WIFI "Error", pretty sure it's hardware, attempt to fix

[Ardvarg]

So I dropped my perfectly stock Thunderbolt (unrooted... never got around to doing it again after an HTC warrantee replacement) and the screen went and shattered (I'm sure it's because the extended battery weights a ton). I used it for about 1.5 months without any problem other than having spider-glass. Replaced the screen, though I had to re-do it because it wasn't lined up the first time... and now the screen works perfectly.

The issue is my WIFI doesn't work. It'll seem to connect when I first turn on the phone. It'll pick up my Router and run for anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour, but then it'll give me the dreaded wifi "Error" and won't let me get into my wifi options. Everything is grayed out except for the button that turns the wifi on/off. It'll say "turning on" for a few minutes, then gray everything out again ans say "Error" again.
I did a full factory restore (didn't have anything to lose that I couldn't back up in 20 seconds), which didn't help. I got irritated, rooted, tried several different roms along with clearing the Dalvik cache (still don't know exactly what it does, but beside the point), and now I'm resigned to the thought that i may have bumped the wrong hardware when replacing the screen.

So, the question is, does anyone know what hardware deals with the WIFI connections? If i can understand where the possibly affected area is, I might be able to move, shift, sodder, superglue, swear at, or replace in hopes of getting WIFI back. I'm also open to any ideas that might be software related, but I seriously doubt that now...

Thanks in advance. I don't contribute (with much shame) but I do read these boards with great interest and my wife probably thinks I'm looking at porn with how much time I spend here at 3am.

***Currently Running Liquid ICS 1.5 somethingmerather

 

[bobburns]

Wifi hardware on the thunderbolt

You may have already found your answer, but it depends where it hit when it fell

The Wifi and Bluetooth antenna is on the side of the case - just ahead of the middle screw on the right side looking at the phone from the back. It goes to the little round dot area just above the top of the battery area. You can see it's outline. If it got damaged you might get a poor signal. The antenna makes contact with the motherboard by two small spring rectangular connectors under the shell of the main case. If they are not making good contact the same will result.

HOWEVER, what is more likely the issue is the kernel and bcm4329.ko file of whatever custom ROM you are running is not as Wifi friendly and efficient with whatever antenna (RADIOS FILES) you are running.

I cannot help you there except to say all ROMS are not created equal.

For instance the ICS ROM leak has Wifi and Bluetooth problems that special a "mixed" Radio file of half of the present radio and half of the ICS leaked radio only works. Still it seems to still cause random reboots of the phone.

Depending on how far you are from the wifi source and the strength of the signal, the phone has to boost power to resolve the data being transmitted over the radio link and keep clean data being used - we used to call it Modulate - Demodulate (a.k.a. Modem action) and that would explain why after 20 minutes - something has gotten usually warm and lost it's ability to keep the activity going or does not have enough power to keep a boosted signal and cannot be sustained to keep a good signal.

I would put the stock ROM back on and see if the issue improves so you can rule out your custom ROM.

So . . . good luck

 

[assumeddarkness]

my problem is wifi and wireless tethering doesnt work now i have restore back to factory and flashed many differnt roms and my wifi will ether error out or sit there trying to turn on with no luck now i have been able to get lucky right after i flash a rom and install google wireless tether and get this take the battery cover off the phone and turn on wifi or tether it will work but after i turn it off no more wifi or wireless i keep getting starting access-point failed activating wifi interface failed and it driving me mad