How to fix No Service on an MTK Android phone while in WCDMA or 3G only mode



mediatek no service wcdma only mode

At some point or the other, your Android phone (and you) will have to leave the network reception stronghold and venture  into an area of not so encouraging signal reception. In my previous guide on boosting the Internet connection speed on your Mediatek Android phone, I explained a life-saving technique that tells your  MTK phone;

3G or 4G = Give me, EDGE or 2G = Keep it

See the guide at https://www.hovatek.com/blog/how-to-fix-3g-or-4g-constantly-dropping-to-2g-or-edge-on-an-mtk-android-phone/ if you missed it. In today’s tutorial, we shall be putting yet another device issue behind us, the problem of no service or reception when network mode is switched to WDCMA (3G) only.

Could you shed more light on this particular issue?

This problem borders around you being in an area with 3G coverage and having signal when your phone is set to 3G / 2G. The problem here is that when you set the phone to 3G / 2G, you get the slow 2G reception most of the time and switching to 3G only gives you no reception.

How do I change my preferred network type (between 3G and 2G)?

There are 2 methods:

  1. Settings Menu

    : Navigate to Settings > More > Mobile Networks > Select your Service Provider > Preferred Network type

  2. Engineering Mode

    : Install MTK Engineering Mode > Launch the app > Select MTK Settings > Tap Network Selecting (Under the Telephony tab)

How do I fix no service or reception while in WCDMA or 3G only mode?

Ideally, downloading the firmware at https://www.hovatek.com/forum/forum-89.html and flashing it (especially secro.img) using SP flash tool @ https://www.hovatek.com/forum/thread-159.html ought to fix the issue. Also, using SN Writer @ https://www.hovatek.com/forum/thread-12306.html to write IMEI could help. If these don’t resolve it then:

  • You’ll need to get a working phone of the same model which is not having the issue
  • Flash TWRP recovery to both phones (Use SP flash tool if not rooted and Rashr.apk if rooted)
  • Boot the working phone into TWRP recovery (see https://www.hovatek.com/forum/thread-479.html) and backup the system, secro and nvram partitions
  • Move the TWRP (backup) folder from the internal storage of the working phone to that of the phone having the 3G issue
  • Boot the affected phone into TWRP recovery
  • Restore the backup and reboot the phone

Note:

This fix also works for the WiFi NVRAM WARNING Err = 0x10 and the NVRAM WARNING Err = 0x02 errors

I have tried the TWRP method but the issue persists. What can I do?

Try the NVRAM Restore Method at https://www.hovatek.com/forum/thread-116.html



69 thoughts on “How to fix No Service on an MTK Android phone while in WCDMA or 3G only mode”

  1. Richard Ashford

    Pls I flashed the firmware of itel s13 but after that when I insert the Sim it show the network in data mode only. MTN(Data mode only)

    1. Is it that you don’t get 3G at all (only 2G) or lose network whenever you manually change network mode to 3G

      1. i dont get 3g at all and when i manually turn to 3g i lose network. I only get network if i turn back to 2g.

  2. i use coolpad y71-811. but am having a problem of 3g it only show edge (2g)i have tried usin the short code i.e*#*#4636#*#* but it never worked. pls i need a solution.

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