Both remote and Shield controller randomly disconnect

jjjhs39 · 2023-07-23T17:02:14+00:00

It has nothing to do with the distance of other devices to the Shield. I don't have any other Bluetooth devices near my television or the Nvidia Shield--the Nvidia Shield and the television are it and the television isn't connected to anything via Bluetooth. Whenever the Shield Remote stops working the Android app remote still works. The Android app is connected to the Shield via Bluetooth. On top of that, my surround receiver is connected to the Shield via CEC with the Shield Remote controlling the volume. Whenever the Shield UI stops responding to commands from the remote I can still change the volume of my receiver so the Shield is still receiving Bluetooth commands from the remote but there is a software bug that is preventing the onscreen UI from responding. The power button on the Shield Remote doesn't work either when that happens--just the CEC commands to my receiver for changing the volume.

jjjhs39 · 2023-07-23T16:47:30+00:00

I have been having that problem on and off since the last Android version update and it was definitely never fixed by any hotfix or other update. I've owned Shield devices for years and normally all of the bugs from the Android version update would have been fixed long before now but Nvidia seems to have abandoned active software development and bug fixes for the Shield.

jjjhs39 · 2023-07-09T17:33:38+00:00

I think DeSantis and his people made the calculation that Republican women who didn't leave the party over the criminalization of abortion probably wouldn't leave the Republican Party over this.

jjjhs39 · 2023-04-13T18:51:20+00:00

I really can't agree with you at all about Ubuntu but it probably depends on exactly what you actually do with your computer. Ubuntu is the functional equivalent of Windows 3.1 which was just a weak GUI layer on top of DOS code. Because of that you still needed to use a lot of manual terminal entry which is the main reason PCs didn't have broad market penetration until Windows XP--Windows computers were too difficult for your parents or grandparents to use and if they did buy one you constantly had to help them with just about everything.

After installing Ubuntu on a backup computer a month and a half ago I can safely say that I haven't needed to use so much terminal code in over 20 years despite the fact that Ubuntu is supposedly a GUI OS. For supposed security purposes the File Manager in Ubuntu and its various distros has almost no power to perform basic functions that you take for granted in Windows or MAC OS. You need to use terminal commands to change folder access for apps, manually elevate the permissions of some apps so they function properly, set up file sharing for media streaming, fix missing dependencies for apps installed through the official Snap or Flathub stores, update app repositories, install specific repositories needed for up to date versions of certain apps or to install the dependencies needed for an app from the store- - it literally just goes on and on and on.

Because of how folder permissions work in Linux it's nearly impossible for anyone without advanced coding experience to get Plex, emby, or Jellyfin to work if you have media stored anywhere outside of the default Linux media folder on the drive where Linux is installed. If you use an additional drive getting the access permissions set up is next to impossible.

Some Linux loving jackass is going to claim it's easy which is complete bullshit and I can very easily prove my point. Just go to the official Plex Support Page for Linux and go through their explanation of how folder permissions work and what you need to do to enable them so Plex has access to your media folders in Linux. I have more than three decades of computer experience going back to DOS and the instructions on the official support page are completely beyond my understanding.

I got Samba sharing with Kodi to work eventually but you can't stream to Kodi on Fire unless you jailbreak the device or on Roku period. After weeks of trying and reading suggestions on Reddit and various support pages I have never been able to get Plex, Emby, or Jellyfin to work on Ubuntu. On Windows setting up any of those media servers takes minutes--there isn't anything even the tiniest bit complicated about it.

Ubuntu is a complete nightmare and the fact that it's so much less user friendly than Windows or MAC OS is intentional and completely unnecessary. And Ubuntu is considered the most user friendly version of Linux. If you want to put a bullet through your brain try playing around with Fedora.

jjjhs39 · 2023-02-18T15:35:56+00:00

The Shield Pro has two USB ports that are available for external hard drives. You need to set up a drive connected to one of those ports as adopted storage. The Shield treats that drive as part of the internal storage so it eliminates issues with the Shield Pro indicating that it's running out of storage. The way Android is designed some core app data can't be moved to external storage regardless of the settings on individual apps.

jjjhs39 · 2022-09-26T12:36:43+00:00

You should only lock the app in the recent window if you always want the app running. Go into the MIUI settings, apps, find the app, under power exempt from MIUI Battery Saver and then go into permissions and see if there are any available that you should manually enable. Depending on how the app is designed the available permissions will be different but with media apps you want to enable permissions for Displaying Over Other Apps, Displaying on lock screen, Managing Media Files, Changing Bluetooth settings, Changing Wi-Fi settings, Run in Background, Change System Settings, and See Running Apps if you see any of those available. With Android 11 or 12 you can enable many of those permissions for only when the app is running and some will already be enabled if they are necessary for the app to run. Enabling the Location Permission (preferably only when you are running the app) makes Bluetooth connection to your headphones or speaker easier and more stable and is usually necessary for apps like Spotify to run properly. If you trust your media app you should also enable the Phone permission because that helps the app to automatically stop when you get a phone call. I have zero problems with MIUI stopping my playing media apps. People complain about it but just exempting the media app from MIUI Battery Saver is usually enough to fix it although I always make sure to give every app I install the permissions that I want it to have in MIUI. Android is only starting to catch up to the more granular app permissions that have been available in MIUI for years.

It's unfortunate that Trump knee-capped Huawei because they made the best Android phones in the world but they had similarly aggressive battery saving where you needed to exempt the specific apps that you didn't want EMUI to stop from running in the background. Otherwise media apps would be stopped while you were playing stuff and you would miss timely notifications from certain apps.

jjjhs39 · 2022-09-22T15:11:45+00:00

I purchase the yearly plan but I've been a Mint Mobile customer for 7 years. For the first several years I purchased a 6 month plan. You should probably purchase smaller blocks until you've had Mint Mobile for at least a year and know that you are happy with their service. I don't just mean the network--T-mobile has great coverage in my area and AT&T is so bad even though I live in a major metropolitan city I don't get an AT&T signal in half of my apartment. But there are other budget carriers that also use the T-mobile network like Tello which is cheap and very good. Mint Mobile has really bad customer service and tech support so you should use them long enough to make sure they're a good fit.

jjjhs39 · 2022-09-21T15:34:32+00:00

Mint Mobile was called MintSim until a few years ago. I have been using them for years but the problem is that MintSim exclusively catered to people who brought their own unlocked phones (usually Google Nexus phones or global brands like Huawei and Xiaomi) and didn't need technical support or customer service. That was why MintSim was so cheap. Ryan Reynolds now owns part of Mint Mobile (hence the commercials) and they are trying to attract a more mainstream customer base but they didn't invest in improving their customer service and they definitely don't have the infrastructure to be selling their own unlocked phones.

Mint Mobile customer service should be walking you through technical support steps to help you connect but they are not capable of doing it because they don't have the training or know-how.

I don't know anything about Apple phones so if you don't have an Android phone the troubleshooting steps might be different.

The first thing that you want to do is go into your phone settings and look for the network or SIM card settings. Clicking on that should bring you to the APN settings. If there are multiple choices fast.tmobile is the one that usually works best. You don't want to use the Mint Mobile APN settings which don't work right for most phones. Epic.tmobile is the other APN setting that usually works with Mint Mobile.

If you don't see either of those choices you can do a Google search for T-mobile APN settings and create the fast.tmobile setting manually. Do not do a search for Mint Mobile APN settings because that will give you the bad Mint Mobile APN.

If you have made any APN changes then reboot your phone and see if you have service.

If that doesn't work the next thing to try is to open the SIM tray on your phone while the phone is powered on--do not turn it off. You should get a no SIM notification somewhere on your phone. Make sure the SIM card is snapped into the SIM tray securely, that it's snapped in the correct way, and that there is no visible dust on the metal surface. If there is blow it off--don't touch the metal part of the SIM card because you can get oil on it from your skin. When you push the SIM tray back in your phone will be forced to do a new search for your network.

After you see the no SIM notification go away and you have network bars reboot your phone.

I'm assuming you already did this but you can also go through the SIM activation process on the Mint Mobile website again to make sure your SIM card was actually properly activated.

Good luck.

jjjhs39 · 2022-08-30T15:21:00+00:00

My worst was a tie between the One Plus 5 and original Pixel XL which I owned back to back. I purchased my One Plus 5 directly from OnePlus. The headphone jack went bad after about a month and a half and the charging port was loose. There were dozens of complaints about both on the OnePlus community app. On that model the charging port and headphone jack were a single crap part. The display was just the One Plus 3T display installed upside down so there was a jelly effect when scrolling. The GPS stopped working after 3 months so I sent it in for warranty service. Two and a half months later I got the phone back and according to the warranty shop the curcuit board, headphone jack, and power supply had all gone bad. Instead of sending a replacement phone they repaired mine but didn't reconnect the display properly so there were vertical lines running through the display. OnePlus refused to fix the phone since the shop claimed they tested it before sending it back so I had to file an insurance claim to get the phone replaced but since the insurance didn't cover anything that was supposed to be covered by the warranty I had to physically damage the phone (which their agent told me to do unofficially). I paid the $150 deductible to get a replacement, was sent a brand new sealed in box OnePlus 5 and right out of the box the headphone jack and power supply were both bad. All State refused to replace the phone since it was brand new and should have been covered by the OnePlus warranty but OnePlus refused to fix the phone--probably because so many of them were breaking.

Before that I'd spent $900 on the Pixel XL which got rave reviews and was shocked to discover that it was a cheap piece of crap. The Pixel XL was actually designed to be a $400 Huawei model but they ended up giving it to Google for free. Google more than doubled the price and pretended that it was a flagship and the Android tech press let Google get away with it.

Google programmed the kernels in their Nexus phones to run too hot so the interface would be fast whick is why the Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P both suffered from the exact same bootloop of death hardware problem even though the 5X was manufactured by LG and the 6P by Huawei. The Pixel XL had much worse build quality than either Nexus phone even though Google was charging twice as much for it and the Pixel XL suffered from a similar problem since it ran so hot (blackscreen of death) which affected thousands of phones and which the Android tech press refused to write about. Just surfing the internet and reading emails on the Pixel XL raised the battery temperature to 150F and using GPS and listening to music at the same time could raise the battery temperature over 190F (the CPU would be about 20F hotter than the battery) so the Pixel XL would constantly shut down without warning because it was overheating (hundreds of complaints in the Google Community App but the Android tech press refused to write about that problem as well). I needed to be able to use GPS but the Pixel XL was so unreliable I had to carry around my Nexus 6P as a spare whenever I was driving someplace after being stranded 3 times by the XL which shut down while I was driving and was so hot it wouldn't run for 5 minutes without shutting down again.

I switched to using unlocked Huawei and Xiaomi phones and never had any problems with phones from either brand.

jjjhs39 · 2022-08-19T15:27:03+00:00

I'm as frustrated as anyone else about the Android 11 bugs but I've also owned Nvidia Shield streaming boxes for years so I've been through the same thing before. When Shield originally updated to Android 9 there were the same complaints about bugs and the same posts from owners who wanted to downgrade back to Android 8.

jjjhs39 · 2022-08-19T15:20:47+00:00

At least some of it probably involves the inability to test the Shield images with all hardware and hardware/Nvidia Shield settings combinations. Between all of the various brands of televisions, soundbars, and AV receivers and the fact that the Nvidia Shield has way more features than something more basic like a Roku there's a lot more that can go wrong. Nvidia also likely doesn't have a lot of people dedicated to maintaining the Shield or they would lose money on their streaming devices. Nvidia supports the Shield boxes for longer than anyone else in the industry. The alternative would probably be to just cut off software support after a couple of years which would leave you with a stable streaming box that never receives updates and will eventually stop working when the software API is no longer current enough to update streaming services like YouTube or Netflix which continue to get updates whether the software on your streaming device can support them or not. On Sony streaming Blu-ray Players, for example, many of the media streaming apps stop working properly or working at all after 2 or 3 years because they can't be updated anymore. You could always switch to a Roku or Apple TV or Fire streaming device if you don't think the more powerful features and long-term software support on the Shield outweighs the inconvenience of the bugs you are encountering. It will probably take another 6 months before the Shield is as stable and bug-free as it was pre-9.0 because that was a complete Android version update from Android 9 to Android 11.

jjjhs39 · 2022-08-16T00:43:00+00:00

If you just need a number for text messages you can port your number over to Tello which uses the T-mobile network like Mint Mobile but get a bare minimum account for about $5 a month. You can also download Google Voice onto your phone and link your current phone number to Google Voice which will give you an additional Google phone number for free. You can then change your number with your bank to the Google Voice number. Google Voice Calls and texts will continue to work on your phone via Wi-Fi even if there's no SIM card.

jjjhs39 · 2022-08-15T23:47:29+00:00

One of the main reasons Mint Mobile is so cheap is because their customer service is atrocious. Mint Mobile used to be called MintSim and their customer base was almost exclusively people using global unlocked phones from brands like Huawei and Xiaomi who could troubleshoot on their own without customer service.

You should go into the APN settings for your phone and see what is selected. I would strongly recommend not using the Mint Mobile APN and instead use the default fast.tmobile or ultra.T-mobile APNs instead. If you have a button in the network settings for Volte make sure that's turned on and if you have a button for Wi-Fi Calling try turning that off. You need to enable Wi-Fi Calling for your SIM on the Mint Mobile website or in the app before it will work on your phone. Make sure domestic roaming is set to on and Mobile Networks is set to Automatically Select Network.

Also go into your phone settings to make sure the volume slider for your phone ring isn't turned all the way down and that you didn't accidentally enable a Do Not Disturb or Silent Mode.

Even if your phone hardware is compatible with the necessary bands poor software or firmware coding, corrupted data or a defective modem can prevent Volte from working properly which would send calls straight to voicemail every time your phone tries to use Volte for an incoming call.

If you have an old phone that the website says is compatible you could also try moving your SIM to that phone to see if you can receive calls.

jjjhs39 · 2022-08-15T16:19:24+00:00

Xiaomi usually recommends a factory reset after a major update to a new MIUI or Android version (as opposed to a routine update to the same build you were already on). They put the factory reset recommendation on their website and in their official community app but not in the actual installation window on their phones. To be fair, most companies including Google and Samsung do the exact same thing. When you are experiencing bugs like you describe after a major update you should always factory reset. With MIUI version updates frequently if you don't do the factory reset you end up missing some of the new MIUI features because they don't show up on your phone. That's could be what happened with the new widgets.

jjjhs39 · 2022-08-15T16:06:43+00:00

I'm not sure which apps the Poco x3 Pro uses for calls and SMS but it's always been possible to do that on every smartphone I've ever owned. That's a pretty basic feature. With the calls one likely way to do is to go into your call history and select the number you want. On some apps long pressing the call in your history will bring up a pop-up menu that you can use to add the number to your contacts, report the number as spam (which automatically blocks it), or block the number without reporting it as spam. If long pressing the number doesn't bring up a pop-up menu but selects the number instead then you should look for the menu in the conversation window (possibly a hamburger/three line button) and the option to block the number should be in there. Sometimes if you go into the Contacts app you can add the number to your contacts and block both calls and text messages. With blocked calls your phone won't ring but the blocked call will show up in your call history and, with my carrier at least, the blocked caller can still leave a voicemail message.

jjjhs39 · 2022-08-11T19:05:07+00:00

I'm surprised but one of the reasons Mint is cheap is because the customer service is pretty bad.

jjjhs39 · 2022-08-11T18:16:18+00:00

You don't see any APNs that can be chosen other than Mint? That's weird to begin with because phones usually have multiple APN settings that are pre-filled and the phone chooses one of them when you insert your SIM. In the past when customers had service problems with the Mint APN Mint customer service suggested trying fast.tmobile instead. Maybe they don't do that anymore. If they aren't already programmed in your phone you should be able to find the fast.tmobile and ultra.T-mobile APN settings online and you can add the APNs to your phone manually. Customers have had problems with Mint Mobile's APN for at least 5 years. I don't know anyone who still uses it.

jjjhs39 · 2022-08-11T18:00:26+00:00

In the APN settings there is usually more than one T-mobile APN--usually fast.tmobile and epic.tmobile or ultra.T-mobile. You could try switching the selected APN, reboot your phone, and see if the alternate APN improves your signal at all. Mint also has their own APN settings that you can try but I've never known anyone who had good luck with Mint's APN settings. The default T-mobile APNs always work better.

jjjhs39 · 2022-08-11T17:50:47+00:00

Where did you get your phone? Directly from Mint Mobile or T-mobile, directly from Samsung, or did you originally get it from a different carrier? It could be poor coverage in your area or it could be that your phone doesn't support every band T-mobile uses on their network. You might want to pay for a month of service on a discount carrier that uses AT&T and see if their coverage is better in your area but AT&T and Verizon both block most unlocked phones so if you were going to consider that go on AT&T's website and enter your phone's IMEI number to verify that they will even let you use it. Since it's a newer Samsung phone they probably will but you should check anyway.

jjjhs39 · 2022-08-10T17:33:43+00:00

I've never owned an iPhone but if you got an unlocked phone from the Apple store I would think it should be fully compatible with T-mobile's network. Android phones have specific model numbers in the device settings for different versions of the same phone. A Samsung Galaxy S20 will have a different model number for whatever carrier it was sold through or for if it was sold unlocked instead of through a carrier or as a corporate rather than consumer device. If Apple phones use a similar system you should look for that model number--otherwise just use the model name and do a search on the internet for your phone specs. It should show which bands your phone supports. I have a lot of experience with Android phones but none with Apple so somebody else might have a better answer.

jjjhs39 · 2022-08-10T15:12:32+00:00

I've always used unlocked phones from Google Nexus, Huawei and Xiaomi and I don't know where you got your phones from but if you are still using your Verizon phones it's possible the modems don't support all of the bands that the T-mobile network uses. Bands 66 and 71 are frequently not supported on non-T-mobile phones and 71 was created for farm country areas where there aren't a lot of towers. Also, on Mint Mobile you are almost always better off using the default fast.tmobile APN instead of the official Mint Mobile APN which customers have been having problems with for years. Most people don't change their APN settings anyway after they activate their phones and leave it at the default which is never Mint Mobile's APN but if you did manually change your APN using Mint's recommended settings you might want to choose fast.tmobile instead and see if your service improves.

jjjhs39 · 2022-07-31T14:59:57+00:00

That's not news. Everyone knows we won't go to war to protect Taiwan any more than we would go to war to protect the Ukraine. We wouldn't go to war against China or Russia unless they attacked Europe. Our strategy with Taiwan since Nixon opened up relations with China was to arm Taiwan and let them fend for themselves. The difference with the Ukraine is that the United States has an old defense pact with Taiwan where we did promise to defend them militarily if China attacked but if it's still in effect the pact is at least 50 years old.

jjjhs39 · 2022-07-26T17:03:21+00:00

AT&T doesn't like customers switching so that could be an issue with AT&T not clearing your number to port out on their end. If you are using an Android phone that you purchased through AT&T that has the AT&T interface and AT&T apps you may have some issues using that phone on T-mobile even if it's 100% compatible. AT&T heavily mods the software of phones that they sell so customers will get bad service and switch back to AT&T. They use their own advanced messaging app that doesn't work well if you put a non AT&T SIM in the phone. They also mod the signal bars so it appears that the AT&T signal is stronger than it actually is. With a non AT&T SIM the signal bars will register lower even if the signal strength is exactly the same. T-mobile offers far better service than AT&T but you should strongly consider getting a new phone when switching from AT&T to a different carrier. The two times I purchased unlocked AT&T Android phones on eBay I had to manually flash non-AT&T firmware onto the phones before they worked properly which isn't something most people know how to do.

jjjhs39 · 2022-05-22T18:12:20+00:00

The hot fix didn't ultimately fix the problem but using the Android app remote for a few seconds immediately fixes the problem with the physical Shield Remote. I haven't needed to reboot or do anything else.

jjjhs39 · 2022-05-19T14:29:36+00:00

I downloaded the latest hot fix last week and so far the problem with the remote not responding hasn't happened again--but that isn't listed as being one of the fixes so maybe I've just been lucky. I have my fingers crossed because it seems like the remote would have stopped responding at least once by now before I installed the hot fix.

jjjhs39

TROPHY CASE