Have Reception Stability Issues? Get the New Bootloader!

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slyydrr

Senior Member
Feb 10, 2009
398
57
Boca Raton
NOTE: There seems to be a misconception that I'm claiming this helped my signal strength. It did not. It did however help my signal stability. I no longer experience signal dropouts like I did before. As always, your mileage may vary. It helped me and I was just trying to see if it may help others as well.

Backstory: I was having reception issues with my phone, even in places with good reception. I didn't necessarily have lower bars than normal, but my reception would just randomly cut out, and quite frequently.

I read quite a few posts regarding the new bootloader helping reception and I found it hard to believe. I started reading about bootloaders and learned quite a bit. Long story short, it sets up the environment in your phone to allow the kernel among other things to start up properly. Seemingly, this includes making sure the radio can correctly control the hardware on the phone.

Since reading about the latest bootloader and its magical powers, I decided to give it a go and sure enough, it's been a miracle worker. I don't know what changes occurred in the latest bootloader and frankly I don't care. My reception is now just as rock solid as it was with my SGS2.

Bootloader Links
PRIMEKL01 (GSM - maguro) - http://www.multiupload.com/YUXRJC8M98
MD5 Checksum: 6efef5932379acc87ce9e17e79d21787
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

PRIMEKL01 (CDMA - toro) - http://www.mediafire.com/?j7o48b5f8c80yb2
MD5 Checksum: 6efef5932379acc87ce9e17e79d21787
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

As you can see, the MD5 checksums are the same but I wanted to post both links anyway
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Instructions
To flash a bootloader, you need to have ADB drivers installed for your device, the adb executable files (fastboot, adb, etc) and get into the bootloader menu. Once there, you type the following:

fastboot flash bootloader <bootloader.img> (replace <bootloader.img> with the name of the image file downloaded)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

DISCLAIMERS:

1) This does NOT necessarily improve your reception itself, but rather helps provide stability and consistency regarding the signal.

2) I do NOT know the compatibility of this. I do know that it works on my GSM i9250 device running a 4.0.3 ROM. I've heard that it is compatible w/ Verizon as well, but I have NOT been able to personally verify this so proceed with caution. Others in this thread have verified it works for the CDMA phones and the md5 checksums do match.

3) Related to point #2, this is the bootloader for 4.0.3 provided by Google. It should work w/ ROMs < 4.0.3, but I have not personally verified this.

4) You are responsible for what you are doing to your own device. I am merely helping provide information. You need to be sure you understand what you are doing and that you are doing it properly, knowing that you could very well ruin your device if not done properly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Sources (with Bootloader Link [PRIMEKL01]):

Original post I found the bootloader from (embedded deep within Franco's kernel thread): http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=21111231&postcount=2671

http://rootzwiki.com/topic/12866-ra...dated-dec-23-2011/page__p__314057#entry314057
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

As always, read before you try to proceed with applying this. This is not for the feint of heart although it is a relatively simple process once you understand what you are doing.

For a great list of resources to learn about what you are doing, please see this thread: http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1360413

Good luck and enjoy (hopefully) the reception improvement I have!
 
Last edited:
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Z

zephiK

Inactive Recognized Developer
Aug 23, 2009
21,655
37,705
New York, NY
Glad to hear this. As yesterday I debated with an individual on how "bootloaders would improve battery life." This would prove my point that if it resolves issues with reception, it would overall improve your battery life due to the phone working less hard on getting reception.

+1 to bootloader helping the overall performance of the phone.

Also, the bootloader would work on any version of ICS as long as its the Galaxy Nexus. Kind of like radios, a new radio is presented with a new version but it will work universally. But the best performance would probably come out of using it combined with a 4.0.3 (or above) ROM.
 
Last edited:
Tubes6al4v

Tubes6al4v

Senior Member
Oct 13, 2009
281
83
To flash in fastboot:

Code: 
fastboot flash bootloader bootloader-maguro-primekl01.img
 
NIK516

NIK516

Senior Member
Mar 4, 2010
605
156
Do you think that an update to 4.0.x will solve this reception issue , because I have it and don't want to root my phone just yet?

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
 
S

slyydrr

Senior Member
Feb 10, 2009
398
57
Boca Raton
NIK516 said:
Do you think that an update to 4.0.x will solve this reception issue , because I have it and don't want to root my phone just yet?

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

It's not the ROM that makes a difference unless it contains a bootloader image. You might be able to run the latest bootloader on a non-4.0.3 ROM but I can't confirm nor deny (one of my disclaimers).

EDIT: per zephiK, this should work with any 4.0.x ROM.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
 
Last edited:
gratti

gratti

Senior Member
Jun 20, 2010
100
5
São Paulo
The link for the bootloader sources ain't working? I mean I can't click it.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
 
S

slyydrr

Senior Member
Feb 10, 2009
398
57
Boca Raton
I ran an MD5 check on both the LTE bootloader and the one I used and they appear to be one at the same. I had read that the bootloader worked for both GSM and LTE versions but I hadn't done any groundwork to confirm. I'll update the first post to be a bit more informative.
 
L

littleasian

Senior Member
Jul 15, 2010
231
8
thanks for the link OP.

and just making sure, im planning on doing a nandroid backup via CWM to make a recovery. if i install this and this ends up being worse than my stock bootloader, i can simply restore from nandroid correct?
 
sstang2006

sstang2006

Senior Member
May 7, 2009
518
58
littleasian said:
thanks for the link OP.

and just making sure, im planning on doing a nandroid backup via CWM to make a recovery. if i install this and this ends up being worse than my stock bootloader, i can simply restore from nandroid correct?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Negative. A nan-backup does not back up radios nor boot-loaders.
 
sstang2006

sstang2006

Senior Member
May 7, 2009
518
58
Anyways I gave it shot, nothing but 10 minutes to lose.

Flashed latest radios and latest bootloader and the result was as expected; no improvement at all.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
adrynalyne

adrynalyne

Inactive Recognized Developer
Dec 13, 2008
10,950
6,471
I like the new bootloader, but because it cleared up some fastboot issues. Past that I don't know anyone wanting/needing it.
 
S

slyydrr

Senior Member
Feb 10, 2009
398
57
Boca Raton
sstang2006 said:
Anyways I gave it shot, nothing but 10 minutes to lose.

Flashed latest radios and latest bootloader and the result was as expected; no improvement at all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

As always, your mileage may vary. This bootloader did not improve my reception strength. It just allowed my signal to remain stable and not drop out.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
S

slyydrr

Senior Member
Feb 10, 2009
398
57
Boca Raton
Please re-read everything I said and you'll see that I only noted that it helped my reception stability, not that it gave me better signal strength.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Tjotte

Tjotte

Senior Member
Oct 3, 2008
422
29
Stockholm
The grayed out bars only means your phone is not connected to googles servers, still connected to internet though..

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
 
Simmo3D

Simmo3D

Senior Member
Mar 24, 2011
618
79
I agree. Anyone using the GSM version can you share your experience with this boot loader pleasw

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
 
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    slyydrr
    NOTE: There seems to be a misconception that I'm claiming this helped my signal strength. It did not. It did however help my signal stability. I no longer experience signal dropouts like I did before. As always, your mileage may vary. It helped me and I was just trying to see if it may help others as well.

    Backstory: I was having reception issues with my phone, even in places with good reception. I didn't necessarily have lower bars than normal, but my reception would just randomly cut out, and quite frequently.

    I read quite a few posts regarding the new bootloader helping reception and I found it hard to believe. I started reading about bootloaders and learned quite a bit. Long story short, it sets up the environment in your phone to allow the kernel among other things to start up properly. Seemingly, this includes making sure the radio can correctly control the hardware on the phone.

    Since reading about the latest bootloader and its magical powers, I decided to give it a go and sure enough, it's been a miracle worker. I don't know what changes occurred in the latest bootloader and frankly I don't care. My reception is now just as rock solid as it was with my SGS2.

    Bootloader Links
    PRIMEKL01 (GSM - maguro) - http://www.multiupload.com/YUXRJC8M98
    MD5 Checksum: 6efef5932379acc87ce9e17e79d21787
    Click to expand...
    Click to collapse

    PRIMEKL01 (CDMA - toro) - http://www.mediafire.com/?j7o48b5f8c80yb2
    MD5 Checksum: 6efef5932379acc87ce9e17e79d21787
    Click to expand...
    Click to collapse

    As you can see, the MD5 checksums are the same but I wanted to post both links anyway
    Click to expand...
    Click to collapse

    Instructions
    To flash a bootloader, you need to have ADB drivers installed for your device, the adb executable files (fastboot, adb, etc) and get into the bootloader menu. Once there, you type the following:

    fastboot flash bootloader <bootloader.img> (replace <bootloader.img> with the name of the image file downloaded)
    Click to expand...
    Click to collapse
    Click to expand...
    Click to collapse

    DISCLAIMERS:

    1) This does NOT necessarily improve your reception itself, but rather helps provide stability and consistency regarding the signal.

    2) I do NOT know the compatibility of this. I do know that it works on my GSM i9250 device running a 4.0.3 ROM. I've heard that it is compatible w/ Verizon as well, but I have NOT been able to personally verify this so proceed with caution. Others in this thread have verified it works for the CDMA phones and the md5 checksums do match.

    3) Related to point #2, this is the bootloader for 4.0.3 provided by Google. It should work w/ ROMs < 4.0.3, but I have not personally verified this.

    4) You are responsible for what you are doing to your own device. I am merely helping provide information. You need to be sure you understand what you are doing and that you are doing it properly, knowing that you could very well ruin your device if not done properly.
    Click to expand...
    Click to collapse

    Sources (with Bootloader Link [PRIMEKL01]):

    Original post I found the bootloader from (embedded deep within Franco's kernel thread): http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=21111231&postcount=2671

    http://rootzwiki.com/topic/12866-ra...dated-dec-23-2011/page__p__314057#entry314057
    Click to expand...
    Click to collapse

    As always, read before you try to proceed with applying this. This is not for the feint of heart although it is a relatively simple process once you understand what you are doing.

    For a great list of resources to learn about what you are doing, please see this thread: http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1360413

    Good luck and enjoy (hopefully) the reception improvement I have!
    View

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