[Q]Wifi stuck on 'turning on'

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sucro

sucro

Senior Member
Jan 19, 2008
279
28
Vienna
Zgembo above wrote, there is many options to try from factory reset, wipe/factory reset, wipe cache partition, downgrade to radio 4.4.2, flashing stock rom once more (even stock was on my phone 4.4.4), modifying .macaddr with correct MAC, deleting persist and recrearing, deleting wifi and bluetooth folders inisde "persist", and recreating through terminal by giving them appropriate permissions, and creating new .macadrr .bluetooth files with original MAC adresses of my phone, safe mode, etc etc. , but nothing of those above didnt fix my problem freezing totally of phone when turn on Wifi.

This started happens few days ago, suddenly battery started discharge so fast in idle, 5h using - max, 8-10h idle and turn off phone, thought some sw problem, some of apps drains battery, or some corrupted system files, like .macaddr, etc. , so tried all possible sw options, but no one fixed...

GSM and 3g, LTE work ok, but Wifi whole time freeze phone when turn on it, and then phone goes in non-responding state and reboot it, it stops reboot only when turn off wifi... Checked 2x antennas white and black under back cover, both are connected ok, seems those antennas are for 3g and LTE,not wifi, cause guy from this greate dissasembling nexus 5 video bellow,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPuCmfhzgbg

mentione 3g, and 4g antennas...

Seems wifi module is directly on MB, no any antennas... So, if this problem directly connected to wifi module-chip, solution = replacing motherboard, or some try baking their MB, maybe that just fix problem temporary, and that will happen again soon, or not, didnt try, so can't judge...

Logic mb which is still too expensive, even used about 120 to 180$, so not rationally, for used phone, buy 150$ mb, if used Nexus 5 is now 200$, even less...

Good luck to all of you, to fix your Nexus 5 wifi problems!

******Update

For all of you with this problem, solution is not only to replace whole motherboard, cause still too expensive, but to find some experienced mobile-servicer, to replace wifi chip on motherboard, chip you need is bellow ,

broadcom BCM4339 wifi chip

BCM4339_zps4dzoe1vk.jpg


motherboard front
s-l1600.jpg


Wifi-bt soc Broadcom chip location on motherboard - yelow marked

introducing-google-nexus-5-35-638.jpg
 
Last edited:
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audit13

audit13

Inactive Recognized Contributor
Jun 4, 2012
12,911
5,052
Toronto
If you are able to have someone successfully replace the wifi chip, that would be great!
 
R

Rigle

Member
Jan 3, 2014
6
0
plus.google.com
Just a little update after 3 months of having my phone at my warranty provider: The only way to fix it is changing the motherboard afaik, that's the only thing which helped me. Anyway, it would be really interesting to know if android is doing anything wrong with the sensors in order to make this happen.

Good luck with your phones, guys.
 
F

fridaycoffee

Member
Oct 6, 2015
5
0
So i found a way to fix the wifi issue:
sold my nexus 5 for 120$ and bought the Nexus 5x. Hope this one wont crash after 2 years.
 
g33kos

g33kos

Senior Member
Jan 21, 2012
104
14
sucro said:
Zgembo above wrote, there is many options to try from factory reset, wipe/factory reset, wipe cache partition, downgrade to radio 4.4.2, flashing stock rom once more (even stock was on my phone 4.4.4), modifying .macaddr with correct MAC, deleting persist and recrearing, deleting wifi and bluetooth folders inisde "persist", and recreating through terminal by giving them appropriate permissions, and creating new .macadrr .bluetooth files with original MAC adresses of my phone, safe mode, etc etc. , but nothing of those above didnt fix my problem freezing totally of phone when turn on Wifi.

This started happens few days ago, suddenly battery started discharge so fast in idle, 5h using - max, 8-10h idle and turn off phone, thought some sw problem, some of apps drains battery, or some corrupted system files, like .macaddr, etc. , so tried all possible sw options, but no one fixed...

GSM and 3g, LTE work ok, but Wifi whole time freeze phone when turn on it, and then phone goes in non-responding state and reboot it, it stops reboot only when turn off wifi... Checked 2x antennas white and black under back cover, both are connected ok, seems those antennas are for 3g and LTE,not wifi, cause guy from this greate dissasembling nexus 5 video bellow,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPuCmfhzgbg

mentione 3g, and 4g antennas...

Seems wifi module is directly on MB, no any antennas... So, if this problem directly connected to wifi module-chip, solution = replacing motherboard, or some try baking their MB, maybe that just fix problem temporary, and that will happen again soon, or not, didnt try, so can't judge...

Logic mb which is still too expensive, even used about 120 to 180$, so not rationally, for used phone, buy 150$ mb, if used Nexus 5 is now 200$, even less...

Good luck to all of you, to fix your Nexus 5 wifi problems!

******Update

For all of you with this problem, solution is not only to replace whole motherboard, cause still too expensive, but to find some experienced mobile-servicer, to replace wifi chip on motherboard, chip you need is bellow ,

broadcom BCM4339 wifi chip

BCM4339_zps4dzoe1vk.jpg


motherboard front
s-l1600.jpg


Wifi-bt soc Broadcom chip location on motherboard - yelow marked

introducing-google-nexus-5-35-638.jpg
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Have you changed your chip? If so, where did you buy it? Thank you.
 
T

TomSparkLabs

New member
Feb 16, 2016
1
0
tomsparklabs.ml
I am also having this issue. Trouble is, I bought my Nexus 5 off of Amazon.
I tried every solution in this thread, but WiFi continued to be intermittent. So I sent it to the seller (in China) for 'repairs'. They kept it for about 5 months until I replied to their email, when it turned out they actually still wanted to know if I had other issues (due to the email looking like they were fixing it and then sending it back). So I replied again, telling them there were no further issues, and my phone arrived at my doorstep after a grand total of 7 months. Not fixed at all :mad: (they didn't understand intermittent, I guess).

At this point I think I'll just sell it on ebay, and spend my money on a OnePlus 2 (where all bugs seem to be software-related, and easily fixable).
 
K

kovales

New member
Nov 21, 2010
2
0
Moscow
Hi guys! Just wanted to let you know that this baking trick worked for me Baked at 180C for 5 minutes inside electric stove. Took some precautions by wrapping MB with baking paper and aluminum foil, leaving wifi chip area open. Anyway it's better to reboil it later, but the thing is that WiFI chip was OK.
 
R

restor1

New member
Mar 20, 2016
1
1
Same on Nexus 6P

Hi, having the same problem with the Nexus 6P I bought 3 months ago.
The wifi stopped working one week ago.
Anyone else experienced this on the 6P?
 
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BreeZyer

BreeZyer

Member
Dec 9, 2011
8
0
montreal
reflow

My two cents:

had the WiFi issue -- couldn't turn on, phone reboots on sleep, etc.

put it in the fridge 10 mins, WiFi worked for a few mins afterwards -- seems like a soldering issue...

attempted a heat-gun reflow exposing only the wifi chip (foil over the MB), slowly getting temperature high enough to melt little piece of solder I held with a vice-grip in my blow while monitoring temps with infrared reader. Let cool for a while.

wifi chip now works, no more software issues / reboots etc.

Definitively not a software issue on my side :)

Risky but in my case, worth it :)
 
R

radillon2007

New member
Apr 22, 2008
2
0
Hi to everyone. I have the same issue for almost a year and Google, LG and Amazon didnt have any help.

The only way that the Wi-Fi works its putting the smartphone in the fridge for 10 minutes. Then works for almost 5 to 10 minutes... I really interested to know how to heat to 180C and resolve this issue. Someone knows how to do it? Its a youtube video on how to do this???

THANKS A LOT !!!!
 
P

Prodeje79

Senior Member
Dec 29, 2008
299
34
Ohio
The best bet is to just send into LG for repair. Choose the lowest price option they offer. I bought a $20 phone to use for the month they had it. I paid $45 to LG to repair, but basically received a brand new looking phone.
 
I

itsme.stefan

New member
Oct 2, 2012
3
0
mylater said:
Second edit: I managed to delete the folder (after downloading apps over 3G), I can now use the switch, and I'm not getting the "Wi-Fi turning on" message anymore, but it won't activate the wifi anyway... I guess you could call it progress somehow... :-/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

How did you manage to delete this folder without root access? Did it solve your problem permanently?
 
C

CoolByte7

New member
Sep 12, 2016
1
0
Good News!

I think i managed to repair my nexus 5 after more than a year. The oven fix only lasted me a day and i tried it twice.
The fix: I removed the metal shield on the wifi chip and covered all of the motherboard in aluminum foil only exposing the wifi chip, i then used a hair dryer in place of a heat gun and heated it for 8 mins (I kept the hair dryer at 6-8 centimeters away). WiFi has been working perfectly fine for over a week now, i hope this helps.
 
J

jojoledemago

Member
May 12, 2014
9
1
www.chambreshotesjolivet.fr
Same Wi-Fi problem with "no sim card" problem at the same time, did everything like recoveries, wipes, data settings, etc... up to resold my sim card reader... I think heat was too high (350°C), on power on my phone just indicated "google" and then powered off itself... I tried to put motherboard 10 minutes in my oven at 200°C, the phone doen't light anymore... I think I just used the "last chance"... I'm buying a new motherboard... Good luck for others !
 
R

Ramses0406

New member
Mar 16, 2014
3
0
jojoledemago said:
Same Wi-Fi problem with "no sim card" problem at the same time, did everything like recoveries, wipes, data settings, etc... up to resold my sim card reader... I think heat was too high (350°C), on power on my phone just indicated "google" and then powered off itself... I tried to put motherboard 10 minutes in my oven at 200°C, the phone doen't light anymore... I think I just used the "last chance"... I'm buying a new motherboard... Good luck for others !
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

I feel bad for you. It's 350 farenheit not celcius.
Thanks Obama ...
 
C

Clint3200

Member
Oct 9, 2015
6
3
Just as an FYI to my old post in this thread.....my fix only worked temporarily. The issues returned after a while and now the phone is just being used with LTE only - no working WiFi.
Thanks
 
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    H
    Humpie
    From what I have seen on the internet I'm not the only one with this problem, but as far as I know, I'm the only nexus 5 owner with this problem. See, two days ago, all of a sudden (I must confess, because the phone often forgets wifi networks, I was using the Wifi password recovery & backup app, but that can't be the problem, I use it all the time), but all of a sudden, after a reboot, my wifi is turned off. I already found that to be strange, but then it became even stranger: when I tried to turn it on, it kept on 'turning it on' but never actually turned it on! (the switch is still dark gray in the 'on' fase). I tried to figure out why it was doing this, the last apps I installed were Tasker, Autovoice and secure settings, so I uninstalled them, no difference. I tried disabeling my xposed framework, no difference. I tried wiping Cache and Dalvik cache, no difference. I accedently (swipe to wipe is dangerous!) completely wiped my phone, but still no difference. Then, using the Nexus Root Toolkit, I reverted back to stock and unrooted. Then finally, my wifi came back on :). So I slowly installed everything again (stupid me had no backup) and the wifi kept working for a day....:( And till now it's been off, not willing to turn on :(. It must be some app I installed I guess. I also tried to change kernels but again with no succes... Oh and my mac-adress is also nowhere to be found, is that normal when the wifi is turned off?
    I'm sorry for the long personal story, but I would be very grateful if someone had a working idea :)
    tnx in advance guys
    View
    2
    mhd1st
    mhd1st
    Update
    as silly as it may seems but this was a relief for me
    i got mad at it yesterday and smashed my nexus 5 into million pieces
    it was driving me crazy
    i will never buy any LG products not mobiles , dish washers or any of its products ever again.
    View
    2
    monty6630
    monty6630
    Humpie said:
    From what I have seen on the internet I'm not the only one with this problem, but as far as I know, I'm the only nexus 5 owner with this problem. See, two days ago, all of a sudden (I must confess, because the phone often forgets wifi networks, I was using the Wifi password recovery & backup app, but that can't be the problem, I use it all the time), but all of a sudden, after a reboot, my wifi is turned off. I already found that to be strange, but then it became even stranger: when I tried to turn it on, it kept on 'turning it on' but never actually turned it on! (the switch is still dark gray in the 'on' fase). I tried to figure out why it was doing this, the last apps I installed were Tasker, Autovoice and secure settings, so I uninstalled them, no difference. I tried disabeling my xposed framework, no difference. I tried wiping Cache and Dalvik cache, no difference. I accedently (swipe to wipe is dangerous!) completely wiped my phone, but still no difference. Then, using the Nexus Root Toolkit, I reverted back to stock and unrooted. Then finally, my wifi came back on :). So I slowly installed everything again (stupid me had no backup) and the wifi kept working for a day....:( And till now it's been off, not willing to turn on :(. It must be some app I installed I guess. I also tried to change kernels but again with no succes... Oh and my mac-adress is also nowhere to be found, is that normal when the wifi is turned off?
    I'm sorry for the long personal story, but I would be very grateful if someone had a working idea :)
    tnx in advance guys
    Click to expand...
    Click to collapse
    Hey all,
    After more than a week with NO WIFI, i have finally figured it out.
    Here are the detailed.
    ISSUE: After OTA update of 4.4.3 on new nexus 5, the phone was rebooted automatically and after reboot WIFI button was greyed out. It only showed "TURNING ON".
    FAILED SOLUTION ATTEMPTS: Following step DID NOT HELP
    1. Factory reset
    2. Battery drain and recharge after full drain
    3. Power off for few hours and restart
    4. Whacking the set on palm (yes, whacking, it was a recommended solution on a thread)
    5. Opened the handset and checked all the hardware link, every thing was fine
    6. Bootloader unlock, recovery installation (TWRP), downgrade to 4.4.2 (downloaded from google's web page)
    7. Downgrade to 4.4
    8. OTA update from down graded firmware
    9. Sideloading the 4.4.3 update on firmware 4.4.2
    10. Rooting, and installation of custom ROM (slimKat, Cynaogen mod)
    11. Installation of custom kernel (linaro)
    12. Flashing of 4.4.2 & 4.4 Radio/Boot images on stock rom of 4.4.3
    13. Clean install of 4.4.3 (removing everything from phone except recovery)
    14. *#*#4636#*#*, goto wifi and restart.
    15. *#*#4636#*#*, wifi state shown "UN-INITIALIZED"

    Actual Solution that worked
    ***** Install Paranoid Android ROM on rooted Nexus 5. The issue is with Kernel , which control the HW/OS communication. Apparently Kernel of this ROM removed the issue (but installation of SlimKat/CyanogenMod/Custom Kernel).
    I then restored the backup of stock 4.4.3 from recovery and did a factory reset. Wifi & every thing else works fine now *****
    View
    2
    S
    shaklee3
    Chefov01 said:
    Can you give us some details about baking the mainboard? I'd like to try this method, I don't have anything to lose! :D
    Click to expand...
    Click to collapse

    Take the phone apart and remove the main board (the large board above the battery). It has about 5 connectors plugged in. Remove your SIM. Preheat oven (I used a toaster oven) to 350 degrees, and put the board in on a crumpled piece of foil so there's plenty of airflow all around. Bake for 3 minutes. Remove it and let it cool down. Reassemble phone.
    View
    2
    F
    franksandroid
    Updated Android 6.0 solved the issue

    Humpie said:
    From what I have seen on the internet I'm not the only one with this problem, but as far as I know, I'm the only nexus 5 owner with this problem. See, two days ago, all of a sudden (I must confess, because the phone often forgets wifi networks, I was using the Wifi password recovery & backup app, but that can't be the problem, I use it all the time), but all of a sudden, after a reboot, my wifi is turned off. I already found that to be strange, but then it became even stranger: when I tried to turn it on, it kept on 'turning it on' but never actually turned it on! (the switch is still dark gray in the 'on' fase). I tried to figure out why it was doing this, the last apps I installed were Tasker, Autovoice and secure settings, so I uninstalled them, no difference. I tried disabeling my xposed framework, no difference. I tried wiping Cache and Dalvik cache, no difference. I accedently (swipe to wipe is dangerous!) completely wiped my phone, but still no difference. Then, using the Nexus Root Toolkit, I reverted back to stock and unrooted. Then finally, my wifi came back on :). So I slowly installed everything again (stupid me had no backup) and the wifi kept working for a day....:( And till now it's been off, not willing to turn on :(. It must be some app I installed I guess. I also tried to change kernels but again with no succes... Oh and my mac-adress is also nowhere to be found, is that normal when the wifi is turned off?
    I'm sorry for the long personal story, but I would be very grateful if someone had a working idea :)
    tnx in advance guys
    Click to expand...
    Click to collapse

    So I had the unfortunate experience of having my wifi go down while on vacation and for 3 weeks I spent a good chunk of time wiping and reinstalling multiple versions from Cyanogen, Paranoid android and 4.4 - 5.1 to no avail. I just did another factory wipe today and installed the new Android 6.0

    The Finger Pointing Game is OVER
    Read through 30+ pages of other android users with similar experience and some people send their units back to LG and some even managed getting a new handset. There was never any hardware issues with my unit I just couldn't turn on the WiFi but after the install WiFi works? Guess next time you push a software update to our Phones CHECK YOUR SH*T google and Maybe DON'T Take 3 months to FIX your F*CK Up.
    View

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