[General Questions and Answers] NimbleWeasel:
[Q&A] WiFi stuck on turning on; MAC 02:00:00:00:00:00; G2 G3 G4 G5 Nexus5 Nexus 7 etc

Hi!

If you are reading this now, you are probably one of the unlucky fellows who's WiFi (and Bluetooth) stopped functioning, and if so, you are probably deperately searching for a solution/fix. I might have something for you, but first:

*** DISCLAIMER/WARNING ***

You yourself are exclusively responsible for whatever may (or may not) happen to your mobile device, to yourself or others. I am only giving hints/advices here that *MAY* help, but I will not take any responsability, nor will I provide any support, in absolutely *ANY CASE*, including, but not limited to: your problem not being solved or/and your mobile device becoming partially or completely broken. Let me be very clear: If you do anything to your device rendering it useless, destroying it, seriously or fataly injuring you or others, and then come blaming me or/and cry for help, I will point my index finger at you and laugh at you. Period.

If you are a impatient person and want to get straight to the point, jump right to section 6.

Table of Contents

0. Foreword

1. Description of the problem

2. Urgent advice

3. Things that didn't work

4. There is little hope

5. My most obvious advice

6. LET'S GET SERIOUS!

6.a Sellotape / Scotch tape

6.b Refrigerator / Freezer

6.c Oven

0. Foreword

Two or three months ago, one fine morning, the WiFi/BT of my LG G2 suddenly stopped working. Initially I thought this would be only one stupid annoying minor thingy, that I’d be able to solve it fast. I was wrong.

1. Description of the problem

When turning on the WiFi, it would just stay in "Turning on..." forever. Similar thing for Bluetooth: It would stay on for a few seconds and then turn itself off again after. (But then, who needs Bluetooth anyway, WiFi ist probably 100 times more important...). I have thoroughly searched the internet, and I found quite some videos with exactly the same problem (remove the two blanks from the links to watch):

h ttps://w ww.youtube.com/watch?v=fRGnQz1zUmw

h ttps://w ww.youtube.com/watch?v=4W8YJMDFM88

h ttp://w ww.dailymotion.com/video/x2cuyjt_nexus-5-turning-wifi-on-frozen-problem_tech

2. Urgent advice

I want to prevent you from wasting countless hours searching for a solution - I wasted so much of my time already, no need for you to repeat that. Therefore: *Please* be aware that there is a VERY HIGH PROBABILITY that this issue is being caused by a

hardware defect

. I can not speak for all devices of course, but keep in mind that the main reason I wasted so much time, was me beliving it was some software issue! See the next section for a glimpse of stuff I have tried without any success:

3. Things that *

DIDN'T

* work

01. Restarting WiFi/Bluetooth several times

02. Rebooting the phone

03. Turning airplane mode on/off several times

04. Slapping/hitting the phone (this was indeed suggested in a forum)

05. Using WiFi-Fixer apps

06. Resetting to factory settings

07. Upgrading to newest Android version

08. Fully drained the battery and left it uncharged for several hours

(Rooted the phone)

09. Deleting the /data/misc/wifi/wpa_supplicant.conf

10. Deleting the whole /data/misc/wifi folder

11. Creating a file named ".bdaddr" in /persist/bluetooth containing a MAC-Address in hexadecimal format

12. Creating a file named ".macaddr" in /persist/wifi containing a MAC-Address in hexadecimal format

13. Flashing several custom ROMs to it (CyanogenMod, ParanoidAndroid, ...)

14. Going back to stock ROM

15. etc. etc. etc.

16. Several combinations and permutations of the above

4. There is little hope

Again, as the cause of the problem is most likely a hardware issue, I don't recommend going through all the steps as described in the previous section; however, though none of the steps worked for me, this doesn't mean that none won't work for you neither; you might be luckier than I was. In that case, enjoy your restored WiFi and be happy. :)

5. My most obvious advice

You need to replace the motherboard (main board) of your device.

Honestly, if you can afford it and it doesn't cause too many inconveniences to you, you'll be better off by simply buying a new device. If you don't want to buy a new device, send it in for repairs. If you don't want to do that as well, you'll have to fallback to a DIY solution:

I. Buy a new main board for your device. Be careful to get exactly the right component for your specific model. If you dont find any shop selling those, there are plenty of individuals out there that own devices with broken displays. You dont need the displays, you need the motherboard. Buy one such broken device, and you'll have your main board replacement.

II. Replace your main board or let someone else do it for you

Continues below.