[Relix]

Just received my 6th Palm Pre, this time a refurbished replacement for Asurion. Had it for 48 hours.. BAM.. Phone Offline. What the heck? This is the worst product I've ever owned. Not even the Xbox 360 beats it. No wonder Palm is dead on water. Hope it stays like that, not even HP can save their hardware side I am sure of. Ugh.

[precentral777]

Im also having issue with my Palm Pre Plus.

Top left hand corner kept on showing "NETWORK SEARCH" or "SOS"

If NETWROK SEARCH, my battery drains off very fast.
If SOS, it is better. Battery as per normal usage.

I had spoken to the PALM support. Nothing can be done after resetting and ON/OFF the airplan mode. Ask me to go back to my Carrier company to check.

I had no problem calling out/in, SMS or surfing the net even with the NETWORK SEARCH or SOS sign.

[bodyshop]

If the modem has an unknown state, the modem flashing that is part of a webOS Doctor process could be skipped (I don't know). What I do know is that some users have tried to doctor their offline phones, totally messed up the doctor on account of the modem being irresponsive, and ended up with a "Your phone is experiencing a problem that can't be solved" message or something to that extent. My personal experience is with GSM phones only though.
I would advise you to have it serviced by Sprint if possible.

Do you mean totally messed up the DR-ing attempt or totally messed up the Dr itself, therefor needing to download a new Dr?

[bodyshop]

I mean that doctoring a Phone Offline phone can result in the yellow triangle of death (or even the white ROM error triangle).
'Your phone is experiencing an error that can't resolved'

Oh ok. I was about to reflash the modem firmware as in the post, but It appears that my problem was coming from my email accounts syncing. i had several wrong password errors on 1 account even though I entered the correct password. Then it was trying to loggin the same account in messages (IM) & calandar. i deleted all my email accounts & my phone hasnt been offline since 9:00am this morning. I'll report back after a few days to be sure.

[bodyshop]

I mean that doctoring a Phone Offline phone can result in the yellow triangle of death (or even the white ROM error triangle).
'Your phone is experiencing an error that can't resolved'

Oh ok. I was about to reflash the modem firmware as in the post, but It appears that my problem was coming from my email accounts syncing. i had several wrong password errors on 1 account even though I entered the correct password. Then it was trying to loggin the same account in messages (IM) & calandar. i deleted all my email accounts & my phone hasnt been offline since 9:00am this morning. I'll report back after a few days to be sure.

Update: It appears to only happen when the phone slider is closed.

[bodyshop]

Update: it appears to only happen when the phone slider is closed. it didn't happen all day & night until i closed the slider. then I had to keep rebooting the phone and it would keep going back into phone offline & the phone was getting hot. So i opened the slider and it stayed online. for the whole time it was open. As soon as i closed it, it went back to phone offline after about 4 minutes. I opened the slider and its been online ever since.
__________________

[bodyshop]

Could be one of the connections/antennas to the commboard is a bit loose, and is fastened when you open the slider.

Have fun!

I didn't think of that, I will check it out. I thought I maybe needed a new flex cable like someone else posted. I'm using a sprint pre plus so I guess it's back to the operating room

[sdguy101]

A friend of mine dropped off his pre plus on AT&T to see if i can get it working. He is getting an error at boot. states he was trying to unlock it using some online website or something. was very vague.
"Your phone is experiencing an error that cannot be resolved...."

Its the first error. I have tried webos doctor 3 times (webos doctor says successful) now and same error. which comes up right after you confirm your language and it tries to set the language.
I can plug phone into the computer or charger and battery indicator shows charging.

Is it permanently bricked an a paperweight now? any other options?

Thanks

[bodyshop]

he most likely doesn't have an internet connection. Try seting meta-doctor to turn On wifi so you can get a signal. My Franken pre+ did that when I was experiencing the Phone-Offline because of a flex cable problem.

[sdguy101]

he most likely doesn't have an internet connection. Try seting meta-doctor to turn On wifi so you can get a signal. My Franken pre+ did that when I was experiencing the Phone-Offline because of a flex cable problem.

not sure.... I'm trying my simcard in it.. nada. Same sos only error followed by the "Your phone is experiencing an error that cannot be resolved...."
You cannot get into the phone to do anything such as find out if it's unknown modem etc.

I will read into Meta-doctor...never tried it

[sdguy101]

Must have written it all up and down this forum at least 50 times:
when you doctor a phone offline device you're risking an unrecoverable error. The modem has an unknown stae, the modem install will fail.

Now: create a Meta-Doctor and comment out FirstUse AND Disable Modem Update.
Then:
ModemFW Flash - WebOS Internals

i've actually just started researching this but my god meta-doctoring appears to be a real confusing and i don't know if i'm following a bad guide...

What do you mean by now and then? Is the "then" option no longer use-able?

Any guides you point me to your 'NOW' option?

or do you mean do the meta-doctor first and then do flash modem?

Appreciate it much. I have macbook pro and a pC with windows 7 x64..... looking for the easier option here.

Thank you much again.

[sdguy101]

Do both in that order

Ok.

Can be done with mac osx? or do i really need to set a linux box another hard drive?

Seems quite a bit of hassle for a semi-noob like me. I'm usually very good at following instructions if someones to guide me...

I'd still appreciate if someone who's done this eith mac or windows platform, can assist. Otherwise i'll start googling schmoogling.

[sdguy101]

Ok so I was able to install meta-doctor and flashed the modem manually. After Modem install it went to "phone offline" and then to searching network. and then right away to SOS only.

I have an AT&T sim card (as I have att)

Is there another step to this?

I still have the SOS only but this time im able to use the phone on wifi.

FIrst use app still gives me the error.

[sdguy101]

I didn't get any errors on the flash with -f switch so i didn't bother trying with the other switches.

Yes, it's an AT&T Pre Plus and I'm using my AT&T sim which is working on my galaxy phone and has data enabled.

Ran Hardware test and came back Model 1000 error...which i had figured would happen due to SOS unless something else is wrong.


EDIT: tried other switches....

It says Phone Offline........few seconds later it says Network Searching......and then back to SOS Only

[sdguy101]

If the modem update went fine, and you're still getting an SOS Only message, try a normal doctor again.
Do it from the command line.

Click Start in Windows and type cmd in the Run box.
Go to the directory where the webOS Doctor is located and enter:
java -jar <webosdoctorfilename>

You'll get output in the dos box so you'll see if anything goes wrong.

Trying that now.....

thanks...will update.

See attached..... seems like modem flashed fine even with normal doctor. Yet...SOS ONLY remains .

[sdguy101]

also heres is the copy paste of manual modem install

----------------------------

-----------------------------

root@palm-webos-device:/# mv /media/internal/castleumtsfw.tar /tmp
root@palm-webos-device:/# PmModemUpdater -f </tmp/castleumtsfw.tar
$ Modem is powered-on
Warning! Please make sure you have a healthy battery or using a power supply before you do your update
Warning! You can potentially trashed your modem firmware if system lost the power in the middle of updating firmware
Warning! To Stop it now, ctrl+c

PmModemUpdater Version 5.2.0.8 Dec. 2009 @Palm Inc

$ Creating temp file
$ Processing file ....
(00316/540964355) powerd (stop) running, process 1266
(00316/542062988) powerd (stop) pre-stop, (main) process 1266
(00316/543558349) powerd (stop) stopping, process 1266
(00316/553446044) powerd (stop) killed, process 1266
(00316/554819335) powerd (stop) post-stop
(00316/555856933) powerd (stop) waiting
$ PowerD Stopped successfully!
(00316/600687255) PmWanDaemon (stop) running, process 1209
(00316/601846923) PmWanDaemon (stop) pre-stop, (main) process 1209
(00316/603342285) PmWanDaemon (stop) stopping, process 1209
(00316/607462158) PmWanDaemon (stop) killed, process 1209
(00317/157449951) PmWanDaemon (stop) post-stop
(00317/158518066) PmWanDaemon (stop) waiting
$ PmWanDaemon Stopped successfully!
(00317/192026367) TelephonyInterfaceLayer (stop) running, process 1319
(00317/193643798) TelephonyInterfaceLayer (stop) pre-stop, (main) process 1319
(00317/194772949) TelephonyInterfaceLayer (stop) stopping, process 1319
(00317/223856201) TelephonyInterfaceLayer (stop) killed, process 1319
(00317/225565185) TelephonyInterfaceLayer (stop) post-stop
(00317/226633300) TelephonyInterfaceLayer (stop) waiting
$ TIL Stopped successfully!
** Message: serviceResponse Handling: 2, {"returnValue":true}
Pass-through disabled
$ Passthrough Disabled!.
$ Disable handshaking in ROM
$ Resetting the modem before flashing.....
01
$ Probing modem.............
*************************************************
* Modem Firmware Info *
*************************************************
* COMP DATE = Jul 21 201020:41:1907/21/2010
* REL DATE = 07/21/2010
* HW VERSION = 100D00E1
* MOB MODEL = BA
* RADIO TYPE = UMTS
* DEVICE TYPE = CASTLE
* EX BUILD ID = CU0.5.48(259)
*************************************************
$ EVT3 or later device found, no need to config charging!
$ Finished detecting Modem!
$ Packge FW Version (259) | Modem FW Version(259)
$ Firmware update from (259) to (259) is forced!
$ Reconnecting to modem.......
$ Host is re-enumerating the USB......01
$ Waiting for USB port to settle down.....
$ Trying to communicate with the modem in DOWNLOAD mode......
*************************************************
* UMTS Modem Infomation *
*************************************************
$ Current OEMSBL = U0.5.48(259)
**************************************************
$ Start flashing the modem......................
$ Flashing ARMPRG in Progress ...... Done!
$ Waiting for USB port to settle down.....
$ Comparing partitions ......
$ ****************************************************************
$ ***** BOOTLOADER FLASHING IN PROGRESS! DO NOT LOSE POWER! *****
$ Flashing Bootloader1 Progress ...... Done!
$ Flashing Bootloader2 Progress ...... Done!
$ Flashing Bootloader3 Progress ...... Done!
$ ***** BOOTLOADER FLASHING DONE! *****
$ Flashing AMSS Progress ...... Done!
$ Resetting modem ...............!
$ Flashing done!Please wait while resetting the modem..... 01
-----------------------------------------------------
$ Firmware Flashing Time: 2 Minutes: 52 Seconds
-----------------------------------------------------
$ Host is re-enumerating the USB......01
$ Waiting for USB port to settle down.....
$ Probing modem.............
*************************************************
* Modem Firmware Info *
*************************************************
* COMP DATE = Jul 21 201020:41:1907/21/2010
* REL DATE = 07/21/2010
* HW VERSION = 100D00E1
* MOB MODEL = BA
* RADIO TYPE = UMTS
* DEVICE TYPE = CASTLE
* EX BUILD ID = CU0.5.48(259)
*************************************************
$ EVT3 or later device found, no need to config charging!
$ Finished detecting Modem!
$ Restore the NV items to the modem ...............
$ Restoring NV item : 4994
=== Restore 112 NV Items Completely ===
$ Writing PALM Standard NV Items completed!
$ NV restore Success!
$ Enable handshaking in ROM Enable handshaking in ROM
$ Please wait while restoring TIL/WAN.....
(00517/122598876) powerd (start) waiting
(00517/123636474) powerd (start) starting
(00517/125101318) powerd (start) pre-start, process 2004
(00517/151987304) powerd (start) spawned, process 2007
(00517/153208007) powerd (start) post-start, (main) process 2007
(00517/154825439) powerd (start) running, process 2007
$ powerd Restored successfully!
(00517/242227783) TelephonyInterfaceLayer (start) waiting
(00517/243387451) TelephonyInterfaceLayer (start) starting
(00517/243936767) TelephonyInterfaceLayer (start) pre-start
(00517/244547119) TelephonyInterfaceLayer (start) spawned, process 2011
(00517/245096435) TelephonyInterfaceLayer (start) post-start, (main) process 2011
(00517/245676269) TelephonyInterfaceLayer (start) running, process 2011
$ TIL Restored successfully!
(00519/303171386) PmWanDaemon (start) waiting
(00519/304422607) PmWanDaemon (start) starting
(00519/306040039) PmWanDaemon (start) pre-start
(00519/310922851) PmWanDaemon (start) spawned, process 2044
(00519/313150634) PmWanDaemon (start) post-start, (main) process 2044
(00519/315164794) PmWanDaemon (start) running, process 2044
$ PmWanDaemon Restored successfully!
$ Your device is ready for use.
root@palm-webos-device:/#

[sdguy101]

I can only assume that whatever he did... or his friend whom he said was helping him fried the modem.

I've tried two other AT&T Simcards which also have data plan and cannot get rid of the SOS only.

It's odd that there are NO ERRORS during normal doctor or when you manually install modem yet, it doesn't freaking work.

He gave it to me, I fix it, I keep it. I Tried.

I could keep doctoring at work today...some people have said it took them up to 12 times before it finally worked...... Personally dont think that's gonna do me any good.....maybe worth a shot?

[sdguy101]

I agree this is weird. You should at least encounter some errors to make the SOS only seem logical, right?

That's what I'm thinking. If the modem was fried, then how is it possible to get a flawless flash over and over and over? Either manually or via normal doctor (See screen shot above and my copy past of log).

My only conclusion at this point is bad antenna. Any way to test the antenna?

Phone is missing the Palm stick on screw, yet it doesn't appear to have been opened. I can see where someone TRIED to open one screw, but because they did not have the required * screw driver, they gave up. Rest of the screws look flawless with no tempering. Plus the phone is not an easy disassemble/assemble and it's normally always apparent if it's been taken apart and put back together.

Thinking about doctoring to 1.4.2 and installing that modem and then back to 1.4.5......

[sdguy101]

You may also want to start a chat session with Palm Tech Support and see where that gets you.

Trying that now.

Surprisingly :
#*RADIO# shows: Telephony radio firmware version:CU0.5.48(259)

so definitely not UNKNOWN. but still SOS>

HOW WEIRD!!!!!!!!!!!!!

EDIT #2: I contact palm. they have absolutely NO RECORD of this device either via Serial or vis IMEI number. NADA, Zilch. what gives?

Shouldn't putting in the serial number throw out all the information on this device?

[dimitri84b]

hello

i have same problem like you,phone stuck in offline and not charge, but i fix this, just change flat cable, and thats it...

best regards...