeats. I'm gonna get some more pics and video to show this off.

Restoring my stock 2.1 to see if I can recreate what you're saying with that one. The lightbulb just now came on for me with exactly what your'e saying with 2.1.

On a sidenote, what did you use to take those videos? I tried my flipcam which normally does pretty well, and I could not get it to focus on the text of my Droid for anything.

 

[xmguy]

I have Nand backups of BOTH states. rooted (by pete) Stock 2.2 AND OEM 2.1 rooted stock. I can change between them both and see a issue with WiFi.

In 2.1 the indicator never updates in the top bar from when it FIRST gets signal. No matter how get gets weaker or stronger unless "pinged" by the settings menu or a wifi app. In 2.2 NOTHING works. Wifi data is ok. but no settings menu, apps anything will make the wifi indicator show 1 bar of signal in the top bar. Settings or wifi app both show signal one second then none another and that just repeats. I'm gonna get some more pics and video to show this off.

Restoring my stock 2.1 to see if I can recreate what you're saying with that one. The lightbulb just now came on for me with exactly what your'e saying with 2.1.

On a sidenote, what did you use to take those videos? I tried my flipcam which normally does pretty well, and I could not get it to focus on the text of my Droid for anything.

I used my digital camera. Panasonic DMC-LS75. Doesn't record audio though. I'm uploading 2 new videos now. Probably post in the morning. It will take a while to upload.

 

[jntdroid]

I have Nand backups of BOTH states. rooted (by pete) Stock 2.2 AND OEM 2.1 rooted stock. I can change between them both and see a issue with WiFi.

In 2.1 the indicator never updates in the top bar from when it FIRST gets signal. No matter how get gets weaker or stronger unless "pinged" by the settings menu or a wifi app. In 2.2 NOTHING works. Wifi data is ok. but no settings menu, apps anything will make the wifi indicator show 1 bar of signal in the top bar. Settings or wifi app both show signal one second then none another and that just repeats. I'm gonna get some more pics and video to show this off.

Well dang, if that's not the weirdest thing. For whatever reason, the way you worded it that time clicked in my head (as opposed to the other times... :icon_eek. I'd video it like you did, but like I said, can't get anything to video it without it being too blurry. But I basically did what you did.

I'd go stand by my router, open up wifi settings, full signal in settings and in the not. bar. Hit home to close wifi settings. Then I'd walk across my house (still full signal in not. bar), reach into my washing machine with the phone in hand (still full signal in not. bar) and watch for a good 30 seconds or so... it held that full signal in the notification bar until I opened wifi settings again, which immediately changed it down to one bar of signal. Hit home again to close wifi settings (still 1 bar signal), walked back to my router (still 1 bar signal), wait for another 30 seconds or so (still 1 bar signal), open up wifi settings and bam... full signal.

So it definitely appears to be a software problem. There is evidently some sort of disconnect between the actual wifi radio (right term?) and the notification bar, that does not exist between the radio and the wifi settings. It apparently got even worse in 2.2, at least for us...

So basically, besides letting us know it's connected, it's practically useless.

 

[furbearingmammal]

Dro2Cap I believe is a screen-capture program in the market for rooted phones.

Just saying.

 

[xmguy]

I have Nand backups of BOTH states. rooted (by pete) Stock 2.2 AND OEM 2.1 rooted stock. I can change between them both and see a issue with WiFi.

In 2.1 the indicator never updates in the top bar from when it FIRST gets signal. No matter how get gets weaker or stronger unless "pinged" by the settings menu or a wifi app. In 2.2 NOTHING works. Wifi data is ok. but no settings menu, apps anything will make the wifi indicator show 1 bar of signal in the top bar. Settings or wifi app both show signal one second then none another and that just repeats. I'm gonna get some more pics and video to show this off.

Well dang, if that's not the weirdest thing. For whatever reason, the way you worded it that time clicked in my head (as opposed to the other times... :icon_eek. I'd video it like you did, but like I said, can't get anything to video it without it being too blurry. But I basically did what you did.

I'd go stand by my router, open up wifi settings, full signal in settings and in the not. bar. Hit home to close wifi settings. Then I'd walk across my house (still full signal in not. bar), reach into my washing machine with the phone in hand (still full signal in not. bar) and watch for a good 30 seconds or so... it held that full signal in the notification bar until I opened wifi settings again, which immediately changed it down to one bar of signal. Hit home again to close wifi settings (still 1 bar signal), walked back to my router (still 1 bar signal), wait for another 30 seconds or so (still 1 bar signal), open up wifi settings and bam... full signal.

So it definitely appears to be a software problem. There is evidently some sort of disconnect between the actual wifi radio (right term?) and the notification bar, that does not exist between the radio and the wifi settings. It apparently got even worse in 2.2, at least for us...

So basically, besides letting us know it's connected, it's practically useless.

You nailed it SMACK on the head!! EXACTLY what is going on with me!

 

[xmguy]

2 NEW videos coming soon. showing 2.2 and 2.1 wifi signal performance.

 

[jntdroid]

Dro2Cap I believe is a screen-capture program in the market for rooted phones.

Just saying.

Yes you're right, are you suggesting the root could be causing the issue? Don't know of another *easy* way to take screenshots. My camera wouldn't take a clear picture, nor would my flipcam. I've also flashed the 2.2 OTA .sbf file, that was not rooted, and had the same issue. Before I rooted 2.1, same issue. But no easy way of taking screenshots...


On 2.1, I took the OTA 2.1, pushed superuser.apk and su to it, so it was the pure 2.1, with superuser access - shouldn't have any affect on the wifi. On 2.2, I was using the 76 mb OTA file that Jrummy rooted the same way - again, about as pure as it gets (edit: for what we have no anyway).

 

[xmguy]

Dro2Cap I believe is a screen-capture program in the market for rooted phones.

Just saying.

Yes you're right, are you suggesting the root could be causing the issue? Don't know of another *easy* way to take screenshots. My camera wouldn't take a clear picture, nor would my flipcam. I've also flashed the 2.2 OTA .sbf file, that was not rooted, and had the same issue. Before I rooted 2.1, same issue. But no easy way of taking screenshots...


On 2.1, I took the OTA 2.1, pushed superuser.apk and su to it, so it was the pure 2.1, with superuser access - shouldn't have any affect on the wifi. On 2.2, I was using the 76 mb OTA file that Jrummy rooted the same way - again, about as pure as it gets (edit: for what we have no anyway).

I did mine with an update.zip. to get SU and root. but my 2.1 is the same as your 2.1.

 

[jntdroid]

I've done this once already, but just to be anal, I'm going to wipe everything (including adb boot/system/data/cache), then flash the 2.0.1 .sbf file (I know this makes the first step redundant), test it on 2.0.1, then update to 2.1, and test it again there (with no root), and see again, for sure.

xmguy, out of curiosity, when did you buy your phone?

 

[furbearingmammal]

I'd say it's an issue with the stock 2.2 code. It's a bug that should have been quashed, but probably got overlooked. Glitches like that are annoyances, little more, as long as you're working with a known strong signal -- unless you start dropping connections. My phone usually shows higher signal strength than it should, unless I'm using the WiFi scanner program I downloaded from the Market. Of course, I almost never have access to a WiFi network to connect to.

I don't think the root access has anything to do with it. The thing to do would be to see if it happens across a sampling of 2.2-based ROMs compared to a sampling of 2.1-based ROMs. However, that might take days. Since this is a short-term project, I'd say your best bet would be to get a baseline for the problem with a stock-root ROM (you have) and then compare it to at least four source-built ROMs of varying custom code levels. If the problem is endemic than it could be a hardware incompatibility with the "improved" WiFi code in 2.2. If it's not then you know it's the stock code causing the problem.

 

[jntdroid]

I'd say it's an issue with the stock 2.2 code. It's a bug that should have been quashed, but probably got overlooked. Glitches like that are annoyances, little more, as long as you're working with a known strong signal -- unless you start dropping connections. My phone usually shows higher signal strength than it should, unless I'm using the WiFi scanner program I downloaded from the Market. Of course, I almost never have access to a WiFi network to connect to.

I don't think the root access has anything to do with it. The thing to do would be to see if it happens across a sampling of 2.2-based ROMs compared to a sampling of 2.1-based ROMs. However, that might take days. Since this is a short-term project, I'd say your best bet would be to get a baseline for the problem with a stock-root ROM (you have) and then compare it to at least four source-built ROMs of varying custom code levels. If the problem is endemic than it could be a hardware incompatibility with the "improved" WiFi code in 2.2. If it's not then you know it's the stock code causing the problem.

I think you're right about it being a problem with the code, since the signal reports accurately in the settings, just not in the bar... though I didn't even notice it was an issue in 2.1 until xmguy pointed out exactly what it was doing. However, this definitely has not been a short term project. I've been testing this since the first Froyo leak. So that includes the "stock" leaks from p3, Sapphire .8.4 and 1.0 (source), Simply Stunning 4.5(maybe 4?) and above (again, source), UD 5,6,7, metiCkOne, Kangerade. I need to try CM and see what happens there.

I don't think it's endemic, but who's to say for sure unless I grab a Droid that doesn't do this and see if it holds the wifi signal any better than mine, which is typically decent anyway. Since I mainly use wifi at home, it's (like you said) a small bother more than anything else, as I know my wifi signal. But if I traveled a lot, it would be annoying, b/c the signal reporting would be unreliable. However, xmguy, and now Metalunna, are the only ones I've ever come across that have the same issue... so it's very weird, but not widespread.

edit: lol... well I've gone and flashed 2.0.1 and evidently Verizon's activation system is down for overnight updates or whatever they do late at night... I should know better! So now I'm definitely done until tomorrow.

 

[jntdroid]

Finally got activated... same issues on 2.0.1 as 2.1. But, lo and behold, I got the 2.2 OTA. So I went from stock 2.0.1 to stock 2.2 OTA... same 2.2 issues. At least it appears to simply be an aesthetic issue...