wi-fi usb tether disconection problems.

[slartybartfast]

Hi all been having a lil trouble with my sII.
i have been using it for my main interweb connection for my pc for 6 months now and all has been fine, but two weeks ago it started to kick the pc off, the phone would say that the tether is still active and fine but the pc says that there aint no connection. this happens every 5 - 10 mins.
so i thought i would try the wi-fi tether but i get kicked off of this as well and my wi-fi dongle after being disconnected wont find my network at all but finds the other 20 - 30 hotspots that are around me fine, but the phone still says that it is on. i have to restart the phone to get it back or sometimes i can connect through the usb for the 5 mins that it will let me, and then it will let me back on to wi-fi.
so i tried a reformat of me pc installed the kies and the usb drivers and even disabled the windows firewall but this made absolutely no difference at all, so just to be sure i tried it on other computers and it did the same thing to them as well.
so i did a factory reset of the phone and this did nothing. i then decided to update the phone ( i dont normally do this type of thing as if it aint broke why mess with it) so i updated through the phone and then through kies. it updated fine to ics but this did not help either.
ive also tried third party apps like easy tether and the like but these are no difrent.
so next i have phoned up my provider (THREE) and asked them if they had decided to bring in the fair usage policy or if they were somehow killing the tethering thy said no and no being on the all you can eat plan means all you can eat, they then put me though to their technical support and they went though what i have tried and after 45 mins of various suggestions said they could not help me as this was a problem with the phone and not the network.
At a loss as to what to do next ive tried all that i can think of to cure this problem so any help that you good people can give me would be greatly appreciated

[greenman]

Go back 2 weeks and think about what you have installed both on phone and computer.
You appear to have checked everything, so limited to what is a new idea:

On Computer:
Is your computer recognising the phone when usb connected?
Check in computer system > hardware > Device manager for errors.

On phone:
You carired out a factory reset, but if the software is corrupted then your factory reset would reinstall the problem.
Suggest you reinstall the firmware.
Can't do it through Kies (but could try if your preferred method) so you're looking at an Odin install.
BTW when changing from Gingerbread to ICS you should have carried out a factory reset and clear cache from Recovery Menu.
Do this before re installing your ICS with Odin (or Kies)

There's a good video on CNET that explains things and the link has the Odin installation.
The other thing you need is your firmware so, so first of all dial *#1234# on your dialler to get your current firmware.
Now look on sammobile for the download and unzip to your desktop.
This is the file you will put in Odin PDA box (all will be explained in the video)
For your file go here:
http://www.sammobile.com/firmware/?p...00&r=1#regiona

[slartybartfast]

thanks for super fast reply Greenman
ok applications installed in the last few months on phone and computer = none.
And yes before ics update i did the clearing out of the cache. and i did the factory reset just before the update to try and fix the problem. and since the update ive not reinstalled any apps.
ok so reinstall firmware because software corrupted, would upgrading to ics not have cleared out the corrupted software when it replaced it with the newer android?

[greenman]

Depends how soon before the ICS update that you carried out the factory reset.
If immediately before the ICS installation, then I would agree there is little to no chance of a conflict.
If you factory reset then tried to connect, then later upgraded to ICS, then there is a possibility that a corrupted gingerbread file came along.
I admit it's clutching at straws, but you appear to have tried everything else, so for me a fresh install would be the next step.
The trouble is what do you backup, as you don't want to reintroduce the problem with the backup.
So what I would do is:
1. Go to settings > backup and reset and tick and for good measure backup to Kies if not already done so.
2. Select USB debugging
3. Factory reset and clear cache
4. Download and unzip the firmware
5. Install and start Odin and put above .tar file in PDA box.
6. Put phone into download mode (Press and hold Volume down + Home button + Power button until in warning screen)
7. Connect phone by usb to computer and make sure it's recognised by Odin with yellow box.
8. Start
9. Input WiFi and gmail details but do not restore apps at this stage, but check that your WiFi works.
10. If it does install apps carefully.

EDIT: Just had a thought. Your ICS install would have wiped your 3 settings.
Did you get them reinstalled for your package.
You can check in Settings > Wireless and network > ...More > Mobile Networks > Access Point Names
Your 3 package should be there with a green dot next to it.
Also make sure you have 'use packet data' ticked

[slartybartfast]

yep ics update was almost immediately after factory reset and cache flush.
and not sure if ics wiped all of my three network stuff, but ive not reinstalled them, but 3 is in access point names and i have packet data ticked.

[greenman]

Pointing back at 3 at the moment, but final thoughts are:
1. Try this usb tether connection https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...a.tether&hl=en
2. Can you try the bluetooth tether?
Sorry, I'm all out of ideas

[slartybartfast]

Well i had a go at completely resetting it back and updating it just to be sure. also tried other usb connection apps and no joy at all.
think its either a hardware problem of its THREE messing me about. either way this phone is going to die very soon.