yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] whycali:
Observations that may help

Since Jellybean preview dropped http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1781853 I have not had a lot of fun problems to investigate so I thought I would revisit the one that has been the most irritating, the poor wifi.

The prospect of showing off my jellyprime was not as exciting if people had to ask me why I had two chunks of aluminum stuck to the bezel.

Anybody who has cracked open thier prime to see why the wifi is so poor recongnizes what this is a picture of (I lifted it from http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=22037465&postcount=7)

since I opened it up the first weekend I had it so I could investigate I was not too concerned to reopen the case so to speak.

I watched a video of a guy that opened his prime and ran strips of copper tape from the contacts on the wlan board down the inside back of the screen and it made me wonder what exactly is the antenna? He was under the impression that the antenna was the small copper contact point at the top of the wlan pcb (printed circuit board)to me this does not seem feasble. So I looked around a little more and I see that the contacts he pointed out as antenna actually have contact points on the back shell that are spongy metallic pieces that are adhered to the shell in the three locations corresponding to the pcb contacts.Are these foamy mesh stickers the antenna? probably not.

There was a lot of talk about the pogo pins not making contact thus the squeeze method working. to this end I attempted to enhance the contact the pogo pins made with the circuit board contact points. this helped a little although I could see from the marks on the pcb contact points that they pogos were making actual contact already.

This makes another thought occur to me. perhaps the additional contact being made by squeezing the bezel is not from the pogo pins but from the pcb contacts making better contact with the mesh contacts of the backplate.

Closer examination of these foamy brillo like contacts reveals that they have adhesive on the back and are apparently meant to make electrical contact between the pcb and the backplate. when I looked at mine I could see that the metal beneath has been prepared to make contact but because of the way it is adhered to the backshell it makes a bridge over that contact area instead of conforming to the entire prepared area.This didnt make much sense to me so I took the tip of a screwdriver and gently pushed the mesh materiel down to fill the void and make continuous contact with the shell. After reassembly my results are very much improved.

PS, I did switch off the main power and detach the 3 ribbon cable connections while doing this.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] buxtahuda:
I'll play around later if I can find time away from troubleshooting/fixing/replacing a motherboard. My WiFi has always been pretty atrocious, if I get results I'll also stop being lazy and finally update my thread
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] smrsxn:
i finally joined the bandwagon of folks who have opened their primes!

its too easy.

i have a shattered screen that i need to replace... will make a video once i get screen delivered.

Has someone already attempted this?
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] whycali:
That PCB to spongy material connection seems pretty critical. I do have to admit my gingerbread running nook tablet still crushes me head to head download speed, the prime is much better than it was and this procedure is not as invasive as some and nowhere near as visible as others.

Also of note, this does not seem to help the GPS at all.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] tshoulihane:
The foamy stuff does seem to be an electrical component, I think I've seen that sort of thing used before (but in a heatsink context). Could this be a ground connection for the antenna? Certainly it would have an impact, could well affect the noise pickup issue from inside the case that people mentioned before too.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] whycali:
It does appear to providing a grounding function and the better the contact it makes with the pcb the better the wifi signal (to a point).
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] whycali:
equal to the tf700

There is a kid in my office who happily got his tf700 this week.

After beating him in a head to head antutu battle (I was using wookie with Motley 3.05 cayenne, since then I changed to CM10 preview)I asked him to help me test my wifi mod. We ran speedtest to the same server in 3 different places in our office which has notoriously piss poor wifi. The Prime and 700 were usually within 300kb with the prime winning at least half of the time for download speed. For some reason the prime (running cm10 mind you) almost always did better than the stock 700 in upload speed.

p.s. now always beats my Ipad in the same location.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] ssam AleX:
same question. And I wanted to know wich way: up or down switch is turned on?
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] whycali:
http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=22154816&postcount=2
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] mile high:
Interesting stuff.

For those that never had any GPS it appears that there is a pogo pin issue. Had screen replaced by Asus and they repaired the GPS. This returned some functionality.

Sent back to Asus for second screen change. (LCD mura again). Again no GPS functionality on it's return.

Sent back to Asus.

Description of repair "ADJUSTED GPS ANTENNA WITH POGO PINS"

Reduced gps functionality returned.

This is enough for me for the occasional stationary fix. Never seem to have the dongle with me.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] whycali:
When you had no gps functionality did the dongle work?
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] mile high:
Yes dongle worked fine.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] whycali:
OK, so some of you remember a few posts back where I say that fixing the points where the antennas contact the back plate fixes the wifi but not the GPS. Well, I was using the cm10 preview which by the originators own admission does not allow the GPS to function. Today I switched to wookie just to test the theory. Turns the mod also vastly ( but not as good as the dongle) improved my GPS as well.

On another side note ICS is a trainwreck for this device. I never got better than 7mbps from my oldschool linksys router until I switched to Jellybean and then I could get 17 to 20 out of it. Now that I am back on ICS for this test...you guessed it my linksys router results are again hampered by ICS.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] nizhnyk:
tried everything, wires antennas etc. the stock one seems to work the best just need to make a better connection with pins. far from the router its still slow but even copper wires or shields are not fixing it, I went extreme and soldered a copper shield that covers the whole back case from outside, no luck.. I think the problem here is not with antenna, and doesnt matter what are you going to solder to does pins its still not going to work. my cell phone has that small copper shield too and works way better then prime (even when prime is opened).
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] whycali:
From my experience all you need to do is to properly ground the antenna contacts to the contacts on the backplate and most interference is eliminated.

I hope the pictures are self explanatory, Please note I have removed the bridge effect of the spongy materiel by pressing it to the shell. The braided wire is not stuck to the material with anything other than the materials own stickiness.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] Moothead2:
Some really interesting posts. Can you say how much better your signal is after doing this as well as DL speeds? I think the ASUS RMA department should at least check and try what you've done to see if the WIFI is improved on the devices sent in for RMA.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] whycali:
Other than what the pictures show (about a 12-13db increase in what I consider a very weak wifi zone at work) I can tell you I have WiFi download speeds that match or exceed my iPad at any distance from the router. Here is a link to a picture of what I mean.

http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=29820241&postcount=4
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] Moothead2:
That's incredible! Think I might try doing this after I've sent mine in for a Camera fix. Nice work, I'd like to see other try this or have wifi issues to see if it's a widespread problem.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] krossmods:
Did the soldering braid mod and made the metallic tape to conform to the shape of the backplate more...

Ran the test in three locations: basement, ground floor, second floor.

1. Basement is where my router is, so I'm basically next to it. Router is about the middle of the house along the wall. Using ASUS RT-N56U router. I believe I haven't updated to latest firmware. Currently on 1.0.1.3.

2. Ground floor is right above but about three meters away from where the router is.

3. Second floor is more or less at the corner of the house.

Here are the test results before and after.

Before (download/upload in Mbps):

1 22.04//7.74, 21.92//7.58

2. 9.7//6.76, 14//7.72

3. 1.53//6.24 (only tried this one once for whatever reason... but on other attempts prior, it would be like ranging from 2-7 Mbps)

After

1. 22.16/7.99, 23.36/7.04

2. 21.16/7.06, 23.03/7.89

3. 4.81/4.56, 9.79, 7.24, 15.49/6.02, and a bunch of other numbers... ranging from 4.81 to 16.08 download.

So take these numbers for what they are. Running the test on my desktop yields 27.34/7.15, 26.17/7.17, 25.69/7.16.

Overall, great improvements over a certain range (i.e. the ground floor test). The improvements on the second floor is there... but it is inconsistent. For example, I would never get anything above 7, 8 Mbps download there...
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] whycali:
Cool, thanks for sharing/verifying that I am not crazy I would like some other folks to give this a shot as well. To me its proof that the backplate does not have to attenuate the signal unless it is poorly grounded to the antenna.

Did you try the gps? mine doesnt get a fast lock but it was greatly improved.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] krossmods:
Lol... ive not tried the gps.

Specifically, ive never really used the gps on my tfp so i wouldnt be able to compare anything. GPS is more important on my phone than my tab....
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] Moothead2:
Awesome, thanks for sharing! It's great to see it works for more than just a single person. Did the range get any better with the mod or just the Download speeds?
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] krossmods:
I didnt really test range as my physical limits were to the house.

I think i saw three "bars" on my tfp when id normally get 2. But after i only saw two. Maybe i need to fondle it a specific way....

Using wifi analyzer, strength is about the same as my atrix. Performance wise, my atrix is better than my tfp.

Sorry for not running at extensive tests... as my needs of the tablet are/were very basic.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] hypnostick:
Hi everyone,

I just made the prime mod with 3 antennas, the wireless' signal is better but not so much and the gps still doesn't work. Maybe, I made a mistake somewhere. What kind of wires and welds did u used ?
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] whycali:
Not very much information here, what did you actually do?
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] hypnostick:
I did the prime mod. 3 Holes, 3 Antennas, and I welded 3 wires directly on the motherboard, I also removed Wifi-Gps PCB. The GPS works perfectly when the prime is opened but as soon as I close. Wifi is still better but not as good as the Erusman' one and the GPS is still unusable.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] whycali:
I can not recommend more strongly to anybody else considering a modification not to act that drastically.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] dpwhitty11:
Use copper wire or something made of copper. And make sure you have them in the right spots.... sounds like whatever you used is the problem.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] hypnostick:
Ok, I will try tomorow, thanks.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] pyraxiate:
Ive been tearing mine apart obsessively trying different things to fix the issue. The best ive come up with so far was to remove the pogo pins , and solder a wire from the right antenna pogo to the left antenna ( Bypassing the split GPS/WiFi antenna ) and attaching a laptops internal wifi antenna on the right side. It picks up about 6-8 dbm more signal so thats at least a start. I was able to finally get my GPS to read 2-3 satellites with wires soldered to the gps antenna pogo and placing it to the entire shared antenna on external of the case. Thats good news for me as I was previously unable to get a single satellite in view. Ill be ordering a 3.5mm plug gps antenna used in the nokia n70, and a 4pin 3.5mm internal jack to test with next. Im hoping to have a clean external gps antenna when all is said and done. I also think the antenna is capable of working on the wifi frequencies so wish me luck on finding us a clean external solution :D
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] whycali:
seriously this ^^^^^^
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] pyraxiate:
Hope that wasnt intended for me . . . . . Ive got tons of ideas to improve both wifi and gps signals on our devices... and some do require heavy modification.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] whycali:
Heavy modding and ripping is fine for folks that are willing to fail. I don't think a big mod is required to fix the problems built into the prime. It blows my mind every time I see the words pogo pins. It's a simple ground issue. I don't want laymen encouraged to do what you did and then filling these forums with questions and regrets.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] pyraxiate:
Do you even know how the pogo pins work? they rely on a horrible spring load to create the contact. Also, Big mods ARE required as there is no way to get your signal through that metal backplate. The difference in signal on and off for me is between 18 and 25 Dbm
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] whycali:
I am intimately familiar with my pogo pins. The first thing I did when I got my prime and found that like many others I had poor wifi, nonexistent gps, and Bluetooth\wifi fallout was to open my prime. I wanted to see what they were talking about when they (mistakenly) blamed the pogo pins for all of these issues. I examined my pogo pins and they were springy and based on the dimples in the antenna pcb contact points the pogo pins were making contact.

"there is no way to get your signal through that metal backplate" This sentence presupposes that everybody will have terrible wifi with the prime. Since this is not the case then...the metal back plate is not blocking the signals from and to everybody's prime. This statement also means that the wifi signals can not penetrate the glass side of the prime as well?

With about an inch worth of braided wire I fixed my primes wifi, gps and Bluetooth interference issues without major reconstruction. In my case and I believe most primes have the same issue as mine, the 3 grounding points for the antennas to the back plate were insufficient. Probably caused by flattening of the foamy ground points and their somewhat incomplete bonding to the back plate. Proper grounding reduces the interference of the back plate to very usable levels on par with and usually exceeding those in my ipad.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] Hepotter:
Pics of braided wire placement???

I'd love to see where/how your braided wire ground is attached to the case components. It seems such a simplier solution that putting three antennas on my prime.

Kindest regards,

Hepotter
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] whycali:
Sorry I saw your post the other day and didnt get back to it until now. take a look at my posts here http://xdaforums.com/search.php?searchid=106088403 (start at the bottom) and you should get a good idea of what I did. The braided wire is only being held in place by pressure from one plate to the other. feel free to pm me with questions.

there are some good pictures here http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=29685066&postcount=1085
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] Thenits:
Many thanks for posting this. I completed this mod and have had gains of 8dbm on wifi and significant performance with gps locks. For those still looking for a mod to improve prime performance specifically on earlier models this may be what you are looking for.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] rprussell:
Whycali - the searchid URL is no good anymore. Do you have a link to the post itself?

It looks like, in essence, you replaced the spongy gray pad with braided copper cable?

(I am VERY VERY interested in this...)
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] whycali:
its not replacing it, it is actually on top of it. that was a link to a search of all of my posts in this thread. here is another http://xdaforums.com/search.php?searchid=112271010
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] rprussell:
Okay - that did help a lot! I think my final Q, although I think I know the answer, is, if you put the braid on the surface where the glass sets into the frame, didn't that affect how flush you could get it back in?

(See attached)

Thaaaaaanks...

R
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] whycali:
what ends up happening is the relatively flat wire makes contact with the antenna contacts on the glass side of the tablet. I can see the slightest hint of copper if I shine a flashlight at the top edge of my closed prime.

All 4 sides are even. because the locking mechanism is rigid that holds it together and the pcb with the antennas is not that rigid it presses the additional space at the antenna end and it does not show on the exterior as bulge.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] rprussell:
Rock. Thanks.

Do you imagine a few layers of aluminum foil (or tape) would accomplish something similar?

I don't do much de-soldering, so I'd rather not invest in a roll of that stuff just to use 2 inches, y'know?
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] whycali:
didnt try aluminum foil but i know they dont ground a whole lot of stuff with aluminum.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] peterk-1:
Strip the sheath off some co-axial cable and use the copper braid? - Pull the dielectric through the "braid tube" it is essential that you don't have loose strands of copper floating around inside the case
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] rprussell:
Ha!

Lookit you. That's awesome.

I have YARDS of THAT stuff around. Never would have occurred to me. Thanks!
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] Moothead2:
How do you go about flicking the tabs to the left under the rubber things?
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] whycali:
I used the tip of a flathead screwdriver that was smaller than the circular indentations. not exactly a flick more like a slow oh **** I hope I dont break this.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] rprussell:
Ended up not working - when I got a short enough length to be viable for the patch, it just disintegrated. So then I wrapped it with aluminum ductwork patch tape, whereupon I learned that stuff doesn't conduct front to back.

But when I fold it, it conducts around the fold - so I did away with the braid (which was silver anyway - aluminum, I assume - not copper) and just used folded tape.

And the verdict? At least I didn't break it. (No real improvement, per "WiFi Analyzer." Maybe 5db?)

BUT USING A MULTIMETER I DID FIND THAT... on the left side of the glass, the 'aux' wifi metal bits behind there (not on the case/pogo-pin side) were connected to each other.

And the same for the GPS segment in the middle.

But the two parts on the RIGHT side, the non-aux wifi antenna - they were NOT connected.

So I connected them.

Still, no real improvement.

And the GPS just doesn't work AT ALL PERIOD, no matter what I connected or reinforced or what.

Maybe I'll try that guy's copper-strip-down-the-length-of-it trick.

So.

But it was fun/scary to open the thing up. I wish iPods were that easy!
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] whycali:
So I the final analysis of what I read here. you did not do what I did in any way.

I dont mean to sound like a **** but I want to point out to you how far you strayed from the simplicity of the original fix I did.

you did some over thinking with the multimeter for something that is probably supposed to be that way (its sounds vaguely like the original supposition of the op of this thread about gaps in the antennas).

you are thinking about doing something another guy did and never demonstrated results (copper tape guy).

What rom are you running? a number of the newer ones do not support the on board gps at all and will make testing gps a challenge.

good news is its much easier to open after the first time.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] rprussell:
No, that's fine - but surprising. I thought I was doing 'zactly what you did. (Hence all my lead-up questions.)

What I did (short version) was, laid a bit of aluminum tape down on top of the spongy grounding pad things that connect at the very top edge of the case, to the wifi and GPS copper contacts on the very top edge of the glass piece.

Which is what I thought you did, only with some gooey desoldering braided stuff.

And then in order:

Overthinking is something I'm good at... I'll look for posts about the gap.

My impression was that copper tape guy HAD made an improvement. Again, I can revisit.

I'm running the Energy ROM - the latest one from just a couple days ago. I'm ready to throw in the towel on the GPS anyway. I barely used it on my TF101.

When I didn't see a signifigant boost from the tape busness, I did start looking for other issues.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] whycali:
After reading this I decided to tear my prime apart again and get more pictures. I decided that the smaller chunks of desoldering braid could too easily fray and loose parts so I made them longer this time. but this is a very simple concept. take your prime apart carefully. lay down the grounding material (desoldering braid), carefully put the prime back together without moving the material.

The benefit is not only a stronger wifi signal but also a more stable connection. a solid wifi connection for me without the mod could start at a 54mb connection and drop to 1mb without moving an inch. now every connection is a stable as possible.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] rprussell:
Well, maybe I'll stop and get some on the way home then.

At this point, I'm calling it a win that I didn't destroy anything :highfive:

But you are correct - it's MUCH easier to get the thing open on subsequent runs.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] whycali:
it was actually difficult to get the old wire off. the spongy materiel had become very attached to it. I am still very careful to get the entire edge free with the corner of a credit card before I pull it apart. there are a lot of tiny screws and circuit boards in the trash can next to my desk.

Screen shots are with no ground and prime closed then with ground and prime closed and then a trip outside to see my onboard gps working great.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] rprussell:
Hm. And you're using Androwook from the looks of it?

When I did try the GPS out, it never came out and SAID "Hey, you got no GPS!"

It just sat there for, say, 20 minutes not getting a lock.

I'll go check in the Energizer thread whether they know if the GPS support has been disabled in that guy.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] whycali:
The trick for getting a fast gps lock for me even was to use mod 2 from here http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=32154446&postcount=1

I tried energizer on my prime 2 days ago to test something with maps and gps was 1 bird. after I tried the above tweak it got 3 birds but no where near a lock.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] rprussell:
Oh, I remember doing something similar to my TF101.

Still nothing, though. No birds at all, let along a lock.

I'll report back after braiding it up.