AT&T Nexus One: Downgraded Radio - Improved Reception

[Guest sn707]

I did as the OP said and it drastically improved my radio reception on HSDPA.

Glad there is hope I just put the files on my sd card and am going to to try it out. I have high hopes!

[Guest bigpoppa0871]

When you flash the radio from the recovery screen, you should see it unpacking the radio image. After this, it'll tell you to reboot to finish the installation and doing so will actually write the radio. It'll go through a 30-60 second process (during which you'll see an image of a package with an arrow and an android) after which you come back to the recovery screen. From here you can then reboot back into the OS.

Now it's likely I'm telling you something you already know but I'm just playing it safe :huh:

Assuming all that happened, the radio image should have been installed correctly, so assuming you didn't install the same radio image again, it should be updated.

I have a stock N1 compatible with ATT network. Build EPE54B with the 2.1-update1. I am happy with it except i notice that the coverage isn't as good as other unlocked devices from Nokia etc... that I have used in the past. Saw the post about downgrading the radio. Many other posts i have read talk about renaming the update file to "update" It seems from what I read here all i have to do is copy the file update-nexusone-radio-32...._4.03.00.21_2-signed.zip to my SD card and follow these steps to update?

# With your Nexus One off, hold down the trackball and press the power button.

# You’ll be booted into a white screen with three Android robots on skateboards. Select "Bootloader."

# On the next screen, select "Recovery."

# Your phone will reboot, giving you a picture of the Android robot and an exclamation point inside a triangle.

# Now press the power button and volume up button at the same time. It could take a couple of tries.

# Now choose "Apply sdcard:update.zip" and let things run their course.

Is this the process to use to update the baseband radio file?

Help is appreciated. Thank you.

[Guest slyydrr]

I have a stock N1 compatible with ATT network. Build EPE54B with the 2.1-update1. I am happy with it except i notice that the coverage isn't as good as other unlocked devices from Nokia etc... that I have used in the past. Saw the post about downgrading the radio. Many other posts i have read talk about renaming the update file to "update" It seems from what I read here all i have to do is copy the file update-nexusone-radio-32...._4.03.00.21_2-signed.zip to my SD card and follow these steps to update?

# With your Nexus One off, hold down the trackball and press the power button.

# You’ll be booted into a white screen with three Android robots on skateboards. Select "Bootloader."

# On the next screen, select "Recovery."

# Your phone will reboot, giving you a picture of the Android robot and an exclamation point inside a triangle.

# Now press the power button and volume up button at the same time. It could take a couple of tries.

# Now choose "Apply sdcard:update.zip" and let things run their course.

Is this the process to use to update the baseband radio file?

Help is appreciated. Thank you.

Almost, but just a couple quick things first. What recovery image are you running? I'm assuming you're running Aman_RA's.

If so, your steps are very close, however the last few are a little off:

1) With Nexus off, hold down trackball and power button. You can release the power button, but continue to hold the trackball until the white fastboot screen appears (the android skateboarder one)

2) Select Bootloader.

3) Select Recovery.

4) You phone will reboot back into the Recovery image - No additional buttons need to be pressed for this to occur. (Minor note: from here on out, use the trackball to navigate and the power button to go back)

5) One of the options will mention applying a zip from the SD Card. Select this one

6) Find the update that you downloaded (it does NOT need to be renamed to update.zip) and select it. It will confirm that you want to apply the update. Press trackball to confirm.

Now, AFTER you have done this, it will mention that it's unpacking the radio image and applying it. Then it will reboot and you'll see the little Android guy with the exclamation triangle thing. Do not do anything at this stage, this is normal. Just be patient. After about 1-2 minutes, it will reboot again and your new radio update will have been applied.

Two very big things to note:

• Do not turn off your phone at any time during the update process
  
• Make sure your battery has more than 40%. Personally, when flashing a radio, I go for above 75% battery life.
  

Hopefully this helps!

[Guest N1Martian]

I just downgraded my radio firmware, and while my reception is pretty much the same, the battery life has improved drastically. Am very pleased.

[Guest Scott Ricketts]

I have the original N1 on AT&T and I've found reception is MUCH better with the downgraded radio. I has routinely having connection issues, especially on reboot prior to downgrading.

[Guest Chris L.]

Wow, thank you SO much for this suggestion! I was having a terrible connection at home and in offices and I had no reception often and was thinking of getting rid of my Nexus One but this improved it so much. I always have a signal now! And I knew it was the nexus one cuz my previous phones had reception where I live and inside offices.

Thanks again.

[Guest Mati@Gdoc]

Hi,

Just want to confirm. I've ran on 32.26 several weeks and had many 3G/GSM issues in my office, where network coverage is quite weak. So downgraded again do 32.24 (which came from ERE27) and the sensivity ist noticeable improved. Im using Orange in Poland. So 32.24 is much better for me.

[Guest slyydrr]

I'm glad everyone has experienced the same benefit that I have! I have updated the first post to include step-by-step directions for newcomers to the thread.

[Guest izmar]

Trying this out now, I will report back.

[Guest xplod420]

is this only for att users, or tmo as well?

[Guest slyydrr]

is this only for att users, or tmo as well?

The radio works for the phone in general independent of the GSM carrier. I don't know that it improves reception for T-Mobile but it did definitely help me for AT&T. I believe another user mentioned improvement somewhere in Europe as well. Hopefully that helps explain!

[Guest shadwell_lad]

The radio works for the phone in general independent of the GSM carrier. I don't know that it improves reception for T-Mobile but it did definitely help me for AT&T. I believe another user mentioned improvement somewhere in Europe as well. Hopefully that helps explain!

This radio has definitely helped my original reception problems. Running on Vodafone in the UK with a US bought N1

[Guest cortez]

i'm using the stock N1 radio on my at&t Nexus One and have not had any reception issues. it's been 4Bars, with a solid 3G/H signal. for those in the US switching radios, is anyone in the Dallas/Boston area having issues? i ask because those are my primary locations each week and i've had no issues in either city. when i had the T-Mobile N1, i experienced drop signal and network connections on a daily basis. fyi, i'm using the R19 Desire ROM with intersectRaven's undervolted kernel (4.29_10.10) on my device which is providing much better battery life. i used the same ROM/kernel combination on my T-Mobile N1 as well. thanks in advance for responses.

[Guest todbld]

i'm using the stock N1 radio on my at&t Nexus One and have not had any reception issues. it's been 4Bars, with a solid 3G/H signal. for those in the US switching radios, is anyone in the Dallas/Boston area having issues? i ask because those are my primary locations each week and i've had no issues in either city. when i had the T-Mobile N1, i experienced drop signal and network connections on a daily basis. fyi, i'm using the R19 Desire ROM with intersectRaven's undervolted kernel (4.29_10.10) on my device which is providing much better battery life. i used the same ROM/kernel combination on my T-Mobile N1 as well. thanks in advance for responses.

if it an't broke dont fix it !!

[Guest bigpoppa0871]

Almost, but just a couple quick things first. What recovery image are you running? I'm assuming you're running Aman_RA's.

If so, your steps are very close, however the last few are a little off:

1) With Nexus off, hold down trackball and power button. You can release the power button, but continue to hold the trackball until the white fastboot screen appears (the android skateboarder one)

2) Select Bootloader.

3) Select Recovery.

4) You phone will reboot back into the Recovery image - No additional buttons need to be pressed for this to occur. (Minor note: from here on out, use the trackball to navigate and the power button to go back)

5) One of the options will mention applying a zip from the SD Card. Select this one

6) Find the update that you downloaded (it does NOT need to be renamed to update.zip) and select it. It will confirm that you want to apply the update. Press trackball to confirm.

Now, AFTER you have done this, it will mention that it's unpacking the radio image and applying it. Then it will reboot and you'll see the little Android guy with the exclamation triangle thing. Do not do anything at this stage, this is normal. Just be patient. After about 1-2 minutes, it will reboot again and your new radio update will have been applied.

Two very big things to note:

• Do not turn off your phone at any time during the update process
  
• Make sure your battery has more than 40%. Personally, when flashing a radio, I go for above 75% battery life.
  

Hopefully this helps!

Slyydr,

Thanks for the update. I am not using any recovery image at this point. New to messing around with Anroid. Is it necessary to use an image? I thought if i was just downgrading the radio and nothing else that a custom recovery image wasn't necessary. If it is I would appreciate a link and directions to apply the recovery image. Thanks and I appreciate your insight into the process.

bigpoppa0871

[Guest todbld]

I am At&t Nexus Newest radio (michigan) i am all over the state of michigan, all 3g areas and supposedly good ones :P where as when in detroit or any southern part of michigan it has always worked flawlessly how ever in mid michigan where the 3g towers are brand new and well below capacity i have had the worst service ever.. i have tried everything and even have a personal work order taken out currently on the work area as it turns out it is all of at&t here and not just my nexus and owning a large corporate account that switched to them because of them putting in 3g towers that haven't worked i actually get help when i call customer service... any how due to losing my mind over this huge problem i tonight flashed the old radio and while i have still had dropped calls tonight (2) and random losses of signal it is IMPROVED!! as a whole the old radio has done a better job of staying on these towers and maintaing a 3g signal and definitely minimized the damage :D personally my impressions are that all of our reception problems have to do with these NEW At&T towers as its only in these areas that i have ever had problems at least in any area on east coast that i have visited has been my experience, how ever i do think that the old radio does better with the new towers and if you are having at&t problems in a new tower area (mine were put in last August in the problem areas) this maybe at least a temp solution for you (until at&t gets around to fixing your area) any how i gave specifics here because i know when i was deciding to do this 10 people with no real specifics didnt really help me to make up my mind so hopefully this helps some one on the fence about the whole deal

[Guest stevenz]

Thanks for the update. I am not using any recovery image at this point. New to messing around with Anroid. Is it necessary to use an image? I thought if i was just downgrading the radio and nothing else that a custom recovery image wasn't necessary. If it is I would appreciate a link and directions to apply the recovery image. Thanks and I appreciate your insight into the process.

You can extract the radio.img file and flash it with fastboot instead;

fastboot flash radio radio.img

[Guest larry996]

Do you have a Cyanogen with Modaco Additions ROM with ERE27 radio (32.24.00.22U_4.03.00.21_2) base that you could upload? I would like to try this, don't want to brick this unit. A Nexus one Newbie here.

Thanks

[Guest slyydrr]

Do you have a Cyanogen with Modaco Additions ROM with ERE27 radio (32.24.00.22U_4.03.00.21_2) base that you could upload? I would like to try this, don't want to brick this unit. A Nexus one Newbie here.

Thanks

This thread has everything you should need: http://android.modaco.com/content/google-n...insecure-himem/

The ROMs/radios aren't packaged together, but everything is there. Just one thing to keep in mind - they're greyed out so they don't stand out immediately :P

Edited May 10, 2010 by slyydrr

[Guest larry996]

This thread has everything you should need: http://android.modaco.com/content/google-n...insecure-himem/

The ROMs/radios aren't packaged together, but everything is there. Just one thing to keep in mind - they're greyed out so they don't stand out immediately :P

Slyydrr,

So if I wanted to create several different ROM's for my N1, I would have to install those rom's then update the radio for each correct? This update is applied to the ROM after install.??

Thank You for the clarification

L

Edited May 10, 2010 by larry996

[Guest slyydrr]

Slyydrr,

So if I wanted to create several different ROM's for my N1, I would have to install those rom's then update the radio for each correct? This update is applied to the ROM after install.??

Thank You for the clarification

L

The ROM updates are separate from the radio updates. You can flash the two independently. Hopefully that helps!

[Guest larry996]

The ROM updates are separate from the radio updates. You can flash the two independently. Hopefully that helps!

Sorry for the 100 questions, so basically once I install the radio update "I am done" regardless of what rom I put on the N1?

the radio version will remain the same whichever cyangen/ Modaco rom I put on it correct?

thanks again

[Guest slyydrr]

Sorry for the 100 questions, so basically once I install the radio update "I am done" regardless of what rom I put on the N1?

the radio version will remain the same whichever cyangen/ Modaco rom I put on it correct?

thanks again

For the most part, yes. You have the option to package in a radio update within the kitchens for the ROMs, but assuming you don't do this, any ROM upgrades will not include a radio update.

[Guest SUPADUPA111]

Just tried to flash via fastboot and it failed because the radio image itself wasn't signed

[Guest todbld]

Just tried to flash via fastboot and it failed because the radio image itself wasn't signed

supa you dont fastboot on pc follow the instructions and put zip on sd card and update by going into recovery and having it flash update from sd...

ATTENTION ALL AT&T NEXUS ONE USERS AFTER ALL MY WORK ON THIS ISSUE BETWEEN GOOGLE, HTC, AND AT&T.. HTC HAS AGREED TO REPLACE ANY OF THEM AS IT IS A HARD WARE ISSUE AND ACCORDING TO THEM NOT COMMON WITH THE AT&T NEXUS ONE, HOW EVER I NOTICED WITH BEST RESULT'S CONTACT GOOGLES NEXUS ONE DEPT, THEY WILL WANT TO CHECK SETTINGS ETC JSUT TELL THEM THAT YOU HAVE TRIED THAT AND A HARD RESSET AND NO AVAIL AND IT IS A MALFUNCTIONING HARDWARE ISSUE LET THEM CONNECT THE CALL TO HTC AND YOU SHOULD BE ALL SET... I WILL UPDATE IN 2 DAYS TO LET YOU KNOW IF MY NEW NEXUS ONE WORKS :P