Question 5a JP (G4S1M) with US (G1F8F) Motherboard, Radio Off Permanently - Google Pixel 5a

Hey all, bit of a weird one here that might not have a fix beyond hardware replacement.
My Japanese Pixel 5a (model G4S1M) recently ran into the black screen of death issue, where the display and touch completely stopped functioning. Since I'm not overseas nowadays, I took the phone to a local uBreakiFix location to see if they could perform an in-warranty repair. To my surprise, they could, BUT in doing so they've installed a US-based (G1F8F) motherboard, and now the cell radio is permanently stuck off. My immediate assumption is a hardware mismatch, where the now-US board is expecting a different variant of hardware to interface with.
At the store's recommendation, they even performed a second motherboard swap (still G1F8F), same issue. They've marked it as "unrepairable" and advise I try to get a replacement arranged with Google. My question is, does anyone have any potential insight as to what might be going on, or anything on the software side that I could attempt to try and force the radio to cooperate before shipping it off? From my limited research it seems as though the ROMs are identical between regions, and flashing any that are marked for SoftBank, etc give no different results.
Happy to provide any additional details, I figure someone may find this interesting though at the very least.
Thanks!

Related

Ativ S camera not working

Just got a brand new ativ s with a non-working rear camera. Details
OS version 8.0.10517.150
firmware: 2424.13.11.2
hardware 15.15.1.0
radio soft 2424.13.9.1
radio hard 0.0.0.800
bootloader 13.08.14.16
chip soc 1.5.32
3rd party apps don't work, hard reset did nothing. No mSD card inserted, with or no sim.
What should I do with it? Is there any ROM, firmware or other stuff to flash in order to make it work? Should I take it to warranty and get a new one, which will also probably stop working pretty soon? Should I get a full refund? Or should I wait for another update, maybe wp8.1 and hopefully this is a software bug, not a faulty hardware?
Why would you assume a warranty replacement would also be defective? That's... um... I do not understand the thought process which would produce that belief. The fact that third-party apps and hard-reset didn't fix it pretty clearly indicates a hardware problem. The fact that people aren't constantly complaining about this issue (anecdotally, I have had *no* trouble with my phone's camera) suggests that it's a pretty rare problem. In what way is a warranty replacement not the obvious answer?
Because every piece of hardware that I bought and has failed in the first 24 hours came from a bad batch. One time I even got 3 brand new hard disks fail in a row. The 4th one lasted 1 year.

[Q] Nexus 6 RTN Menu

Hi, I recently purchased a Nexus 6 (64gb) through Motorola and I have a sneaking suspicion that I was sold a refurbished model instead of a new one. Given the high demand and low inventory I wouldn't be surprised if I was.
First off, the packaging was questionable. The plastic that normally covers the screen was not perfectly clear. It had scuffs on it. Secondly, there were particulates(not sure what it was) all over the box interior and phone. Now, the 2 weeks into owning the phone it is having issues that could not be resolved by a factory reset our flashing the factory images. Flickering screen, phone randomly shutting off, stuck pixels, etc. I've spoken to Motorola support and they offered to replace it, but only for a refurbished unit and refused to send a new unit which kind of seems unreasonable since I haven't even had the phone a month.
I did some research online and learned about the RTN menu which displays the Reconditioned Status which is supposed to be accessed by typing ##786# (aka ##RTN#) into the dialer. When I type it in I get an error stating the following: Connection problem or invalid MMI. Is there act way to access the RTN menu? Does it even exist on this phone. Want to make sure all my ducks are in a row before I call them out on it.
That's actually normal. to get dust and scuffs. Great quality control isn't it?
It sounds like it does have a hardware issue though I'd call them up to RMA it. As far as I know they are only RMAing with new units. I have not seen anyone get a refurb and the one I got was new in the box still.

Half my screen rainbow snow

Anyone having the issue where half your screen turns to a rainbow colored snow pattern like an old TV? (vertical, right half) It seems to be an overlay and recognizes the touches underneath, but it won't go away. I've seen others with this issue on other forums, but I don't believe I've seen this here yet. Not sure what' going on. I have just filled out a support request with LG. The only fix available right now is to exchange the phone it seems.
Yes this is a common problem and the theory is that there is a batch of phones from when the phone first came out that is bad(and some of those may still be out there too)
http://forum.xda-developers.com/sprint-g4/general/garbled-screen-issues-t3181507
If you have a Sprint repair store near you you can try to attempt to have them replace the phone. It might take some convincing. However, there is a couple problem going that route. 1.) They may try to charge you a deductible (if you even have TEP) DO NOT DO IT... this is a warranty issue and not insurance. 2.) The phone they swap may be part of the bad batch and there is no way to know so this problem may pop up for you in a month or two.
The only good thing about the sprint repair way is you don't lose your phone as it is replaced right away. The better route to take is to claim warranty with LG. They should send you a new phone but it seems they claim to only fix phones and don't replace them. However, people have already gotten replaced phones so they do replace them as well as fix. The only risk with going that route is they just re-flash your phone and send it back and the problem will still be there as the phone needs to be replaced. However, from the couple of people that went this route it seems they are actually replacing so it sounds promising. Biggest problem is you don't have a phone for a week or two.

Wifi and sim card issues

I bought a 7 plus from aliexpress, and upon arrival wifi would not stay turned on, and it doesn't recognise sim cards in either slot. Factory reset didn't help. I tried to return it, but it seems that couriers are unable to transport anything with a lithium battery to China. Gut instinct is hardware issue. Unless I can find a way around the courier issue, I'm wondering if it's cheaper and easier to just pay to have it repaired, or attempt it myself. I've replaced basic bits like screens, batteries, camera modules, charging ports in phones before, but I'm not sure how much would need replacing or how easy a fix it's likely to be? Whole motherboard? Connector unclipped? (wishful thinking!) Grateful for any advice

MI 9 turned off by itself

There were discussions and I saw lots of examples of possible solutions.
About 1 month ago, MI 9 turned itself off. I tried to boot it by power button, it started, but after few minutes it turned off again by itself with no possibility to boot it.
Okay, after few hours, I found the Volume up, Volume down and Power buttons to be simultaneously pressed, to boot it, so I tried. It started with message "The system has been destroyed". I pressed Power button once, turned it off, then again, by Power button turned it on. No data lost. All there, it did look okay. Phone booted correctly.
After few days same issue, same solution.
Then again and again, more frequently. Then I saw that I need to use hair dryer to heat it a bit, to be able to boot it.
I saw many discussions, including those here that are saying about MIUI version to be related to the issue. I don't think so.
Some users told that they finally had to send phone to service, they were told later that motherboard was replaced in order to fix the issue. I must say that issue does not look to be very rare. I saw that many MI 9's were affected (based on discussions), and, number of online shops (electronic) were selling THE motherboard for $120+. Clearly, it is visible that there is production, factory problem of one phone part.
In car (and not only car) industry, when there is a factory issue with specific part, all units were brought back to production for the bad part to be replaced, units already sold as well.
I exchanged few e-mails with Xiaomi support. First I got very generic answers. Then answers were more precise, but still not clear that they clearly recognize factory fault.
I do not have Xiaomi service close to me, so I may need to send it by mail, which I would not do (costs may be, politely said, unexpected, as they may put to the paper everything was replaced). I can bring the phone to the seller, where I bought it, to get the same unexpected results, costs up to the phone price or more, as they may put to the pricelist what they want (again not easy to trust someone who does not want to recognize own factory faults).
Clearly, this will for sure, limit my readiness to buy Xiaomi again.
Just to mention, I am having the phone turning itself off every day for more times, which is making it useless. Starting, booting works only after a bit of heating it and pressing it a bit (torque), which tells by itself that phone has some mechanical issue inside.
I would like to ask if anybody has same or similar issue and what may be resolution?
Thanks a lot.
Somehow, it looks that some series of MI 9 has the factory error on itself.
It seems that problem is mechanical, based on some construction issue.
If I am able to somehow, turn the phone on, doing next step is turning the phone off: slightly pressing upper phone part clockwise and at the same time lower phone part counterclockwise, making torque, is turning the phone off.
So, inside the phone there is electronic / construction issue, it may be related to cable, connector.
Contacting Xiaomi, with exact problem explanation is useless, I have to say that I am really disappointed in relation to everything about this phone and Xiaomi now (initially, phone worked amazingly good).
Anyone has the same issue with MI 9,or some other Xiaomi phone?
That definitely happens to me , if I double the chassis would work
Is the screen? Is the motherboard , is the chasis?
Obviously a manufacturing or design defect if multiple users are experiencing this.
May be limited to just one batch or production run, hopefully.
I removed then placed back, rear battery cover. Then, I removed and placed back upper board and battery. Next, I tried to remove and place back upper board, battery and lower board. Finally, I removed and placed back upper board, battery, upper underlying part, lower board, lower underlying part. After every single step I checked, same issue (behaving same way as I described in previous note here) - there is some badly constructed part, having loose connection. I did not try to remove screen yet.
Yes, it really is factory, production problem.
At other side, every manufacturer may make an issue in production. And there is a difference between good and bad companies.
Xiaomi can make great phones with Terapixels ( may be in near future!) of cameras and Terabytes (not so near future!) of RAM, still, if they do not recognize and have proper, correct answer to their own manufacturing errors, they are just bad.
I exchanged few e-mails with Xiaomi itself. What I got was generic, almost robotic answers. Spending time when preparing e-mails I am explaining the issue to them was total waste of time. Somehow, seems that they know about the problem but they do not want to recognize that.
And, more. Spending money to Xiaomi MI9 is waste of money. Again, phone has some really great capabilities and if it is working well, it seems to be good. When it is not working good, it's disaster. And, as it is clear, it is not rare. Many users of the phone are having this issue.
Minimum what may be expected from Xiaomi is to announce publicly that there is the problem on those and those Xiaomi Mi 9 phones, with Serial numbers starting at this or that and those phones will be replaced immediately with no questions at all.
Asking for too much?!
Maybe it can be the ic chip or the cpu , which need a reballing
Does not matter what you write to Xiaomi, generic, robotic answer is their response.
Hello, Greetings from Xiaomi Customer Support! This is GenericName.
We at Xiaomi values your trust and we apologize for the inconvenience. Rest assured that we'll assist you on this.
This is not what we expect for our customers to face it. We at Xiaomi always work hard and strive to provide our customers with the best quality products, and nothing is more rewarding than to hear from a happy customer. It's unusual to receive such an incident from our customers with all the care and attention that we give to everyone. However, I would request you to coordinate with the respective point of purchase for better and quicker support.
If you have any other questions, welcome to visit again. Always believe that something wonderful is about to happen!
Follow [email protected] to get latest product tips and service information. https://twitter.com/XiaomiSupport
Best Regards
GenericName
Got few of those; this reply came today.

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