I have been following these discussions for a while now, looking at every solution out there, software fixes, reset this, reset that, reset, reset, reset. I took my 3G for windy walks, talked nice to it, even offered to take it on a long holiday if only the !%^%@^! WiFi would work. Nothing.
I am the kind of person who likes to find out what the "real story" is, so that is exactly what I did. According to my observations this seems to be a product defect and I gladly challenge anyone to dispute and then prove this is something other manufacturing defect (Apple technicians?) with facts to show I am incorrect. Because today I confirmed that's exactly what it is by proving to myself the problem is hardware related due to faulty soldering of the 88W8686 Marvell chip. With so many people having this issue, I can't see it being anything else but a defect in the manufacturing. Am I wrong? Please tell me why.
This is what I did...
I disassembled my 3G (warranty expired of course) pulled out the logic board, and then removed the tiny heat shield cover of the WiFi chip. I then took my 40W soldering iron which I had filed flat to about a 3/16" diameter, dabbed it is a bit of silicon grease, knocked off the excess and applied it directly to both IC's on the WiFi chip for a count of one... two... three. I reassembled my phone and as I fired it up I already knew it was going to work afterwards. Guess what? It WORKS! Full signal, 100% repaired and seems to be downloading faster than ever before. It picks up everything everywhere I go and connects to everything, I tried it in numerous places around town.
If your symptoms are the following...
1. When you try to access and WiFi hot spot you only see the little circle going round and round but you never see any networks show up.
2. You have already determined it is not a SW problem by using iRecovery or another tool to a "radio readnvram" test.
Then, the only logical conclusion I can come to is that it is clearly a defect in the product and should be recalled. I fixed my phone within ten minutes with no technical experience other than I like to fiddle around with stuff. Anyone who is being told they need a whole new logic board, this is not correct. You only need to re-flow the WiFi IC or have that single $5.00 chip (don't really know what it costs) replaced and your phone's WiFi is back in business.
These are my findings. I hope they will be able to help others who like me, are not at all happy with this problem and more so, the lack of response to it.
I am the kind of person who likes to find out what the "real story" is, so that is exactly what I did. According to my observations this seems to be a product defect and I gladly challenge anyone to dispute and then prove this is something other manufacturing defect (Apple technicians?) with facts to show I am incorrect. Because today I confirmed that's exactly what it is by proving to myself the problem is hardware related due to faulty soldering of the 88W8686 Marvell chip. With so many people having this issue, I can't see it being anything else but a defect in the manufacturing. Am I wrong? Please tell me why.
This is what I did...
I disassembled my 3G (warranty expired of course) pulled out the logic board, and then removed the tiny heat shield cover of the WiFi chip. I then took my 40W soldering iron which I had filed flat to about a 3/16" diameter, dabbed it is a bit of silicon grease, knocked off the excess and applied it directly to both IC's on the WiFi chip for a count of one... two... three. I reassembled my phone and as I fired it up I already knew it was going to work afterwards. Guess what? It WORKS! Full signal, 100% repaired and seems to be downloading faster than ever before. It picks up everything everywhere I go and connects to everything, I tried it in numerous places around town.
If your symptoms are the following...
1. When you try to access and WiFi hot spot you only see the little circle going round and round but you never see any networks show up.
2. You have already determined it is not a SW problem by using iRecovery or another tool to a "radio readnvram" test.
Then, the only logical conclusion I can come to is that it is clearly a defect in the product and should be recalled. I fixed my phone within ten minutes with no technical experience other than I like to fiddle around with stuff. Anyone who is being told they need a whole new logic board, this is not correct. You only need to re-flow the WiFi IC or have that single $5.00 chip (don't really know what it costs) replaced and your phone's WiFi is back in business.
These are my findings. I hope they will be able to help others who like me, are not at all happy with this problem and more so, the lack of response to it.
