[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] RDionysus:
htccraze,

As you know, there are many things that could cause reception problems: the Rom, the Radio, the Network, interference from other radio sources, or actual damage of some sort to the phone. If you read nonpaq's original post, it is very clear that he neither asserted overtly or even implied that if you were having reception problems it was definitely being caused by the specific issue described in his post. He DID imply that if you have eliminated every other possible issue as causing your reception problems, there could be a good chance that the problem that he described is the culprit.

There really is no point in posting in this thread issues regarding better reception in WinMo vs. Android, or vice versa. That's not what this thread is about. Logic also dictates that if one's reception problems started after installing a particular Rom, or Radio, or Android build, then your problems are probably NOT being caused by "misaligned antenna contacts" as described above.

Now-- I have not performed the procedure so I do not even know if it will resolve my problems. I originally had great reception in

both

WinMo (all tested Roms: Omega/Energy/Elegancia) and Android SD (American/Cyanogen). And then suddenly, reception strength dropped off the map to the point where the phone became virtually unusable. I performed a series of experiments and tests to try and determine what the problem was. Since I initially assumed it was software/firmware-related, I probably flashed over 20 ROM + Radio combinations, both Windows and Android SD & NAND versions. Finally, since I knew the phone worked perfectly fine (reception-wise) when I first got it, I flashed the original factory ROM & radio so I had a baseline. No improvement. I even took my wife's HD2, installed the identical ROM/radio as mine, and compared them side by side in several different areas. If her phone had 4 bars mine would have 2, if hers had 2, mine had 0; if her phone had 1 bar, my phone had no service at all!

This is the kind of testing one has to do if trying to prove that there is a bona-fide hardware problem vs. a "bad" radio or bad Rom.

Hopefully I'll get to open my phone some time today, and see if fiddling with the contacts solves my problem. If not, it's likely I did some other damage to my HD2 when I dropped it, and it'll be time for a new phone.

Let me just give some friendly advice to anyone that reads this: if you are having reception problems, and you do a lot of flashing, then your first action should NOT be to crack open your phone and poke around. [Although the procedure is simple enough that it shouldn't be particularly harmful]

There are plenty of other threads dedicated to reception problems on the HD2, and you should first start your troubleshooting with them. But please, if you had reception problems, and it was caused by a "bad" Android build or similar issue, there is really no reason to post that story here because then this thread's gonna clutter up real fast with stuff that's not helpful to people trying to learn about this procedure (especially if you are doing it to "refute" nonpaq's post--there's no point: it WORKED for him, and either it works for you or it doesn't). The people considering nonpaq's 'operation' are hopefully smart enough that they have already exhausted other avenues and are now considering more "desperate" measures (like me).

In summary, the OP took the time to describe in detail a procedure that solved a problem with poor reception. It solved HIS problem; it may or may not solve YOURS. This otherwise obvious fact shouldn't be ignored. If someone else does the procedure and can contribute extra info, or a report on whether it helped or not, then DO post that here-- it will help those who are considering this solution.